Organized.

This term my life has become much more organized. I've set out to do better with classes, contacts, and my schedule, in order to be more efficient in my work. I've found that technology I already possesed, has really helped me achieve this. 

I'm thankful that my wife and I invested some personal funds into iPhones the year before we came to China. We knew we were coming here, and we counted the costs to see if it would be a good investment--and it sure was. I'm now able to synchronize all my contacts and addresses, along with my schedule to my phone and computer, and even online. This may seem simple, but it greatly helps when you have contacts on both sides of the planet.

Organizing my classes was also an important objective for this term because it makes teachiing more efficient. Being more efficient in the classroom and making lesson plans makes me a better teacher, as well as gives me more time to do the things I feel are important.

I must also share with you a valuable computer application that has helped me accomplish this feat. It's a Mac program called Bento (after the Japanese box set meal), and it has been  a tool that helps me do the work better.

Getting On Our Knees, in a Critical Way.

Last Saturday a group of us got together to talk about our work. We've worked hard to stay informed about the work of each of our 7 china friends during the year, in case there is anything we can do to help them. However, we branched out and met with a few extra workers that share our same goals and interests. The result was almost three hours of intensive updating, strategizing, and most important, talking to our Father. We share our "short lists" with each other, mentioning people by name and sharing our expectations and desires for those people. Needless to say, we've already seen fruit-bearing from our 3 hour session. 

One of the critical elements to any work is talking to your Father, and we are seeing hard evidence of the benefits of this. I'm sad to say this is one area of the work that I have severely lacked in most places I have lived. But thankfully, this group is more in touch with him, and we encourage each other to keep talking to him. 

At home, it's easy to let this area of your life slip and slack off. In th field, it's a must, or your work is dead. I ask my Father that I won't lose touch with him when I get home, and that my siblings at home will do a better job of talking to Him.

Apparently, I'm a Good Teacher.

I got an email this week from our foreign affairs office. They reported that the student evaluations of the foreign teachers came in. According ot the results, I was the second highest rated teacher among undergraduate classes. I'm not sure how I got to this point. I never really viewed myself as a good teacher, in fact, I've decided recently that I don't ever want to teach--it seems the best teachers don't really teach but just ask questions that others can use to teach themselves. I've also mentioned Before that I want to improve in the classroom. 

Whatever the case, I'm thankful to my father for giving me such great opportunities, and I hope this is another opportunity for me to continue "teaching" others more important lessons than how to correctly pronounce a "TH" sound.

GOOOAAAALLL(s)!!!

in most soccer (or more accurately "futbol") countries, nothing is more exciting than hearing that word screamed in euphoria by a sportscaster. I have personally found myself yelling this word inside my head  since school began--but more out of frustration than delight. I always feel like a new term is a new start, a new beginning, a chance to reinvent yourself all over again. Thus, I really wanted to lay out my goals in order to better myself, and make my work more effective all around.

this is what I've decided:

1. Get organized- from my address book, to class records, to contacts I meet and study with, I need more organization to be more effective with my time and energy.

2. Blog more- as alluded to in my previous blog, I need to be better about iforming people of what's going on.

3. Follow up/through- I have made plenty of contacts and built a lot of relationships already this year. I need to keep up those relationships and improve on them. Following up and being proactive to get invovled in people's lives will help this.

Overall, this has already been a highly successful year (not in numerical terms-that's never been important according to The Book).  We have found ourselves being transformed in ways we never would have imagined over a year ago. Out teamwork has sharpened us and made us accutely aware of our progress in our personal development. On a personal level, I am happy working here and allowing myself to be transformed more and more like the image of the One I follow.

My Wife is a Better Blogger Than I am

I haven't blogged since December. I could go on in this post to explain to you how I was busy finishing final exams and grades from last term, travelled throughout southeast Asia, visiting and edifying families, and getting started with the new term after a teacher orientation in Beijing. But I'm not going to do that. I know I haven't been very good at keeping everyone up to date. I'll just pick up where I left off by saying my wife is a great blogger, and I love how that has been one of her strengths. 

All that being said, I do have some goals for this term, including blogging more. My next post will let you know more about my personal goals this term.