Well just to check in with everyone, we have been really busy lately this week we have mid terms. On top of that I was sick for 4 days. But I am feeling much better now. Since I have been out of commission I will let Hannah share some of her experiences in the field:
Lately I have had the privilege to go on several Bible studies with other sisters. It’s been a treat! Every week I go on one particular study with a Canadian sister who speaks excellent Chinese. The discussions are usually difficult for me to follow, but it’s really good practice for me. I have been praying a lot about being able to improve my Chinese specifically with conducting Bible studies. After the last week I feel like Jehovah is providing what I need to improve. One of my return visits, even though she is extremely busy, agreed to a Bible study, which we will have on Saturday nights. This week I went on a study with Jamie that is pretty new. Apparently the woman's daughter wants to study as well, and Jamie suggested I study with her. She set up for us to have our first study next week.
Then something really interesting happened when a sister came up to me after the meeting using one of the American sisters to translate. The sister explained that some little girls were going to be coming over to her house the next day and she asked if I could teach them some English or study the Bible with them. I immediately agreed, but I didn't really get anything more specific from her. Later I realized I didn't know if they were her relatives, or if they had any knowledge of the Bible, or even how old they were. All I got was her phone number and address. So I took my service bag and my tablet and just went over. Right off, I got horribly lost. I thought I knew the area that it was in but I didn't. After asking for directions twice from people on the street that spoke no English and being sent different directions both times I started to get really discouraged. I wanted to go home and tell the sister I couldn't find her house so I can’t come. Instead I pulled over and prayed to Jehovah. Where I pulled over I saw a man working and went and asked him directions. He spoke flawless English. He had even been to Missouri! (I really felt like Jehovah knew I was close to my breaking point, and threw me a bone.) Even after his directions though, I got lost again! I spoke to another person on the street and then finally after speaking with the sister on the phone I made it to a convenience store near her house, where she met me. I was over 30 minutes late! But she was very kind, and just appreciative I made the effort to come.
As we walked to her house she explained to me that her hairdresser had told her she was worried about her daughters. They had this week off of school, but she still had to work. The sister offered to have them over to her house. The woman was very appreciative and took her up on it. She also told me her own daughter was there, and that she works as an art teacher in a different province. She said she had been encouraging her to attend the meetings there, but that she still hadn't. Her daughter is a few years older than me. When I walked into her house the sister ushered the two little girls into the living room along with her daughter. The Girls were ages 11 and 13, and spoke no English.
I was really nervous, I didn't know what to expect so I didn't feel very prepared. The sister simply said, "Can you study with them? You speak Chinese right?" I told her I speak a little and that I would do my best and asked her and her daughter to help me translate a little. I pulled up the bible story book in English and asked her if she had it in Chinese. She said she did, on her tablet and gave it to the little girls to take turns reading. We quickly realized that what was one here tablet was just the Bible. And it was a different translation. It turns out-she isn't a baptized sister. She is a Bible study that attends the meetings regularly. It suddenly made sense to me why she asked me to study with the girls. I pulled out my Good New from God brochures, since it was the only thing I had in English and in Chinese with me. We went over the 2nd chapter on who is God, and I ended up basically conducting a Bible study with 4 people. It was wonderful! The oldest little girl was very bright, and very interested in the brochure. She asked good questions, and wanted to read all the scriptures.
During the study the girls got a snack and the daughter (named Cindy) and I got to talk. She told me she is 24, and that her mother did not start studying the Bible until after she had already left the house. She wanted to know how long I have been learning about the Bible. I explained how my parents are both Witnesses so I have been taught since I was a child. She suddenly looked really serious and told me, "I think you are a very lucky person. You got to touch the Bible so young." I was really touched. I told her about the congregation here, and how we felt like we had family here as soon as we arrived. I encouraged her to visit the congregation in her city, and that they all teach the same things. During the study with the little girls she listened intently and helped me explain things I couldn't' translate on my own. It went really well, and we will have study again next week. I now have four Bible studies. :) I'm partly terrified, but mostly excited. I absolutly love our Chinese classes at the university. but it didnt help us with our theocratic vocabulary. I feel like between school and these studies I will improve at least a little. :) I will let Phil tell you about our Midterm we just had.
