Nehemiah Update 4 - Zombies

We all believe in Zombies, right? At the very least, we should, because we have evidence of their existence standing before our eyes every day in the form of a teenager woken up early in the morning. In its most early forms, PTZD, better known as Pre-Transitional Zombie Disorder, which manifests itself in a variety of ways: downcast eyes, sluggish movements (can it really take five minutes to cut a banana?), impaired speech (lots of grunts), and bad breath all point to an emerging Zombie. And when I went downstairs on Monday morning, after a long travel day on Sunday and getting into bed late (1:00 am) the night before, I knew we were a hairsbreadth away from the next Zombie Apocalypse. The signs were everywhere amidst the chaos of cutting up lychee nuts, making sandwiches, and doling out the Chinese oatmeal in a space that had never been used as a kitchen and whose closest sink was next to the toilet.

But I'm a highly trained youth professional, and I knew just what to do; I rushed upstairs, grabbed the JBL Bluetooth speaker and my old iPhone, opened my Spotify account, and gave them concise orders: Play music. Your choice. Your volume level.

In less time than it takes the average adult to take a sip of coffee, the room was transformed. Bodies began to move, smiles started to form, words were uttered...and then singing began to break out and the spirit of Zombism was suddenly lifted. Healing was complete. It is now part of my morning routine to give the breakfast crew my iPhone and speaker. It does wonders in the prevention of PTZD.

As I write this silly stuff, the Nehemiah team is out with their groups from the program. Every other day, the Chinese take our students directly from the program at 11:30 and don't return them to the dorms until 5:00. They come back jazzed beyond belief because the Chinese treat them like royalty, and they are fed the best the city can offer! On Wednesday, one group made pottery, another went to the Chinese opera, while another went up the mountain for a beautiful view of the city. All of the groups were taken out for a delicious meal. I suspect they'll experience much of the same today. Here are the pairings of the Nehemiah who partner together during the program: Eli and Maren, Nora, and Ollie, Liam and Abbigail, Nessa and Madison, Lydia and Colton. Because we are an odd number, Renae is paired with Steven, who is living here doing Kingdom work full-time. He's a former Royal Servant from 2014.

We are four days into the program, the halfway point, and all is going well. We wake up at 6:30 am each morning and meet for breakfast at 7:15. We finish by 7:45, and then the team meets together to put the finishing touches on the program's schedule. We usually leave the dorms around 8:00, and it only takes about one minute (I timed it) to reach the door where the program is happening, which is quite convenient! We begin at 8:30 with an energetic welcome and jump right in. This morning, we sang three group songs and then broke into small groups (six in all) for craft time. Today they made paper trumpets. We all came together after that for the skit, which the team put together, which was about the Israelites and the walls of Jericho. At the crucial seventh round trip on the seventh day, all the kids took their paper trumpets and blew down the walls. It was loud pandemonium, and it was incredible!

Afterwards, Maren did an amazing job giving her testimony, and then they broke up into groups again to discuss the story and the testimony. Games followed, and then everyone gathered at 11:00. All the groups got on the stage individually, where they gave their team cheer. We taught them the Macarena and then finished up with the Cha Cha Slide. That was our morning!

Tonight, four students are heading out to an "English Corner" and won't be back until 10:30. The rest of us will have devotions, followed by a discussion time afterwards. It'll be pretty chill. We also just began the first session of going through the StrengthsFinder test.  Karen, Renae is already loving it!

The team is still working together amazingly well, but they are beginning to get tired, and some are getting sick.  This is a bit concerning, since we won't have a day off until we leave next Wednesday. And a travel day is hardly a day off!

Well, the students return in 15 minutes, and I have to get downstairs and gather them together. I'll be posting some more pics, so keep an eye out.

For the Nehemiah Team,

Tom

PS: The four (Eli, Maren, Nora, and Madison) just set out for the English Corner. The girls were SO excited! One of them might have told me, "This is the best day of my life!" The Father is doing a good work here. All honor to Him.

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