Josh Yen Finally Updates.

Here we go.

Step 1: state the obvious.

Week 1 is over.

Step 2: Describe how you feel about it.

It went how I expected; there are many things that I need to improve on.

Step 3: elaborate.

Things I need to do better.

• Pray more.
• Please and thank you, they go farther than you think. Especially to team members because when you live so close to each other it’s easy to forget the common courtesies.
• Be more organized. It wastes time when you have to spend it looking for things. Also, it goes along with common courtesy. No one wants to wade through all of your junk.
• Focus. The heat, the humidity, sleepiness. They are all excuses to lose focus. Sometimes I want to lie down for a while or just sit with my mind blank. But there is stuff to do!
• Better preparation and diligence.

Things I’m thankful for

· There was only one shower in the Neili Church. That means if we started showering at 9, it would take 12 people at least until midnight for everyone to shower. I’m thankful that we only had one shower. It caused our team to have to work with each other, to compromise, and to sacrifice in a very little way. Also, I’m thankful for the people who don’t mind showering later. They allowed the process to go more smoothly. No one complained and no one fought for the shower. It seems like a little thing but little things can break teams. 2^nd Corinthians 3:11 says to let “no advantage be… taken of us by Satan, for we are no ignorant of his schemes. Satan really seeks to turn us against each other in any way, big or small. The mission team did not let this attack cause us to falter.

· I’m thankful for the room that we have to work in at the Neili Church which the guys also sleep in. It is large enough for all of us and is very comfortable. There is good air conditioning and the chairs are good (don’t take that for granted!). And best of all, the table are big! I like big tables.

· I’m thankful for Norman! It is 2am right now and he is next to me on his laptop working on the blog and editing photos and stuff. It takes a lot of work to keep that blog updated so often and he has to constantly remind us to write our blog entries. He has to wait on us to get the entries in before he can finish updating for the day which is a big hassle. I like the font that he uses. I tried to find out what it was. and how he types in lowercase. how stylish.

· I’m thankful for Bernard. He has done a really good job with taking most of the pictures and they look awesome.

· I’m thankful for Elean, my teaching partner. Elean’s Chinese is really good and mine is poor. I’m pretty sure Elean could teach the class by herself but she lets me go up there teach. A lot of times she has to finish my sentences. And on top of all that, she encourages me often.

· I’m thankful Jennifer Wang, Daniel Lee, and Enoch Ng, the senior youth group leaders back home who have a greater burden to carry with so many youth group leaders gone a missions. The YG is in good hands! Also, I’m thankful for all the younger leaders who have stepped up greater leadership roles.

· Jacqueline! She got here on Wednesday night and it’s good to finally have our 13^th team member. Pray for her as she has to adjust to the jet lag.

Things I’m praying for

· Boldness. With my poor Chinese-speaking ability, It’s easy for me to fall into timidity. I need to be teaching and serving God with confidence, knowing that God is the one working, not me.

· Humility, which is good in order to avoid foolish arguments.

· Some of us are tired. We can’t be tired! We still have two weeks to go! Pray that we will be refreshed.

· We need to communicate better with each other.

· Cheerful serving hearts. It’s not enough just to sacrifice if you do it grudgingly. We need to serve each other because we love each other, no because we want to accumulate “sacrifice points”.

· Improvement. Learning from the mistakes of the first week.