Finally
Well, I’ve managed to let another month slip by with no update. However, the good news is, after nearly pulling my hair out I realized the problem I was having with my website was not the program. So after rebuilding the entire website, I am able to bring you nearly four months worth of pictures all at once. I have not finished the summaries on the pages yet but each picture has a caption giving a brief explanation. Once the summaries are posted, you will be able to look at the pictures and read along like its a story.
Now, as for other things. Let me just say, WHOA! Things do not slow down here. JR has said many times that the things that are happening now are the fruits from bearing the storm for the past two years. I would have never imagined this before I came. Had anyone tried to explain these things to me, I would have said impossible. Im here to tell you though, these things are true. The things I emailed to you all about Gift of Joy and English House and the amazing position we are in now is true. The craziest part is that it all changes every single day. I know now why JR was unable to give me a clear idea of what I would be doing when I came here. It’s because he didn’t clearly know what he was doing from day to day, much less what I would be doing in the days to come. Yes there are the daily things. Preparation for English House. Spending time with the SoFL students. To be honest, it pretty much ends there. We are always on the go. We are always doing something. No day is the same. There is a new team from Kona here also and that makes things even more crazy. When the teams are here we do what we call English House on the Road, or English House Lectures. We go to different universities in Wuhan and give a motivational/marketing lecture for English House. This happens about three nights a week. We also have begun joining the Friday night English Corners at the different squares around Wuhan. This in and of itself is a pure dose of insanity. Standing and talking to people who speak English as a second language (many of whom dont do it very well) while thousands of people walk by you and stop to stare and listen is an extremely exhausting ordeal. The same goes for the meet and greet after many of the English House on the Road lectures.
There are so many things I want to say about our position right now. We are perfectly poised right now. Gift of Joy is in the perfect place. English House is right where it needs to be. The things that are happening are not by chance. These things are the way they are for great, great reasons. I was recently warned (thankfully) that my words in my past email were very dangerous. They could have easily been misconstrued as the wrong kind of strategy. Well, I must be careful, but I cant stress enough, to each and every one of you, just how important this time is. Amazing things are happening. Doors are beginning to fly wide open. The impossible is becoming possible. I would ask for prayers from all of you who recieve this. Anita, Ada, and YukLing are going on a tour de force through Taiwan and Hong Kong to raise money for the new Gift of Joy Center. Please pray for open and obedient hearts during this time. I also ask again that you please circulate these prayers around your prayer groups. If you know of anyone who wants to give but doesnt know where to give, please inform them of our needs.
Personally, I have been having ups and downs. I’ve been away from home for a little over a year now with a short break for a few weeks in between. I’m finding it’s difficult over here without my close friends (I really miss you guys) to communicate with. Of course I have friends here, but the level of communication is no where near that of my four closest friends at home. It has created some communication problems in some areas but this is just a part of culture shock that I must face. I find it hard to focus at times, but only because my brain is so full of stuff, and I really dont have anyone to physically speak it out to. Best friends are great because you can bounce all of your useless stupid opinions off of each other and neither one of you gets hurt or upset and in the off chance that you do it passes after a few minutes anyway. It’s amazing how much more junk free our minds are when we have a close friend who understands us to unload on. What’s even more amazing is that they dont consider it “unloading”. However, this is not the place for musings. I just want to ask for your prayers in three areas of my life right now. Clarity. I need clarity so that I can communicate efficiently. Discipline. I need to be more structured with my time and energy. I’m very limited on both so I need to make the best use of them. And finally, Wisdom. I need to relearn how to keep my mouth shut and use discernment instead of logic.
So, in closing, things are crazy here, amazing things are happening, and I talk too much. HAHA. I think that covers the past month. Anything I missed here will be covered in the summary on the picture page. So please everyone check out the pictures. Keep an eye out because now that I’ve got things fixed and updated, I will be posting pictures more frequently.
Blessings on you all,
Jared
Pownce.com