merry and bright!

playing UNO is great English practice

We spent the week trudging through the remains of another heavy snowfall and rolling out assignments for final exams, which will run through the end of the month. Next week we’ll don our holiday hats and perform a Christmas song at the end of each exam to send our students off on their merry way for the winter holiday and tell them a bit about the reason for the season!

hotpot with Paul

The inclement weather has increased our thankfulness that we now live near two warm and dependable bus lines that make their first and last stops just outside our apartment complex, which makes getting to work in the morning a snap. Coming home is, upon occasion, a little less certain, but even an extended wait beats huffing our bikes up the long, cold, slippery hill back home. We try to check in on our bikes every few days to make sure they are still where we left them.

An added bonus to our new life as bus commuters is that we continue to meet new people. We recently met a woman on the bus who invited us to her fellowship, which is a lot closer to our new house than where we regularly attend. The brothers and sisters gave us a warm welcome when we arrived, and we have been back a couple of times. We also have seen another one even closer to our house that we visited briefly and may give a try. God is always good.

pray for Strawberry, who lost her father

Cleanup after a big snow around here never really ends as most of the walkways, public areas and parking lots are cleared by shovel and broom. Our students have put in a lot of back-breaking hours around campus and crews of mostly retired and under-employed folks are continually chipping away at the ice and piling snow to be carted away in trucks. This is the first year we’ve seen snow blowers in action, though they are few and far between. We saw a snowblower at school one day, though no one seemed to know how to use it. We haven’t seen it since. 

Our like-minded friend, Fred, from the big city, will spend a year abroad as a student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It’s been his dream to work/study abroad since we met him close to 10 years ago. His wife, Alice, was baptized this week (yay, PTL) and she and their young daughter will stay with family in their hometown while Fred is away. Thanks for remembering them that they will have endurance during their time apart and that Fred can find a strong fellowship near the university. 

a sister invited us to her fellowship

This week, we learned, via text message, that the leader at our school who is responsible for our housing, visas and government documents has been reassigned just as Spring is in the process of renewing her visa documents. When we stopped by the office the next day to meet the new leader, he assured us he had everything under control. He was friendly and spoke slowly. We’re optimistic the transition will go smoothly. Thanks for praying that Spring’s visa process goes well and that our new director is interested in his new assignments.

We are also thankful that we both got clean

students shoveling for 1 hour

bills of health after our annual checkups, which are provided by our school at a local hospital. We simply walked up to the desk, stated our names and college affiliation and received our reports – no ID required. After a couple of hours spent translating the results, we mostly learned that we should moderate our smoking and drinking… go figure, as we do neither. We guess everyone gets this helpful advice ( :

As we continue on this Christmas season with our students and friends near and far, we are thankful for the many opportunities we have to learn, serve and grow in this community. We pray that your holidays are also filled with family, friends and the joy of His good, good plan… Merry Christmas!

always something new on the bus

sometimes the bus is very full, but the
one behind is empty, of course.