Meet the Team

As I read back through some previous posts, I realized that there were a couple of things I have failed to do. The first being that I have failed to properly introduce the other Macau team members. Secondly, I have yet to adequately describe to everyone what it is that I do on a day to day basis. The following post is an attempt to rectify these oversights.
Mary, Charmaigne, and Me

Ruth, Adam (Charmaigne's fiance), Charmaigne, Julie

Mary, Kate, Joel, Chris

A little about the members:

Mary is from Illinois and has already been in Macau for six months and will remain in Asia for another year and a half. While she is still a part of the Macau team, she is currently serving in another city.

Kate is from Minnesota or Wisconsin (sorry I do not know for sure). She is now serving in another city along with Mary. Her term in Asia will last until December.

Ruth has been serving in Macau for three years. Originally she was only going to stay a year, however, it seems that the Lord still has work for her to do here in Macau. Who knows where she will go next and when it will be.

Julie came to Macau a year ago and has recently extended her term. She will be serving an additional 6 months.

Chris, from Colorado, met me on Hong Kong and will be with me throughout the year.

Joel, along with his wife Iantha and daughter Eliada (not pictured), have been in Macau for a year and will be here another year as he is now completing his vicarage.

Sharon is our coordinator at the English Center and I do not have a picture of her. She has been in Macau for three years and plans to make a career of her work here in Macau.

Charmaigne is not associated with LCMS, but works at the center teaching low level English classes. She recently moved here from Austrailia, so she is going through adjusting to Macua along with me and Chris.

There are also two more team members ( I don't have pictures of them either), Jean and Gerry from Michigan. They will be serving for 4 months.

Now about the day to day routine. Just be warned that the following description may not sound like an actual "job" to some people.

My day begins around, oh, we'll just say 9:00. After a leisurely cup of coffee, I make my way to the gym around the corner from the center and have a brisk workout. Our center offers four different types of classes. We offer private tutoring, which is a one to one English session. We also offer classes that range in topics from general chat to baking. A nearby hotel, The Mandarin Oriental, procures our services to teach certain staff members English that is specific to their job. Lastly, we have the free bible classes. These are by far the most fulfilling way to teach English. Included in these classes, is a time to interact with students with the hope of building a relationship with them.

A very interesting and saddening occurrence that I have seem many times with the students in the bible classes is that they possess knowledge of the bible and of what Jesus has done for us, but the key to eveything, Christ, is not real to them. I can ask them many questions about facts from the bible, and the students have a ready answer. But after they have given the answer, they are ready to move on to the next question. It is though learning things about Christ is the same as learning math. How sad it is for me to see them treating such a precious gift as though it is a mundane and everday fact. How frightening it is to know that they possess the knowledge of what God's saving grace is, but lack the true understanding. Please pray for the students here in Macau, that there may be a softening of their hearts. That the Holy Spirit would work in them to give them an understanding of what the cross of Christ truly is. Please pray for me, that I would be vessel of the Holy Spirit and that the words God speaks through me would not return void.

Back to a day at the office. The atmosphere at the English center is pretty relaxed. We operate on the "come and go as you please" format, and as long as we get our work done, all is well. As the title of my job is 'relationship builder', a large portion of my time is spent hanging out with student. So more often than not, I am going to eat, going shopping, going sight seeing. Yeah, I know, it is rough.

As you can see here, Chris is very relaxed.

Spending time with the English students is an very interesting experience. When I first came to Macau, the differences between our culture and theirs were not readily apparent as I had yet to interact with any of the students on a more personal level. Now that I have had an opportunity to do so, many subtle (and not so subltle) differences are emerging. One example of this is that the Chinese people ask, "Have you had your dinner yet?" by way of greeting, whereas we in America might ask one another, "How are you doing?" At first this confused me because, even though I had been told this bit of information previously, I would still assume that they were then going to ask me if I wanted to go eat.

Another difference is that they are very much a culture that takes care of one another... down to the tiniest details. In America, one person telling another person what they should do, may be construed as rude in some situations. Not so here. Someone telling me what I should do about this or that, is pretty much an everyday occurence. There is also a Chinese NO and an American NO. In America, theoretically, No means No, but in China, No does not mean No until it has been said three times. Someone will offer me a drink and I will politely say, "No thank you". They then proceed to ask me two more times, and if I really did want a drink it would be considered rude to accept on the first offer. So this leaves me with a delimma. I am afraid to say Yes to the first offer, but also afraid to say No because what if they do not offer again. And these are just some of the small differences that I have noticed so far. There are probably many more differences that I have not noticed yet and because of that am unknowingly insulting people. Good thing the Chinese are kind people.

I want to end by telling everyone thanks so much for all of the emails and letters that you have been sending. I love to get mail! Plus, I love to hear what is going on in everyone's lives. Thanks also for all of your prayers!

In Christ,

Cassie