So Blogger tells me it's been one month since I last update my quote-unquote "weekly" blog.
In the words of Vizzini: "What in the world could that be?!
Well, I- I could have sworn I saw something. No matter."
We've had a course running here at YWAM Lebanon this past month called a TESOL - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It's taught by an Australian lady who travels all over the world. When I picked her up from the airport she had come from North Korea. She figured out I was Canadian from my accent. We had six students who graduated this past Friday. Two of them were staff who wanted to do the course; one had just finished her DTS and is now staying on as staff; one is from Monterrey, Mexico and had just completed an ESL course in Wisconsin where she had learned English; one was a local guy who is going now to Bangladesh and thinking of doing a DTS when he returns in August and the last is from Vermont and is now going to Laos. It intrigues me how this course brings people from all over the world and then sends them right back out. Jon, who is our local student, commented on the fact that he likes the base because it doesn't feel like a Pennsylvania ministry. It has a very international feel to it. I just like leading worship in front of the large Canadian flag. Also my office (yes, I have an office) has a sign on the door that says "In this office 'Z' is pronounced 'ZED' ". So our first Spring TESOL is over, the second begins in two weeks and has nine enrolled students. Our office administrator is taking the course this time so there is a bit of a panic on what we're going to do while she's in class.
The base as a whole is doing well. I'm slowly initiating changes to try and both modernize how we operate as well as have a more professional, welcoming atmosphere. We switched from clear overheads to a digital projector for worship. How people apply has been revamped (and actually works now). We have a former student who just came on staff who has worked years in construction and is fixing up our base. This week we get a new carpet downstairs since a few weeks ago our sewer backed up. While damage was minimal because we quickly fixed the problem and were able to mop and pump out the water the insurance company decided to give us a new carpet anyways. Strangely because the clog happened on our property we're covered but if it were to have happened on city property we would have got nothing. Insurance is a strange beast. So while things here are not perfect, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Also, if anyone wants to donate a sound board we could use one.
I've started leading some of our worship times. Last week we had two visitors from India. They do ministry there with traditional sounding Indian music with great success. Even the hardest hearted Indian I'm told will sit and listen to them sing about Jesus in Hindi. They had a concert on Wednesday night with a Guitar and a Sitar and Thursday they joined me for worship. We had two guitars, the Sitar, an accordion, a violin, a flute and a piano and we all sat on the floor as is the Indian way. It's definitely something I'll remember for a very long time and stands out as one of my favorite worship times. Then Friday night we had two missionaries from Tajikistan visit us. They talk about the vast difference between expectations and reality. They went overseas for four years and had all these expectations that didn't come to pass. Instead they found a challenging country to live in where the gospel is persecuted. Being a missionary isn't always glamorous and it was quite humbling to hear them speak.
I go home for 10 days on May 20th. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family again. Then I return and in the beginning of June travel to New York for a three day DTS leadership training course because I will be one of the leaders when the DTS begins here on September 4th. That means come December I'll once more be going overseas.... somewhere. Quite possibly Ukraine but it's not written in stone by any means. I'll really have to start fundraising. I hate fundraising. It's important, but I don't like it.
That's quite possibly it for now. My attention span is wearing down and I'm running out of things to say.
God Bless,
Christopher
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