Today we finished our second weekend of ESL training. We are now are certified to teach ESL overseas or here in the US. We have heard that in East Asia we will have plenty of opportunities build relationships by teaching English or practice English with others. We will be language students in East Asia for now but there may come a day when we will need to use our ESL training .
It's been a long three weeks. We've had a very busy schedule our weeks have gone from Monday-Saturday. Tonight we are looking forward to watching a movie and "taking it easy."
A mom came up to Marcus and me yesterday dying to share with us what her young son, Sam, just asked her.
We spent the morning analyzing our personality type using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. We've taken many of these personality indicators before. Each time they help to remind us why we do what we do and help us to realize our tendencies and also respect and work well with others of opposites personality types.
Marcus is ISTP, which is best described as Introverted Thinking with Sensing. His highest score was Sensing (17 out of 30). The description that describes ISTP really describes him well.
ISTP
-Logical, analytical, and objectively critical
-Careful observers of the world around them
-Able to quickly find the solution to a practical problem
-Not comfortable with regimentation and rules, thrives on variety and novelty
-Usually seen by others as independent, adaptable, confident, action oriented, and risk taking
I am ESFJ, which is best described as Extroverted Feeling with Sensing. I scored one point in the Extrovert column, which makes me pretty balanced between being an Introvert and Extrovert. My highest score was Feeling (30 out of 30). No surprise there.
ESFJ
-Warm, sympathetic, and helpful
-Personal, cooperative, and tactful
-Conscientious and loyal, value security, stability, and tradition
-Focused on the present, make decisions based on experience and facts
-Usually seen by others as sociable, enthusiastic, energetic, organized, and traditional.
Today both Marcus and I got our first round of shots. Marcus got 5 and I had 4. Don't be fooled by our faces, they really weren't that bad. Thank goodness for good nurses who give shots well, because I still have to have 4 more and Marcus has to have 8.
Well we have been here in VA for just over a week now and the Father is teaching us some amazing things and our relationship to the Father is growing closer and closer.
As we look around at some of the people that we are here with, it just blows our minds at the kind of relationship that these people have with Father. Some of the disciplines that these men and women have seems to be completely perfect and almost unobtainable. I have to remind myself that these people sometimes struggle and that life is not always peaches and cream. Don’t get me wrong, my relationship to the Father is probably the best it has been in a long time, but why is it that we humans must always compare ourselves to others. Either to build ourselves up or to inadvertently cause ourselves to feel inadequate, and I know that seeing others that are stronger in certain disciplines can be a motivational booster or even a resource to learn how to increase and perfect our disciplines, but today I have really had to claim the truth in Galatians 6:4 to show that I must measure my relationship to the Father by my relationship and not another’s.
I am so joyous that He bases our relationship on our relationship and that He is interested in my knowing Him in the way that He is revealing Himself to me and the Truths that He leads me to daily. I don’t have to worry about fitting into a perfect little cookie cutter shape. He grants me the blessing to live out our relationship in a way that is full of truth and grace. For that, I am truly grateful today.
“I have but one passion: it is He and He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world and henceforth, that country shall be my home where I can be most used for winning souls for Christ.”
-Count Zinzendorf
This is a picture of the "quadplex" we are stayining in while we are here in VA. We share a large open middle room with another family and three singles. There are four living areas that break off from the open room. Each living area has a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and washer/dryer.
Little by little, our house is being packed up. This time next week the only piece of furniture we will have in our house is a bed, one chair, and a baker’s rack. In three weeks our house will be completely empty.
The Father’s calls us to store up treasures in heaven where moth and dust won’t destroy… and hold loosely to material things. There is such a freedom in knowing that our “things” don’t own us nor do they keep us anchored in one place. I thought this process would be hard on me but in reality it feels so good to be free of “stuff” and it feels so good to have the opportunity to help meet other’s needs by providing the things they need with the things God has given us.
