Use your skills to benefit others.

Visit amazing places on weekends.

Study Mandarin / Chinese culture

Sean is also working evenings and weekends at a language institute.  

The work hours are long and hard but he is learning a lot and has been given the opportunity to teach English to children as young as 2 years old, all the way up to adults. 

Parents invest heavily to teach their kids English in China and almost all the children who want to become proficient in English want to move to America.  

In fact the most common question we are asked is "Are you American?"

We are both involved in English corners on a Sunday afternoon and evening.  An English corner is where you meet with Chinese people to help them improve their spoken English.  

It's been a wonderful journey as we see the same people coming back, time and time again.  We are being given the opportunity to talk about real life issues with them. 

The group I have, is a group of young ladies and it has really been so rewarding to teach them.  Our relationships are growing deeper and we have so much fun together. 

Declan is headed to the Philippines at the end of the month.  He is very excited and we are thrilled that this is something he wants to do. In fact on Sunday he shared about the importance of helping the poor. 

We are also running a Saturday English Club for children and adults .  

The children are from the local community and again it is an opportunity to build relationally with them.  The adults are so enthusiastic, they are so excited to learn English that they are at class early and leave late.  

The children are doing well.  

2 of the 3 boys were chosen for the student council. The 3rd one only lost by one vote!

The three boys are getting distinctions in their subjects and are really fully integrated into school.  

They are soaring in Chinese and I often need them to act as translators as our Chinese has not progressed as quickly.

 They help with some of the after school programs and they also help us on a Saturday with the English Club as assistant teachers and group coordinators.  

They have built strong friendships already and are part of a vibrant youth group which meets in the week.  

Just this weekend they were away on a youth camp on an island off our coast.  Roughing it in the wild while camping and boy did they smell when they got back!. 

 Ruth loves school and loves the social aspect of life here. 

She works hard and has taken to Chinese almost faster than she has to English.  You can hear her speaking or singing in Chinese in the shower, in the bath and yes even in the loo. 

She spends Saturdays playing with her best friend John, who is a little Chinese boy, who just adores her and they spend hours alternating between Chinese and English.