When I volunteer to teach English in a public school, I do so to teach English, not to proselytize. There is no salary as I cannot teach English for money on my visa. We teach English in the school system merely as a way of demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ in a practical way with no strings attached.
As a professor of TESL/TEFL at a Christian college commented to me several years ago when I led him and a few of his students on a summer teaching project to help middle and high school English teachers in mainland China 9 years ago (we do this frequently there), Jesus Christ is most glorified in us as we seek to excel in our teaching, not by twisting the opportunity around to share about God. Anyway, if we do a good job, opportunities to share about our faith may follow naturally.
Yesterday I was blessed in an unexpected way in the middle school I just began helping out at a few weeks ago. After class, I got a chance to go swimming in the 25 meter, 5 lane indoor swimming pool that two of the teachers have built on their large piece of property in the countryside! As I don't have a fitness center to enjoy out here like I did in previous years in the city, it was a dream come true.
In addition to the relaxation of swimming, we enjoyed a good time of conversation in English, Chinese, and Taiwanese that lasted until the early hours of the evening. What an unexpected pleasure, especially as our organization recently told us that for the calendar year which began in July, our budget has been slashed by 83% due in large part to the rocky economy back home. An opportunity to enjoy simple pleasures.
1 comment:
As a PS to the July 19 comments I would like to say that our frinds only concentrated on the negatives examples, what about the tral-blazers like Mother Thersa, Father Damian, St Francis, William Wilberforce, William Carey,Nelson mandela, Martin Luther King, william Booth, George Mueller and thousands more.Many unsung heroes.
I am subscribing to you by bloglines.
Post a Comment