Hello Friends and Family,
We apologize for the expansive passage of time between our consecutive posts. Apparently the Christmas season here is busy as well. We have been enjoying preparing and buying gifts for friends, family and each other during this time. This past weekend we canvassed the town of Nanning searching for gifts. We always enjoy buying gifts for each other and friends and so we had fun time. Some of the places we went even had Christmas decorations up, which made our mood all the more festive. We were surprised how many stores had christmas trees in windows or santas in the shop. After four days of shopping its safe to say that I (Ryan) am tired and Kealy is just getting started! This week for our college classes we are throwing each of our nine classes Christmas Parties! We are playing games and sharing the story of Christmas. We have played Christmas bingo, Scattegories and sang the Twelve Days of Christmas and showed American decorations such as stockings and ornaments that have been sent to us from home. The students laughed when the bottom of one of the ornaments mailed to us from America said 'Made in China'. We have also obtained 'VIP' status at the local Pizza Hut. Now they know which booth we like to sit at (second floor, by the big window) what we order (onion rings, curly fries and the super supreme pizza), and we get free gifts or prizes too! It has been fun going in there often as a couple of students work their as well.
Our one big announcement is that, after a lot of prayer and discussion with each other, family and friends, we have decided not to renew our contract with the college here and return to Oregon sometime in late We have loved our time in China immensely and have learned many things, made new friends, developing a deeper love for our world and for America and grown closer together in our marriage and our faith. We feel that God is calling us back to Oregon to embark on a new adventure after completing the goals and experiences that we desired to have (as well as experiencing a lot of unexpected things) while in China. It will be hard to leave our friends here and the slower paced schedule of this interesting culture, but we are excited for the future, whatever it might be. We are not sure exactly what God has planned for our next adventure. I have applied for a position working with youth at our church in Salem, but a decision has not been made about that. Kealy will most likely spend some time substitute teaching, but that is as much as we know. Please continue to pray for us as we explore options and share our decisions with the college and our friends here. It will be hard for them to hear and hard for us to leave them after such a short time together. But we are so very excited to return to Oregon with new perspectives and ideas and an excitement and enthusiasm for whatever the next step might be. We also look forward very much to seeing each of you and sharing our experiences with you. Thank you for your love and support. We'll continue to keep you posted.Talk to you soon.
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