Tuesday morning we had the first half of our midterm. It was a written test, 6 pages long. She gave us the entire class period to take it (2 hours). At the end of the 2 hours I still had a page and a half to go. She told us that we could come back after our elective class. So we came back to finish, Hannah only needed to review and check her answers, I had a lot more to do. I have gotten to a point where I recognize allot of characters and actually understood what most of the test was asking, remembering how to write them was a totally different story though. I ended up getting a 76 mostly because of lots of small mistakes in how I wrote characters leaving parts off. Hannah did much better scoring an 88.
On Tuesday Evening we went over to a witness couples house that we had met at school. They are a very sweet Korean couple; they have been in Taiwan for 1 year and have been studying Chinese for 2 years. We were both excited and nervous for the evening because they are so nice but they only speak a few words of English. So we hoped we would be able to communicate and not just sit in awkward silence all evening :). We were happy to find out that they had also invited another brother to come. As it turned out it was Do Lee's brother-in-law. Who speaks fluent Korean and English and pretty good Chinese. He was able to translate everything for us so we were able to talk freely with them, it was so nice! We left feeling refreshed and up built. The good feeling though went away when we remembered that we had the second half of our midterm test the following morning.
Wednesday we had part 2 which was a listening and speaking exam. The first few parts were not too bad, we had multiple choice on what she said, then after listening to a recorded conversation she asked a question and we had to select the correct answer. Then came the really horrible hard part she played a recording and we had to write the answer in characters. We get the results back tomorrow but I'm sure that I did awful on this portion there were so many characters I just couldn't remember how to write. After the written portion we had to give a skit in front of the class about buying something. Hannah and I made ours about ordering food and drink at a restaurant. The skit went very smoothly we didn't even look at our notes. Next she gave us times of when we could come in to have our 1 on 1 exam which was she asks us 10 questions and we have to answer.
Our time slot wasn't until 9 so we got to sleep in a bit, we had plans to go to breakfast but as usual sleep won out over food and we ended up rushing to class and getting there 5 min late. Since we were late we had to wait to take our test. This gave us a chance to talk with some of our class mates and actually give a witness to one of them which was nice. One of our classmates is from Germany, and he is always very friendly to Hannah and I. He told Hannah he was frustrated that he doesn't get to practice his Chinese very much. Since he speaks flawless English, when he goes out most people just want to speak English with him. Hannah explained that in our congregation many do not speak English so we have to use all the Chinese we know. But it is super nice since they are all loving and very patient with us. I invited him to come to the meeting if he was interested in coming. He then told us that growing up his family did not like religion, especially Jehovah's Witnesses. But when he was young he knew a witness that became one of his best friends. So when he was a little older he went to a meeting with him. He said jokingly, "I figured I should go find out if they really ate children or not." Then he said he likes the witnesses, and feels like they are far more normal than he thought. I gave him an invite to the hall and he asked for my phone number so he could call if he needs directions. The conversation was really nice, but then we got called into our 1 on 1 session with the teacher.
The 1 on 1 exam went well for me, although I had a hard time with one of the questions which involved figuring the cost of a few items. I have decided that I really hate doing math in Chinese.
After class we went to eat with a brother from Japan who is in Hannah's 203 listening and speaking class. We enjoyed hearing some of his experiences. When we got home I got a call from Tim asking if I would like to go with him on some RVs. So I hurried and changed. We went to 5 different calls 2 of which were no longer at that location but Tim was able to find interest there still and now he has new calls at the same places. It was really neat to see him in action. I hope to be as proficient in Chinese as he is someday :)
Friday at the meeting I gave a comment during the Congregation Bible study and a few minutes later a brother gave me the note below:
It is so nice to know that even though I don't really feel like it most of the time, I am actually improving.
Well that is all we have for now sorry it has taken so long for the update.
We love and miss you all,
Phil & Hannah
