Video

Just in case you haven't seen it yet, here is the video that I made!  

Besides this post, you can also find it on the Macau Facts page!

Mid-June Updates

An unusual view of Macau: from the top of the lighthouse
which is often closed to the public.

It is already past mid-June.  That went fast!  The count is down, and there are 3 weeks and 5.5 days until my departure to the states!  I hope that those of you who are graciously hosting me are eagerly anticipating seeing me and hearing about Macau this summer, because I am eagerly anticipating sharing about it!

This month has been so busy.  I worked on creating a video to send out to the summer camp that I worked with for a long time, and that was a lot of fun.  I just have 2 things to edit, and I can then send the video out to everyone :)  I might get some help from my brother at home, as he's an editing major, and it could look much better than my amateur work!  (I'll upload the video to the internet soon.  I seem to have misplaced the file, and it took a LONG time for it to upload to the blog, so I aborted and left work.)

A roller coaster that I was able to ride!

I also had a few Skype presentations.  If I am not able to see you or your church or group when I am at home, please consider scheduling a time with me to present via Skype!  Also, there are a few other missionaries that I could possibly send your way who would love to share, and who are in need of funding for next year!

Last Friday during our free class, I was able to talk about Pentecost. (Yes, I know..we're a little behind in the calendar!)  We had fun putting flames of fire on our heads, and creating wind socks to catch the wind, and remind us of the Holy Spirit coming in a great wind!  We also sang the song "When the Spirit says sing you gotta sing!"  It was a fun, active song that helped get energy out, and also taught us to listen to the Holy Spirit!

Most of my students took their exams last week, and some of them are done with school now.  (Some take exams before actually being done with the year).  I am excited for them, because this means that a major stress is gone!  Exams are taken very seriously here--more so than in the USA.  It is a lot of pressure, and it could bring a lot of shame on the student and possibly their family if they do poorly, so there is a tremendous amount of pressure.  I am so thankful that they all got through it, and now can have time to relax!

I am looking forward to the Dragon Boat Festival happening this coming Saturday.  There will be dragon boat races at one of the local lakes.  Also, I have a friend from college visiting that weekend, and it should be a fun time!

No, this does not dispense straws.  It's a
chop stick dispenser!! :)

My Mandarin is slowly improving.  I have classes every week, and every week I gain a little more confidence in my ability to speak some!  Today I learned how to say 'above', 'below', 'in front of', 'behind', 'inside', and 'outside'. These, though very simple, caused me a lot of stuttering in class haha!  It was fun, though!  "wo de shou ti dian nao zai tai zi shang mian!" (My computer is above the table!) "shui zai zhe ge bei li mian" (water is inside this cup).  It's great to be able to describe it!  I even attempted (and slightly failed, but still attempted almost successfully) to communicate the concept that I forgot my phone at home, and when I was riding the bus to work, I realized that I forgot it, so had to get off the bus, go back home, get my phone, and then go back to work.  It was a struggle, but I actually did a fist pump when I finished it.  And my teacher was proud of me! :)  It was a great day of 普通话课。 (Mandarin Class)

I think that's about it for my updates.  For those of you that I will see this summer, I look forward to seeing you!  For those that I will miss, I regret that I am only home for a short time, but I hope to catch you on Skype and/or next summer!  Please let me know if you are free when I am in your area (schedule found in the June newsletter).  Keep an eye out for one more newsletter before I leave for America!

God's Blessings!

Prayer Request

I want to put out a prayer request: on my way home from work today, I all of the sudden heard a scream on the bus: "A-HI!" which means "Auntie!" (a common term to describe any woman who's about an aunt's age).  I looked back, and I didn't see anything happen on the bus, but as I turned back around some blue lights caught my eyes.  There were 2 police motorcycles blocking off a portion of the road, and as I looked more closely, an "Oh my goodness" escaped my lips as I saw first a lady sitting on the ground on the other side of a motorcycle in obvious pain, and then my eyes found another lady laying on the ground with her hands over her head.  Thankfully that meant that she was alive. But I'm sure that neither is doing great at the moment.

Please say a prayer for those ladies.  I don't know any more information, as I just drove by on the bus.  They already had help, though, so I didn't think about getting off, since the language barrier would obviously prove troublesome, but I couldn't help feeling guilty about not thinking about them.

When I see someone in pain like that who I know is getting help, I still feel guilty for not doing anything.  I know that there was nothing that I could do that wasn't already being done, but I still feel like I should have done something.  Well, I guess that I can do something: PRAY, and ask God to help them!  So I'd like to ask you to join me in that.

