Random thoughts and updates

It's been a busy week here.

Full of giving finals to students (most of them did half of their finals this past week and will do the other half next week) -- which is great because I get to spend time with them one on one or in small groups, and I get to ask them questions such as "What have been turning points in your life?"  or "What do you want to do after you graduate?  Why?"  It is exhausting because it's hard to try to listen to so many answers and grade them too, but it has really been a good time of getting some more individual time with each student.

This past week has also been full of trying to get ready for Christmas!  We won't teach on Tuesday (the classes were rescheduled to other days), which is great, but it feels strange to still be in the middle of working around Christmas.  I'm excited to celebrate it with my team though, and both Christmas and a lot of talk about the end of the world have been raising great opportunities to talk with students about deeper things and what we value in life.  :)

The campus is beautiful with all of the snow... and we are all looking forward to the upcoming break for Chinese New Year and the chances to travel to warmer places!  

Internet in China is being kind of limited lately, so I have not really been on facebook and other things may or may not work, although email is usually pretty reliable.  :)

Please be asking for all of us to have endurance and a lot of love as we finish out the semester -- everything from truly listening to our students and continuing to forge relationships to dealing with logistic hassles that arise with exam times/rooms and grading a lot of stuff.  :)  Also as we all seek wisdom on what to pursue next year...

Thanks!

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overcome evil with good