It has always been my goal and prayer that the kids in the youth group would grow closer to Him through their experiences with it. I usually feel like what I am doing is not adequate to accomplish this purpose, and they are not growing as much as they could. Then I read things from them that indicate it is happening anyway. The very things that I blame for not stretching them are the things they identify as what’s helping them the most. To prevent identification of the people involved who may know them, I won’t go into details. But it is humblingly wonderful to know that you aren’t needed, but He chooses to use you anyway.

I started trying to learn Chinese again. My opinion that it would be good to know Chinese at work has shifted from this to it is pretty much necessary that I at least be able to understand it. Meetings generally happen in Chinese, and sometimes the only thing said in English is that, in the interest of time, they won’t translate the rest of the meeting. I have tried a Chinese tutor here in the past, but due to the fact I am pressed for time, it makes it difficult to schedule a chunk of time for this, even if I insist on the convenience of the tutor coming to my apartment. (It’s more of a “I have time now” than anything else.) So independant learning is the most attractive option. I had heard about Rosetta Stone previously and heard good things about it. So I did a little more research, thought I would like it, and signed up for the online version. (This gives me all the functionality of the CD versions, except I don’t have to wait for the order to come – can start using it immediately, and it is based on subscription instead. I have a LONG way to go, but I have been quite happy with it so far. They don’t do any translation (i.e. this_chinese_word = this_english_word) but show pictures and say the Chinese word/phrase associated with the object in the picture. You learn new words through process of elimination based on words you already know. The online demo was for Turkish and explains it better than I can. I’m hoping that between this, and the fact I live in China, I can learn enough of the language to get by in a short amount of time.

That’s all for now.