New Routines

It is difficult to know where to begin in catching you all up with what has been happening here! (This can be a motivation for me to be more regular in writing updates.) Since there is much to tell, I will simply begin with a man I mentioned in my last update: John. As you may remember, we met John at a conference soon into our travels here and discovered that he had already been in contact with our team through email. He told us about his school: an international school, taught in English, with very low tuition prices compared to other international schools in the area. He works hard to keep costs low so that middle and lower class families can send their children there to receive a quality education. At the time that we met John, he was hoping and praying for international teachers to join his team and help with the English teaching and some of the higher level classes. We are now those teachers!

Monday and Wednesday mornings, our team teaches English, music, science, health, Bible, and US history to preschool through fourth graders. Each grade level has an English and music class, while we only teach the other subjects to specific grades. This is an exciting partnership for us! We share John's vision of providing quality education to children who otherwise might not be able to afford it, while finding opportunities to share the gospel with the many Buddhist children who attend. (John estimates that about 40% of the students are Buddhist.)

Over the next few weeks, we expect to begin teaching several other English classes, always with that same goal: to plant seeds of God's good news in the hearts and minds of those we teach. As our schedule begins to fill, we are working to keep that aim in the forefront of the choices we make and the way we develop relationships here. We have been cultivating a relationship with a local couple through weekly Bible studies, and we now have the opportunity to begin teaching many students at their home. Some of the team has been playing ultimate frisbee each week with a group of international teachers and travelers. We have been meeting more with the native pastor we know here, and plan to begin spending more time at the orphanage he started. We hope that in all these relationships, God's love will be shown through us.

In other news, we recently purchased bicycles, so that we can more quickly and comfortably travel around this part of the city! That has been a huge blessing, as we need to rely slightly less on taxis or the confusing and crowded public transportation system. We have also been experimenting with our rice cooker, as we do not have an oven in the apartment. As a result, we have been eating lots of baked goods recently, from banana bread to pumpkin harvest loaf. As November approaches, we have been discussing different methods for preparing Thanksgiving dishes! Like every other aspect of life here, that will surely be an adventure.