The Simplicity of Christmas

As we begin to celebrate our Savior’s birth, we wanted to share our focus for this season:  Christmas doesn't have to be busy. It can be simple, just like the very first Christmas was so long ago.

We have minimal decorations in our China home and only a few celebration events. While Christmas is becoming more popular to celebrate in China, the true meaning usually does not come across. Because of this, we choose to get back to the basics. Just a simple Christmas tree, some advent candles, and a couple strand of lights. We don't need too many extravagant celebrations or an overload of decorations because that may become confusing when sharing with our friends about why we celebrate this holiday.

After all, our Savior came into this world in a simple, dirty stable in a small town with no Christmas tree, no light display, and no mantle decorations. Just a bright star and a multitude of angels praising and bringing glory to Him.

Most of the parties we have in China are ones we host or help others host because many of our friends want to have American-style Christmas activities. However, sharing this time with our students and coworkers makes everything seem much more grand. Students get so excited about making and decorating Christmas cookies. We may sing Christmas carols, decorate cards, and even put up Christmas trees around the school, but we want to keep the focus on Who this is all about. Since Guangya is western-style high school, the Chinese teachers go all out in decorating for western holidays. The decorations are so fun, and they give us opportunities to help our coworkers and students understand the deeper meaning of each holiday.

Even though we must be careful in the frequency of sharing, being at our school does give us unique opportunities and chances to be bold on our campus. Telling the story of our Savior coming to earth is something we love doing during this time. It equally blesses us because we get to think about the big picture of why He came. We don’t just tell our friends the “nativity story” because we want them to understand why this is significant, so we start from the beginning. Telling them about Him creating humans, His children constantly rebelling & repenting, and His decision to send His Son to be our High Priest, ultimate sacrifice, and link to the Spirit makes our hearts swell. 

He came to save us and start a relationshipo with US, such undeserving people. While we may run from His commandments, reject knowing Him, or even bring shame upon His Name, He will forgive and wipe away that guilt and shame because of his neverending mercy. 

His grace and blessings are new every morning. 

He has already received the victory when He died as the ultimate sacrifice for us! All we need to do is just confess, truly believe, and choose to love Him. He is always pursuing us and longing to grow closer to us, despite the short-comings and darkness in our lives.


It is a wonderful reminder to us that He is also:
WITH us (Emmanuel),
the Prince of Peace,
our Redeemer, 
our King of kings,
our Everlasting Father
and our Friend. 

So before we get caught up in the fun activities of Christmas, we are choosing to rest in His presence and praise Him in the inner court. We want to know Him deeper before we begin sharing Hope with others. May you have the chance to do the same-- let us sit with Him and know Him before we shout to the nations of His glory! 

And when it comes time for the Christmas parties and celebrations, let's keep everything simple-- and so focused on bringing Him glory, as the angels did when singing to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem. 

圣诞节快乐！

[Shèngdàn jié kuàilè/Merry Christmas]

~Jesse & Sara Teel

Thriving in ______ [Insert Location]

We've been studying about "thriving in Babylon" with our team, and we had no idea when we started the study how much more meaningful this concept would become this semester. 

Welcome Home

Sara and I had a conversation a few days ago about home. People continually ask us if we are excited to go home and what we are most looking forward to. We have talked about things that we want to do and people we want to see when we travel back to America. As we plan our near future, our further off future seems to be looming in the background. So many people in China like to ask where we are from. We stick out in a sea of black hair and differently shaped faces. We are not Chinese, yet we live in China.

Using Time Well

There are only a few weeks left in our semester here. It's almost time to pack up our apartment for two months [to prevent molding in the humid summer weather] and start saying goodbyes to teammates and students who won't be returning in the fall. It's such a bittersweet time, and it's going by way too quickly! Please be thinking of us as we end our first year in China. We want to end this semester well, growing closer to friends and spending quality time together. As one of our good teacher friends said during a barbecue picnic last weekend,

     "I think we are such good friends, so we can spend time together in a big group like today."

Kaohsiung

During the Chinese New Year holiday, we had some time to travel. Asian countries are relatively cheap to visit, so we wanted to use our time off well. We planned to spend a few days in Kaohsiung, Tai---n for after our organization's annual Thailand conference. Sara's grandfather has a law partner whose in-laws work in Kaohsiung, and they asked us to visit if we ever got the chance. This was the perfect opportunity!

Thailand

Here are some photos from our time in Thailand for our organization's annual conference. 

We were inside at meetings most of the 10 days, but night time was great for exploring the markets and see some of the culture (which mostly originated from China)! We also had 1 free day, so we went on an all-day excursion for a very low price. Thailand is definitely budget-friendly; even more than China. ;) Our day adventure was very full:  riding elephants, rafting, bamboo rafting, eating pad thai wrapped in banana leaves, and hiking to a waterfall. We really just enjoyed being in the sun, after rarely seeing it for months in cloudy Dujiangyan.

A Week of Meals in Sichuan, China

These are average meals that we eat in a week in Sichuan, China. A lot of pork, rice, and noodles, mixed with some vegetables. Sichuan province is well-known for its variety of food and spice because of its long history of good agriculture. We're enjoying the food, and we're growing to love the spice!

BREAKFAST