My Savior he can move the mountains....

So as you all know we came to China officially to teach English, however with a bigger goal in mind.

When we arrived to teach for the school IBABY that you have seen in the photos, the owners quickly started changing things from the original agreement. They immediately began changing our schedules making it so that Jon and I would never have a day off together, leaving NO time at all for any ministry work.

Originally they hired us to work the same days, also being able to bring Grace to school with us. This would leave our off days open to reach out to the community etc.

After talking with them, they decided that they would not be able to stick with the previous agreement. This left us with no choice, but to look for new jobs, and a new place to live!

Wow, so much has happened in ONE month....

God moved mountains today.

Today we interviewed with a Kindergarten school. The interview consisted of me, Jon, Grace an American teacher named Luke who was our translator, and the Chinese Principal who's name is also Grace. Everything we talked about during the interview lined up perfectly with what we were looking for as far as income, working hours, job duties, and being able to bring Grace to school too.

This is where it gets really cool.

The interview was a very casual setting, we talked as the Chinese Principal Grace gave our Grace candies and peanuts and tried to get her to say different words in Mandarin. During our talk The American teacher Luke stopped and said " I am not sure how to ask this but, the principal wants to know if you have any religious affiliations or anything like that." Not really sure where this conversation was headed we both answered yes we are Christians. I sort of felt like it could cost us getting the job which would not surprise me here in China. Luke translated to the Principal Grace that we were Christians, and the biggest smile came across her face as well as his. He looked back at us and said "We are too". He said have you ever seen the movie inception? ... that is kind of what we do here, we are all really here to subconsciously plant a seed of Jesus Christ in these kindergartners hearts. He said all of us here are Christians. He went on to say that they have been praying for an American Christian family to come along to work for their school.

We felt so at home today. Not only did they meet the pay that the last school was paying us, but we are going to be working a third of the hours we would have been working. We are making the same amount of money, in less time, which leaves so much more time available to make friendships and reach out. They also have the goal in mind unlike the first school we were working for.

God always comes through.

As of this Thursday Grace will officially be in Kindergarten! They start at age 2 here, and so she will be in a real class on her own with her very own teacher, not mommy! Jon and I will have our own classes, and be right down the hall from her. This is so exciting, because it will give her a chance to really branch out and learn with the rest of the kids. All of the kids in her class speak Mandarin, so it will be really cool to see what she learns from them!

Isn't it so awesome when you know something was 100% without a doubt orchestrated by God alone. Since we have been here everything has happened for a reason, and in God's timing. If we didn't leave the IBABY school when we did, we would not have been offered this position. God has a way of working things out and sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. I was never worried when things didn't pan out with the first school, I knew that God had us covered.

Oh and we now have a very tiny, but AWESOME apartment in the heart of Shenzhen which is like NYC with a Chinese twist! We LOVE it here. There are SO many foreigners like us here making it very easy to make friends, and get help when needed. We have made friends from The United States, Europe, South Africa and South America already. A lot of the Americans call Shenzhen "China Light"... It is full of Chinese culture, but so modern and a lot like NYC. Shenzhen is now the fastest growing city, and is competing with Hong Kong economically. What an amazing opportunity God has handed us.

I hope this encourages all of you, God sees your needs as well.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).