It's been over a month of teaching now, though it hardly seems possible. Although I miss the colors and smells of fall, the air has changed here and no longer drips with humidity. It's cool enough to wear a jacket at night, and the days have been breezy and pleasant. I've started a little garden of vegetables and herbs-- something I never had too much patience for in the States. The plant growth is so slow you can hardly see a difference from day to day. But after a month, I look back and think of how those ambitious, gangly, vivacious shoots came from dry seeds and it seems impossible. I think teaching is a lot like that-- day to day, you don't see the difference you are making. But we still till, sow, water every day. We work, we watch, we wait. And eventually, we will be amazed at how our students have grown. Gardening is teaching me patience and persistence despite a lack of instant feedback. I almost wish we grew a garden as part of our education degree, because it's a powerful picture of what I'm learning as a first year teacher!
I officially received my first salary paycheck (huge excitement for the recent college grad!), and used part of it to buy a nice guitar. It allows me to lead worship at a local church, Friday Night Bible Study songs, On Campus Student Fellowship on Thursday nights, a student worship band at the school, as well as enjoy personal worship time. What a blessing! I really cherish my new "baby". :) My newest project-- learning Chinese worship songs! It's a good way to connect with Chinese Christians and learn more of the language. :)
I started tutoring for a prominent family in the community. The family is quite rich and owns many different businesses in the area, so it could be a very influential job. The girls are 6 and 8 years old, and it's definitely a stretch out of my preferred teaching age group (junior high and high school). I need to look into kindergarten teaching strategies! The family is Buddhist, but I wear my cross necklace and we'll see what opportunities God gives me to share His grace in love.
Part of my vocation here is improving the Spanish program. Concordia Chiayi prides itself in being a prestigious school for the area as well as an international school. The principal and administration are seeking to globalize the school as much as possible to increase it's draw to families in the community and to raise the school's expectations and vision. As the sole Spanish teacher, some of this opportunity falls to me. The Spanish program has only been around for 3 years at the school, and there are many changes that can be done to make it more effective and the students more successful. I had a good meeting today with my advising senior teacher in which we discussed how we can stabilize and integrate the Spanish program into the school's higher vision.
God is faithful. Every time I become discouraged at the number of students that don't know Him, He shows me that there are always people that are faithful to Him. It reminds me of when God told Elijah about the 700 faithful in Israel that did not bow to Baal. Simply knowing that there are students at Concordia who love Jesus gives me indescribable hope and joy! Today I talked with an 11th grade student in my Spanish class who is heavily involved in her church, teaching Sunday school and attending youth group during the week. Her parents are not Christian, but God planted the seed of faith in her and her sister through her local church and made it grow strong roots in their lives. Now, it is a part of who she is. She is a leader, a servant, and a reflection of God to her family and classmates. I'm in awe of the way God changes hearts! The plan of salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit is so much bigger than us! We have to give all the credit and glory to God.
I should be sending out an official newsletter soon. Until then, I hope this will suffice. If you'd like me to write about something specific, or if you have any questions or are curious about different aspects of what's going on here in Taiwan, please feel free to email me at anna.gruen@cuw.edu. I would love to hear from you all.
If any of you know of a good devotional book, I'm in the market to find one. Tomorrow night I'm teaching the story Caleb and the topic of "Fear" in our Friday Night Bible Study senior high group. So glad that God calls us out of fear and into His infinite love:
"There is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18
I pray that this is true for you all in the name of Jesus. God's blessings!
In Christ,
Anna
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