Friday

Today was Friday.  We had our regular Friday Night Bible Study.  It was a fun day.  We learned about the Ascension of Jesus, and it was great!  I, as usual, had the little kids!

We sang the song "I've got the Joy Joy Joy Joy down in my heart!"  And then we sang "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning, Jesus at the noontime, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down!"  And learned the Bible verse: "Jesus said, 'I am with you always!'"

It was a fun Bible Study.  The new boy even came up and gave me a hug afterwards!  He's not really new, but hasn't come in a very long time.

Besides the Bible study, I had my classes as normal.  Half of my students have taken their exams already, and the other half have them coming up this week.  Please pray for all of the students in HK and Macau who are taking exams now.  They are so much more pressure here than they are in the States.  It's crazy how intense they are.  Please pray that they keep their sanity and that they are able to study well get good scores!

Do YOU have any prayer requests?  As our Bible verse says, Jesus is always with us!  He always listens to our prayers, and He promises to be with us in all that we do :)  Thank God for loving us, for being with us, and for answering our prayers!

Oh Baby!

My cousins just added another member to our family: They had a baby boy!  The name isn't decided yet, but this baby will probably have a J name, and is a cutie pie.  He's 2 months premature, so please pray that this baby would be strong and healthy and will be a boy who grows up into a God-fearing man!

Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival!

No, this is not a holiday.  But it would be if I could create one!  Today in class, we read about Memorial Day.  Since our article talked about how Memorial Day was created, I had my student create a holiday.  To make it fair, I created one too.  We spent the class period creating holidays, and when I was done, I actually was proud of this, so I decided to post it for the world to see, and then create!

Enjoy my new holiday :)

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What the world needs is more holidays! Holidays are a fun part of life, as they allow for celebrations. They are a wonderful mix of needed relaxation and a reminder of something important—for example, Memorial day is a mix between camping out and relaxing, but it reminds us to be thankful for the people protecting our country!

The only holiday that the world is missing, though, is Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival! Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival would be celebrated on the 6th day of summer, as 'F' is the 6th letter of the alphabet. This year, that would be June 26. It would include a lot of fun things that involved flying. Summer Schools, Daycare centers, and other such locations would celebrate the day before by having a paper airplane making contest. The kids would learn techniques to allow the planes to fly super fast. They'd also learn about aerodynamics and streamlining. They would not, however, fly their airplanes that day: that must wait until Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival!

On Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival, the Air force would begin the celebrations by having an air show. Then, at the Air and Space museums around the world, people would zoom in to listen to pilots speak, and to play games having to do with flying. They'd learn about the Wright Brothers and their first plane. They'd learn about Amelia Earhart and her attempt at flying around the world. They'd learn about space expedition. They'd also learn about how birds are able to fly, and why humans cannot. Kids and adults alike would have a BINGO sheet to fill in with the answers to various questions. Once they found out the answers to the questions, they'd receive a prize (one that flies, naturally!). It would be one where they pull the string and a propeller-mounted toy would spin and fly high into the air, sailing smoothly to the ground.

In addition to the museums having activities, there would be tours of airports and airplanes. On that day, there would be hot air balloon and helicopter rides, as well as rides in small aircrafts available for a small cost.

Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival is both educational and, as the name suggests, fun! By the year 2020, it will have spread to all of the major cities across the globe, and will serve to educate people about the present and future knowledge in flight!

To make the holiday more meaningful, people would donate money that would fly over to countries that are less developed, and who need help. They would fly fresh water and shoes and other needed supplies to the countries. They would learn how flight technology makes it easy for us to send something to another country that will really impact the people living there!

Friends

Things are going fairly well.  Classes are good, people are good, exercises is good, and God is good! (That should be number 1, though!)

Things are not always good, though.  I very often feel loneliness here in Macau, being a single person with no roommates, and no single Americans with me.  I know that Macau is filled with people, but sometimes it's difficult to form close relationships where I do something with them more often then once a month or once every 2 months.

But...right now I don't feel it so much. I reconnected with the first person that I met here, and we may get together after work next week.  I reconnected with a friend who I haven't seen in over a month, and we may hang out soon.  My Mandarin teacher and I will be getting together on Sunday to cook.  Some of our free class students and I will be travelling to a hot spring in a little over a week.

Every time I get feelings of loneliness, it just seems horrible at the time, but when I look back at it, it makes me appreciate the people who I can call my friends here, and I am thankful for being able to spend time with people, and to share God's Word with people here.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! :)