Silent Mouth, Voice of Action

Tonight, I come to you with a thankful heart. Thank you for being on your knees for the Father's work over here, thank you for your financial support in the Father's work over here, thank you for your encouraging words, and belief in the work of the Father in me. I am humbled by His goodness and faithfulness to provide for me and give me a glimpse of how His body works on a micro level impacting my personal life as a sister of you all!

With 5/8 of my classes occurring on Monday and Tuesday, my Wednesday yesterday was bound to be slow and tedious as I was confined back in my office putting myself to work with lesson plans. I love my schedule being front-loaded, however, a whole day in the office after spending the past two weeks there, is unappealing. Thankfully, the Father, always blessing, broke my day up. I spent the morning in my office, but then met my Chinese co-worker in the dining hall for lunch. Aileen is very quiet and introverted. Often times we sit in complete silence for long periods where me, the extrovert, is itching for something to be said! However, the Father is pressing on me to remain silent- something quite foreign to me as an outspoken, independent and stubborn individual. I concede reluctantly to the silence Aileen sets. I am encouraged to obey the Father's leading with Aileen's friendship because I have been blessed with the privilege of continuing the Father's work that began with an ELI worker last year, Jordan. Jordan came as a part of the Hua Qiao team last year and worked as Aileen's co-worker then. He had some wonderful conversations with her, but he encouraged me to allow the Father to lead naturally and not to push seasoned conversations with her. With this knowledge I wait in silence for most of our shared lunches. However, today, being the stubborn girl that I am, got on my knees before the Father begging Him to not give me a silent lunch! I begged for conversation, any kind of conversation! I simply wanted progression. Well, to my dismay lunch was full of silence. I sat there my thoughts so loud in the silence between us I wondered if she might have heard them. I was having a few choice words with the Father. What was the point? If I'm just going to sit here all lunch in silence, there are so many other useful things I could spend time on. That's when He made his perfect presence known and silenced me. As Aileen and I walked out of the dining hall, she asked if I would accompany her to the store. I agreed eager to have more time where conversation could at the least begin to trickle in! There was nothing though. I waited patiently at the front of the store as she bought a few things. We walked back outside, and that is when the most beautiful words I have ever heard her say came out, "Courney do you have a place to be?" I quickly answered in the negative, and she continued, "would you like to have a sit with me?" Not quite sure what she meant by this, I answered yes (with maybe a frightening amount of enthusiasm haha). I followed her to a shady bench and we sat. Afraid of silence, I offered up a silent thought to the Father. What shall I fear?! He did not give me a spirit of timidity but of courage! I felt strangely peaceful as we sat because I know the Most High had orchestrated this exact time of blossoming friendship to come forth. We did not talk about my faith, but we talked!! We discussed the lottery (I shared about my mom's undeterred hope in someday being "the one" that wins), and we talked about animals. She asked if I had seen any farm animals before (little did she know the Oklahoma roots I come from!) Animals, heck, I practically raised farm animals! Haha, no.... but I might as well have with the amount of trips we took to the Del Mar Fair when I was a kid. And I shared these memories: I went to the Del Mar Fair, saw a calf walk for the first time, and saw my Grandpa sweep the awards at the hog-calling contest! Have I seen animals, yes, yes I have. She enjoyed the little stories I shared about my family. It was a simple and short conversation or "sit" (as she called it), but it was marked with a promise of more conversations. I believe the best part about our time is how she told me her morning was bad because something had happened before class putting her in a bad mood. Our conversation in some way lightened the sour mood she had woken up with and that alone in itself is testament to the presence of our Creator and lover abiding in our time of sitting and talking.

Today was extra special! I had a class this morning at 8 am and man, was my class rambunctious! They sure were full of energy! I get nervous with these types of classes because I find it very difficult to discipline. I think so much of their rowdiness is funny too! (it often makes me a bit concerned when I have kids of my own... I don't know if I will actually discipline them because I'll end up laughing with them!) This class had three boys in the back corner that for some reason I never figured out kept randomly yelling out "oh baby" during group activity time.... was it a Justin Bieber reference or is that simply my subconscious missing Elizabeth Evancoe's JB convos?! Hmmm... not quite sure, however I never really addressed it in a disciplinary way because I thought it was funny too! (oops :/ ) at the break the classroom turned into the red carpet for me! Within seconds of announcing the ten minute break a dozen cell phones came out and began snapping picks of me. I was elevated from teacher to celebrity status! One girl showed me the pics she had taken of me- I was there standing listening to another student, or I was taking a sip of my water bottle... and she said "so beautiful, so beautiful". Uh, okay not really but sure! Well, my confidence here is especially healthy! Then, each of the students one by one came up and posed with me- the boys too! My cheeks began quivering for smiling to wide and for so long.... almost half the class got a pic with me today. They were precious and full of life and I'm thrilled to have this "platform" as a foreigner... for it is a beautiful position to be in in order to proclaim the Good News.

This afternoon I met Enjo and Daisy for dinner! They are two girls in my English Corner class from Tuesday. I had a good conversation with them on Tuesday that I shared with you in my last post. However, today as I went to English Corner I was nervous! What if I couldn't remember what they looked like or mixed up their names?! (I mean, they tend to all look alike when I see so many students throughout the day) It was my first student pursuit without tag-teaming with a teammate. I asked for supernatural clarity and wisdom in identifying which girls were Enjo and Daisy... and the Father provided. I met them after class and we walked over to the dining halls. They ordered me dinner and they blessed me by not allowing me to pay for it- even though I get money on a meal card from the school. Talk about receiving a blessing when I was looking to be a blessing! Isn't that how it always seems to go?! Well, it was the best noodle soup I have had here. We shared conversation and their presence is so enjoyable. I absolutely am falling in love with the students here. They are His children and get the privilege of being entrusted with their education AND their eternal hope this year! They don't have a foreign English teacher apart from me and Colby at English Corner and they really hope to have me as their foreign friend. That makes three of us that want that then! This is why I am particularly thankful for the support team that you have all been in this harvest. I am sitting with these young girls simply because of the thoughts, encouragement, and belief you have had in me and given to me! So, thank you. The Word is being spread; not through words, or by mouth but by the biggest witness of all: actions. Simply love. May we all be simply a loving person in someone's life today. Take extra care to ask, take extra care to listen, take extra care to intentionally love with your loud actions. Often silence of mouth and voice of actions provides the best testimony to our Savior.