My workplace is having a farewell party

…but not exclusively for me. Two teachers won’t be teaching starting next semester (my co-worker Steve and I). A few of the foreign teachers will be going to a KTV place (karaoke-ish place) along with all of the Chinese teachers on July 2nd (the last day of the semester).

Looking back, I wish I could have gotten to know more of my co-workers on a deeper level. Even so, I’m glad for all the learning experiences I’ve had in building relationships with a few of them. Since the 3 months of apologetic sessions with “Gary” last year, things have been awkward with him. I still see him when I walk through his classroom with my kids twice a week, but since he doesn't want to have any discussion about God, I’ve had a hard time coming up with things to talk about with him. I should work on my social skills for the glory of God! He – and most of the other foreign teachers – are employed at other schools as well, and have much less time to hang out and chat than I do. I still pray for him every now and then, but I forget most of the time. That tells you about my heart. In any case, I really want to at least commit to praying for him these next few weeks before I finish.

One of the other foreign teachers I’ve got to chat a bit with is a really funny guy, Jason, from New Zealand who has a family and is apparently leading some youth ministry at a nearby church. The school I work at owns/rents two separate spaces: one designed for kindergarten kids in the morning/afternoon and one for the elementary school kids in the afternoon/night. I’ve only chatted with Jason (he teaches kindergarten and elementary school kids) personally the few times I substituted for some of the kindergarten teachers at the other building space. If he ends up going to the summer camp for our school, I might have more personal time to chat with him. Pray for me/him!

Also, I’ve been meeting up with a few Chinese teachers that wanted to learn English on a weekly basis. We started off really well. We did self-introductions and I was able to explain why I was in Taiwan and share the gospel. Most of them were bewildered at my motivations. As the weeks wore on, I was able to explain to them my views on several topics and tie it back to the gospel, but recently I’ve nearly completely stopped praying for them and it’s just been a time of teaching them English. That was foolish. Please pray for me to be focused on their real needs and for the last meeting or two to be God-centered and God glorifying.

Since I started thinking about how effectively I’ve used my time with my co-workers to talk about eternal things, I begin to understand how I must be learning as much as I can about how to actively build friendships with the people around me however different they might be and be praying and preparing myself for being a good witness at any future places that I might be placed in. I must know that these places are sovereignly chosen before time, by my God for me to be a salt and light in.

And last and definitely of least importance, Coke floats on Sprite.


Goodnight!