Worth the Wait

We found this stone with the saying: No Cross, No Crown inscribed on it.

 

Thank you to everyone who has been faithfully petitioning for my ministry.  I had some days of wondering if I would waste away as a correspondent between organizations. Forever doomed to try and coordinate the bosses schedules. But despite my occasional doubts I knew that Father had great things planned for this program that I am working on. Shine is a special program and the way we have melded it together with Wait Training really gets me excited to talk with teens. 

This now will be my report on how the trip went. Enjoy!

April 8-10, 2014 Shi Lin Number 4 Middle School Visit

Angela, Denise and Peter 

traveled to Shi Lin by a rented private car. In a local Shi Lin restaurant we met Mr. Cai (the vice principal) and two teachers. At this luncheon we explained the Shine School Program and discussed that our plan was to teach 45 minutes of the program regarding Worth, Choices, and Purpose. We notified them that we wanted to return to do the second 45 minute presentation on Healthy Relationships and Protecting Themselves. When they heard that there was two parts to the program and that the second part was regarding Healthy Relationships and how to protect themselves. They insisted on giving us adequate time to teach the whole program.

We were escorted to the school grounds and given one of the teacher’s old apartments to stay in during the duration of our time. The apartment had three bedrooms, a living room, a chinese style bathroom, and a kitchen. We were encouraged to stay on the grounds for our safety. We were invited to meet the two classes we would be teaching later Tuesday evening and so Peter went to one class and Denise went to the second class. For a half hour we introduced ourselves to these classes and then the classes as well as ourselves went to dinner at the school cafeteria. Then at 7:30-9pm we taught the entire Shine School program to these two classes-approximately 90-100 students. 

The next day, Wednesday, we ate breakfast and lunch at the school cafeteria and we taught 4 classes-two in the morning from 9-10:30am and two in the afternoon from 2:30-4pm. During one of these sessions the teachers did not stay for the whole program and afterward informed us that they left early because they were afraid the students would feel embarrassed to ask their questions if they were there. 

The atmosphere at this middle school was very welcoming but not overbearing. We never felt imposed or pressured to do or teach anything we didn’t want to do. The teachers and administration desired us to be there not to teach english but to help their students become all that they could be and help them realized the risks that the world has in it. They recognized the need as well as the importance of this program. The vice principal told us that he could see the immediate results of the program because when he had the students in his class after we had taught them the students in general were vastly more well behaved and kinder to one another. This gave us much pleasure. 

The administration took us out to dinner on Wednesday night and they were very polite and did not pressure us to drink too much. Our reserve seemed to effect the reserve of the administration. We were introduced to a principal and vice principal of a near by elementary school and then after dinner we proceeded to visit their school and see the campus. They invited us to come and teach their students. I told them that at this time we only had curriculum for middle school age.  But I said that we would love to return at some time in the future. Perhaps in conjunction with a teacher training via Dawen. We then returned back to the Number 4 Middle School campus for bed. 

Thursday, we taught two classes from 8:30-10am and then we had lunch with the vice principal’s family. In this situation there may be significant relationship building opportunity. Mr. Cai told Angela and Denise about how his daughter, age 21, returned from college suddenly and refusing to return due to reasons she wouldn’t share. Her personality seemed to be significantly changed and she began to buy dogs in the dozens. Her father was and is still very concerned for her but doesn’t know what to do. He would like it if we or some one from Dawen could come and help her.  

The other situation that Mr. Cai has asked for our help with is that they have a 15 year old young man who has been acting out in school, causing trouble and beating other students up and stealing their money. This young man’s father had died and his mother has remarried. The administration seems to believe that the home atmosphere is healthy but we were unable to talk to this young man because he did not come to school the next few days. 

We are trying to arrange for Trudy (from Dawen), Angela, and I returning to Shi Lin to spend some time with Mr and Mrs. Cai and helping them know how to help their daughter as well as teach some of the teachers on how to deal with unruly students and to spend some time with both this troubled boy and Mr. Cai’s daughter. 

All in all I feel greatly blessed by Father for his blessing with this school as well as for our contact in Mr. Li-who set all this up for us. 

We are awaiting Mr. Li’s return call to let us know if there is additional schools we could visit this month. We gave him dates for next week and the week after. Therefore, we will await his direction.