One Day...without shoes.

Yeah, what I do is pretty cool.
Today, at our school a bunch of the students and teachers went without shoes in order to raise awareness for the children around the world who go without shoes everyday. One Day Without Shoes is an initiative of the Toms Shoe Company. Toms not only sells shoes, but for every pair you buy they donate a pair of shoes to a child in need. I didn't think that going without shoes was all that bad until it came to walking down to the bakery and going for tea. The roads really hurt your feet! And by the end of the day my feet were pretty sore. 

This morning in Bible study my teammate spoke on gratefulness, and asked each of us to make a list of a bunch of things we are grateful for. It was really interesting that this topic came up on the exact day that we were putting ourselves in "someone else's shoes". Seeing the poverty that many people live in day to day and all that they must go without has really caused me to realize how many blessings I have.

 I am so grateful that the Lord continues to show me how blessed I am,

 and how much I have been given in order to bless others.

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" -Matthew 7:11

Food and more.

As promised. I have finally uploaded a few pictures that portray pieces of my life here. It is so wonderful to meet and love all the little children who walk through the doors of our school. I am so blessed by my co-workers and Team members. Last week my roommate made a delicious home cooked meal of: Chicken Marsala, candied carrots, and noodles! After, we are finished eating though its a little bit of a pain to wash the dishes...as you can see below we wash all of our dishes in the bathroom sink. Its not the most efficient, but it definitely works. This month has been a little difficult because the water pump hasn't been working very well; but praise the Lord we have people who can come and fix the issue. I included a few pictures of some of my favorite foods here as well. And finally some pictures of what a typical class looks like. 

Cream Corn Soup.

Yummy boiled dumplings! These are one of my favorite foods here.

Washing dishes.

Coffee!

My roommate made this delicious meal.

A class I taught, learning their song for the week, "This Little Light of Mine".

A classroom of wonderful students.

And this was week one.

So, this post is a touch old. I'm not sure how I forgot about it, but I thought you may enjoy reading it. Its from the beginning of March. Life hasn't changed too much from this. I'm still adjusting to life here and working on loving God and serving the people right where I'm at. Some days are better than others. One thing that is difficult about living in another culture is developing meaningful conversation. I feel like I have little to none of it, and that makes life a little more frustrating. Prayer is much appreciated in this area! My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you back home! May the Lord continue to bless you as you "bloom where He has planted you".

Classes.This has been quite the week of classes. I began teaching my own classes this week. Getting inside the head and body of a teacher is tough work! It has been an incredible learning experience for me. A lot of the children this week come from difficult living situations (either single parent homes, or orphanage type situations). It is a little bit more difficult to hold their attention in class and get them to stop talking. But they are very sweet children, and I am so glad I have the opportunity to teach them and know them.
Chinese.Chinese is going well. I am beginning to catch on to some of the words. My roommate helped me learn some of the key phrases at the beginning of the week and my WHOLE team has been so helpful with everything! They are amazing. Everyday I try to use it a little bit more than the day before, although probably no as often as I should. I have to admit, I am a little reserved for fear of saying it wrong. :( It is so difficult to get the correct tones in the Chinese language. It is a very good thing people are so forgiving.
Culture.As far as figuring out more about the culture goes. This week I attended another church. It was very nice, and it felt so much like home. I think it was because when we were ready to leave we kept running into people to talk to or be introduced to, haha! After church we went to the market and got some stuff for Tacos! And had a blast making Tacos and spending time with friends.