Future Trips
Two weeks have now passed since I came home. Everyone on my team and many of those we served with in Hong Kong, Vietnam, and China are all suffering reentry culture shock. It has been especially difficult because of the Beijing Olympics. Many who went to China get to be reminded of China on a daily basis. But now that we are back, what about next summer, or any plans for that matter.
Let me start by saying this. In my heart my heart and soul scream out to be in China. I can envision living in an apartment and hosting bible studies with young new believers. I can envision myself doing this for whatever length of time God gives me, but there is one problem, an immense amount of personal debt.
If I and Coy were to accept jobs in China, we would probably earn about 14000RMB, if we both were teaching. The school would pay for our airfare, housing and food, but 140000RMB equates to about $2,000 a month. Of course we would use only about $300 a month of that, but our monthly obligations far surpass the remaining pay. Even selling our home and many of our possessions our debt would be greater than that partly because of student loans. So, for the long term trips, that is absolutely up to God. Of course even the short term trips are too but I mean a miracle will have to happen first.
Short Term
In the meantime, while I love the organization I have been going with, I have been introduced to another. We had the privilege to see a presentation put on by Christian Chinese business students in Hong Kong. These students completed a service learning project, teaching English to migrant workers children in China. They went with Amity Publishing, which publishes and distributes bibles in China with Government approval. They have three programs, one is the service learning projects, the second is a yearlong teaching program and the third is a short term summer English program. They have doing this for 20 years and have good relationships with many schools and tend to work with migrant children who are the poorest of the poor in China.
If I switch to Amity and their summer English program I will want to put together my own team. This means recruiting 4-6 people of any age. I am informing you of this because I would like you to take this to your church board and put it in front of them. This summer program is about four weeks long in total, with training and debriefing in China. The actually teaching time is three weeks. Keep this in mind, would you like to go to China?
Let me start by saying this. In my heart my heart and soul scream out to be in China. I can envision living in an apartment and hosting bible studies with young new believers. I can envision myself doing this for whatever length of time God gives me, but there is one problem, an immense amount of personal debt.
If I and Coy were to accept jobs in China, we would probably earn about 14000RMB, if we both were teaching. The school would pay for our airfare, housing and food, but 140000RMB equates to about $2,000 a month. Of course we would use only about $300 a month of that, but our monthly obligations far surpass the remaining pay. Even selling our home and many of our possessions our debt would be greater than that partly because of student loans. So, for the long term trips, that is absolutely up to God. Of course even the short term trips are too but I mean a miracle will have to happen first.
Short Term
In the meantime, while I love the organization I have been going with, I have been introduced to another. We had the privilege to see a presentation put on by Christian Chinese business students in Hong Kong. These students completed a service learning project, teaching English to migrant workers children in China. They went with Amity Publishing, which publishes and distributes bibles in China with Government approval. They have three programs, one is the service learning projects, the second is a yearlong teaching program and the third is a short term summer English program. They have doing this for 20 years and have good relationships with many schools and tend to work with migrant children who are the poorest of the poor in China.
If I switch to Amity and their summer English program I will want to put together my own team. This means recruiting 4-6 people of any age. I am informing you of this because I would like you to take this to your church board and put it in front of them. This summer program is about four weeks long in total, with training and debriefing in China. The actually teaching time is three weeks. Keep this in mind, would you like to go to China?
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