Life Direction, Advent and Tutoring

I have a Chinese tutor. I named him Louie (his surname is Lu, so it seemed to fit well, and he liked it).

He has been a good source of encouragement to me these past days. A week or more ago he was first to our room that we've been meeting in and when I walked in he asked how I was doing. I said good, the weather was warm and sunny, I was feeling good about studying at the time. Then I asked how he was doing. He said, eh, just ok. I asked why and that launched us into a lengthy discussion about life and big decisions, etc. He spent all of last year in Pittsburgh at a Confucian Institute, teaching Chinese to "foreigners" (I like to keep the label, even though he was the foreigner at the time). I was excited for him to return. He'll graduate this coming July with an M.A. in Teaching Chinese, so he's got mad skilz, always comes prepared, and he's just enjoyable to hang with.

He was troubled on this particular day, wrestling with considerations of a PhD, getting a job after he graduates, etc. He asked me how I made and make my decisions regarding these things since I'm in China now, doing an M.A., with plans for a PhD, having somewhat recently gotten married, etc. This opened the door to a really great conversation about following my Lord, how He cares for us, how I talk with Him and hear His voice. He asked some fairly perceptive questions, like "wow, that's great, would he do the same for me?" Another cool part of the story is that it was all done in Chinese! I would say it was my first really significant conversation in Chinese (beyond, where are you from, how old are you, how much money do you make, are you married, how long have you been in China...wow! Your Chinese is really good!).

Then, yesterday he came to the apartment to tutor me. I was working on an Advent Reading Calendar for the family, a tradition we tried last year and wanted to do more of this year. By the way, if you'd like a copy I should have it done by middle-ish of next week, and I can email it out to anyone who wants it. I'll let you know when it's prepared.

He came in and asked what I was up to, and I said I was working on and Advent Calendar. He had never heard of it, so I brought him over to the computer and showed him what I had done. I tried to explain how each reading is significant, and we looked at one. The second day I titled: Brokenness and Healing. I read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and explained how it refers to the future events in the life of Jesus, and what impact that has on our life. (side note: this time it was done in English...) He was impressed. He said, "I think I need to get [this book] and read it myself." I said, "that's a great idea! How about I bring you one next week?" He said, "Yeah, that's cool."

We'll see what comes of this. More later...