i can post!

hello out there! i have not been able to post to my blog since i left the states. i think it is because of the censorship, and when i tried to visit blogger, i failed every time. this made me very sad. today i started a picture file on google and remembered that my gmail and blogger are now linked, so i tried to go through my gmail, and it works this way! yay! but now i am sooo behind on posting. tonight i must sleep, but i will try to post soon.

less than 2 weeks now...

i had my last night of work Thursday. i sold my car for $5,500. i got a storage unit and didn't even fill it up with what was left of my stuff. i am having a yard sale today with mom today to get rid of some personal belongings. i moved in with my sis, and that is where my furniture will be while i'm gone.

my first flight departs at 7:10 am on june 13.

coffee shop acquaintances

standing at the counter of the coffee shop downtown, i heard two asian girls speaking another language.
-excuse me, what language are you speaking?
-Chinese
-sweet! i'm going to China next month to teach in Qingdao.
-that is a very beautiful city.

a conversation progressed in which i learned (and spoke) their chinese names. they thought i spoke the language b/c of my pronunciation! i love these kinds of encounters.


last night was a different kind of coffee encounter, involving a good-looking, soon-to-be (this weekend) graduate from Hendrix with a religion degree and some really good conversation. yay for coffee shops...

sooooon

i found out that i have to be in china by mid-june! thats just over a month away!!!

cool days and warm words

i know these past few days would have been perfect for fishing because we got a cold front in, but i have had no time to go! as soon as i get back to it they won't be biting again, i'm sure. i have been quite busy and am anxious to get back outside soon.

today i finished getting together my recs and info for china. i also finally got the website for the program! my friend jen(who is also going) and i sat at a coffee shop reading the site and looking at pics of the school we will be at. we were getting so giddy! it is crazy, because she and i have not spent much time together before, but today we began to realize how much we have in common. we practically have the same taste in food and interests and everything. i am excited to have her for a travel buddy! here's the web address... www.leewen.org/2006/

tonight at work i recieved a wonderful compliment. a group of the profs and students from the English dept at my University came to eat, and i visited their table a few times to take food or pick up plates. i greeted my feminist lit teacher, and she was asking me the usual questions about how i was, and began asking about my plans for China. i told her what all was going on with my jobs and plans, and she and the woman next to her were talking about how awesome that would be, and then she looked at the woman and told her that she tells people that she wants her daughter to grow up to be just like me. i was shocked and said "wow, what a compliment," and she looked at me and said, "i just think you're spectacular, and what you brought to my class, well i just think you're great and hope she is just like you." FROM MY PROFESSOR! i didn't even make a great grade in her class because my papers just didn't meet up to her standards, but apparently i made an impact on her. i was stunned, and that completely made my night.

fighting to win

what a week this is! i am reaching the end of my server training at mike's place. i am relieved to be through, but there is still so much to remember, and i know my first few shifts are going to be overwhelming. it is so good to be in such a positive working environment, though, because i know that my coworkers will be there to help me out.

more on the ESL job...well i am pretty much hired for it as a private tutor to start. but now the family i was supposed to be teaching is changing their hours around, and i won't be able to take that assignment because of my shifts at the restaraunt. however, the language institute is going to work it all out, and i am pretty sure i will end up just switching classes with someone else. this job is so perfect for me right now, because i will be getting ESL experience, and hopefully taking chinese classes, and both will obviously help equip me for China in the fall! i didn't even look for the job, either. a friend contacted me practically begging for my help at the institute!

it is so amazing how God has just been leading me. i have shared this with folks a few times this week because i am so amazed. i have not stopped and begged for direction or even really asked. pretty much since last spring i just started taking the direction that seemed to be next (then it was going overseas with pioneers) and God has placed opportunities in my path time and again that affirmed that direction. i feel so blessed, and i know i have done nothing to deserve it.

another blessing is my church. i don't really even go on sundays anymore. i am hoping to soon, but i just haven't in awhile. but i am still involved with the college group even though i'm not a student anymore. last night i went to a prayer meeting with just a 2 of the guys from the ministry (apparently there is never much of a crowd), and we had such sweet prayer together. i had forgotten how uplifting the body can be, and i feel so encouraged by these brothers of mine. well this is one of my longest posts in awhile. there is so much going on right now! holla holla...

the earth is so alive

i spent much of this weekend outside. it was fun. i got to hang out with some family yesterday and drive around on the four wheeler with my grandpa. today i went fishing and rode around with my friend webber on his go cart thing. i'm tired. it was so nice to be outside. the vehicle goes really fast and i could close my eyes and feel like i was flying. all the scents change through the countryside and the temperature would go from warm to cold and back as we moved up and down hills. it was just such a beautiful time.

i think i am getting a job as an ESL teacher in Little Rock. possibly this week. i am so excited. they pay really well and i will be able to take free chinese classes! more about that later...

encouraging rides

Another good talk tonight while riding bikes...this time with a guy. that hasn't happened in a long time. i did most of the listening, and he had much to say. they were encouraging words from a heart filled with passion for holiness, and they sounded so strange to me. i have been tainted, i have conformed, and now i can hardly recognize truth for what it is. the things he said were peculiar to me, and i could almost hear my friends' laughter at them; laughter they would have given if they had heard him tonight. it brought me tears of pain when i realized how far from this passion i am. i have been there, and spoken those words, but they are a foreign language to me right now. the good thing is that i am being encouraged and that God keeps pursuing me through the words of these people. he wants me, and that is an amazing concept. that is what all my relationship trouble has ever been for; to feel wanted and loved. but i see that i am wanted by the most important being of all, and His love is finally becoming real to me; his pursuit evident. how long will i continue to forsake his perfect love?...