Holy Mackeral, what is the world coming to? We’ve been stuck in the house for two weeks, and we’re actually enjoying it! When you first heard of the lock-down, perhaps you excitedly imagined catching up on home improvement projects or you drooled over your newly acquired binge watching schedule. As our Facebook feeds keep reminding us, we all should be crafting, cooking or learning a new language right? Well, that’s what we chose to do. Learn a new language that is.
On top of the fun we’ve been having enjoying the outdoors and mastering our board games, we also committed our time in isolation to learning Chinese faster. This was always part of the plan to prepare for our future mission work, but since Bear Valley was postponed for two weeks and the kids were on their Spring Break, we decided to ramp up our Chinese studies as a family. We have purchased several programs to help us do this. One of the more effective methods has been Talkbox.Mom. This is an immersive way for the whole family to learn Chinese. Basically, what we do is hang posters in the house with commonly used household phrases, and we practice using these phrases with each other throughout the day. For example, the poster on our fridge tells us how to say, “I’m hungry” – 我餓了 (wo e le).
The really cool part about this is watching how fast our kids pick it up. We’re realizing that we all learn a little differently. Samantha especially, is like a sponge, and she thinks it’s fun!
Before the Rapture (Two weeks earlier)…
Immediately following our first semester, we started work on our Spring Campaign. Our campaign weeks are opportunities to go out in the community twice a year to help a church in the community. This time, I was thankful to be assigned as the Campaign Director for our group in Firestone, CO. The congregation in this small but growing town north of Denver only formed a few years ago. Despite being so small and young, they have a great spirit of love and evangelism.
For the campaign, five of us students (and Samatha helped one day) drove up everyday for 4 days with one primary goal – raise awareness about the congregation in the community. We did this primarily by working with the congregation to pass out 5,000 door hangers with information about the congregation. Walking around 5 miles per day, we canvased nearly every neighborhood within the area! On top of that, we were able to have wonderful fellowship with the hardworking Christians there.
Once the campaign was over, the Ihle Crew packed up and started making our way to California. In California, we are blessed to have a gracious and mission minded congregation who is supporting us, and they allowed us to come teach class and preach morning and evening services. This was an incredible blessing for us. First, because they were such a loving and encouraging congregation. The other reason it was such a blessing is because we were able to go on a few beautiful hikes while out west (including the Grand Canyon!) before being placed in lock-down!
Online Classes and Restoration History
With school finally starting back up last week, we all had to get used to our new remote learning setup. The kids are effectively being home schooled with Chinese and Bible on top of their normal school assignments. For Bear Valley, we are using Zoom, a video conferencing service.
Our first class of the semester was a short course on Restoration History taught by Wayne Burger. Brother Wayne is incredibly well studied in Biblical doctrine and Restoration History. What I especially appreciate about Wayne is that he encourages participation in class, and he will answer any question! If the Bible has the answer, he doesn’t fail to provide it. If the Bible doesn’t have the answer, he has the rare humility to admit he doesn’t know the answer!
Restoration History was particularly inspirational because of how God used these men to stand up for truth against all their upbringing and popular traditions of the day to change the religious landscape of the world. It’s something we take for granted. As Wayne pointed out, we are being warmed by fires that we did not build. Someone else started the fire of truth we practice today. Just as Paul and his companions were cold and wet after shipwrecking on the island of Malta. They were warmed by a fire they did not build.
Love,
-The Ihle Crew
What a surprise blessing to have the time to learn more of the Chinese language. And it is possible that a little child - Samantha - will lead you. So excited that you are able to continue your studies online. God bless you all and keep you safe.
Thanks for sharing the update. You all are in my prayers as you continue this blessed journey for the Lord.