English Corner

Tonight we just got back from participating in an English Corner that some missionaries here hold once a year (or maybe a little more often) mostly when the Pac Rim group comes from OC. There, we just offer to speak English with people so they can practice their English, and if they are interested, they are able to sign up for free English lessons with the missionaries. The missionaries use the same workbooks with them that we will use in Japan. They are short Bible passages from the book of Luke that highlight keywords from the passage and short questions to review understanding of the story. We were there for about 3 hours and I spoke with so many people! One girl said her English name was Amy, and she was SO excited when I said that was MY name!! She was sad when I told her I would not be her English teacher for her lessons, but we exchanged email addresses to keep in touch. Her English was really good, but her boyfriend's was not as good. He also did not have an English name, so Tim and I helped him pick one!! :) So, I can proudly say that tonight I named a Chinese man. His name is Ben.

What else have I done since I last wrote? Yesterday, we went to the Temple of Heaven and the Confucian Temple. I think our group is getting a little tired of temples, but it was very interesting to see how the Chinese worship Buddah. That temple had lots of incense and many, many, many statues of Buddah.

Our lectures in the mornings have all been very interesting. We had a lecture about women in China the other day, and I enjoyed that one quite a bit. It was about the change in women's roles and status within the past three generations. We had two lessons about Religion in China and about Confucianism, both of which were very interesting and the teacher for the second one asked at the end of class for all of our email addresses to keep in touch in case she had any "silly questions" about Christianity in the future. From her lesson and in her answers to our questions it was clear that her heart has opened up to Christianity slowly over time, and she is interested more in learning about the meanings more than just the teachings as compared to Confucian. In her mind, the two were very similar because of the teachings towards harmony and peacefulness. When she asked us for our opinions of the differences we pointed out that in Christianity, Jesus is alive and is God's son, whereas, in Confucianism, he was only a man who had sayings and analects that seemed to be his own view from his life lessons and not anyone better than any other person. Without intentionally doing it, we challenged her thinking and I look forward to hearing from her in the future.

We also went back to the Silk Market yesterday as a big group after our lecture and tour of the temples. I picked up a new watch (that shows two times!) and some new shoes. My main focus was to find souvenirs for everyone, and I'm excited to get them home to give out!! I know you'll all love the gifts I picked for each of you. :)

I'm trying to think of what else has happened, but my mind is just so tired right now. I'll write it all in my journal and when I get home, I'll fill in the gaps. Tonight, I need my rest because tomorrow is...THE GREAT WALL!!! I'm so excited that I would have trouble sleeping but I'm so worn out, that I'm going to struggle to stay awake to journal about today before falling asleep.

I love you all, and I can't wait to hear from you!

Nana, I got your email, and I love you and hope you stay safe from Ike. Get well soon, and don't worry about me, I made it out without getting sick. :) XOXO

Amy

PS. This weekend (I think Sunday) is a holiday in China...something to do with the mid-Autumn harvest I think? I'm taking all of the celebration as birthday celebration for me. :) I think Monday we'll have Moon Cakes! Lucky me!!