China part 2

I received word this week that I was accepted to return to China
for the summer of 2005!! I will teach English with Educational
Services International to Chinese high school and/or university
students. ESI ( missionary agency) is based in Arcadia, Ca and
has teaching teams located in a variety of foreign countries. I will
be going with a team of college students and adult teachers to
various schools in China.

The reason I put "China part 2" in the title because I lived and
studied at Xiamen University last year. Thirteen U.S. and Canada
Christian College students and I spent the Fall semester in Xiamen
which is located 10 hours by bus from Hong Kong.

I'm excited about this special opportunity and hope to learn more
about the Chinese culture as I return to China. I'm not sure of the
actual school setting where I'll be teaching but I'm sure the students
will welcome me into their lives. The Chinese culture is fun to witness
and participate in so I'm sure my team and I will have plenty of
memorable experiences.

I will look forward to sharing more about this trip in the coming
months as my future team mates and I prepare to travel to China.

Go Navy!!

Happy Birthday Navy!!

The U.S. celebrates it's 229 birthday today. It's also been
15 years to the day since I graduated from Navy basic
training. I attended (survived) Navy boot camp and
graduated on this date in 1989. My parents were there
to witness the ceremony n person.

I'm happy the Naval Academy football team is doing well
this year as their 5-0. They beat Air Force and if they
win over Army they get to keep the Commander-in-Chiefs
trophy one more year. Go Navy!! Beat Army

gifts?

It's not Christmas yet but today I got hold of two gifts.

What I'm talking about is I found out what kind of spiritual gifts
God has blessed me with. The NIV Bible points out in Romans 12:6-8
that different gifts are given to people by God.

My classmates and I took a survey to see where we place in the
gifts of mercy, teaching, prophesy, giving, exhorting, serving, and
administration. I scored and my two highest scores came out at
exhortation and serving. My two lowest scores were in the gifts
of prophesy and administration. Exhortation is a confusing term
I'm puzzled by but the dictionary provides a simple defination of:
urge earnestly.

I'll already knew that my strengths were in serving but I will have
to find out more about how exhortation fits into ministry use.

Christmas arrives in two months but it was nice to find out the
contents of spiritual gifts today.

schedule

I'm taking four classes in Christian Ministries here at George Fox.
They are: Christian Discipling, Christian Beliefs, World Christian
Movement, and Introduction to the Old Testament.
My favorite class is the World Christian Movement because there
is a emphasis on the variety of missions opportunites in America
and overseas. Everytime I attend that class I want to call a airline
for a ticket to a foreign country to serve. Our school is located southwest
of Portland and the airport does have flights to a number of foreign
countries. I'm paying for school myself so I will have to wait until
summer or graduation to partake of traveling overseas.

On Sundays, I attend Newberg First Baptist and enjoy the fellowship
there. I've met a number of families that have "taken" me as their
son or brother since my family is in California. I consider my class-
mates and friends here in Oregon to be extended family.

It's been a challenge and worthwhile experience to be a adult learner.
There are challenges like the age difference but the advantage of
sharing about my life with my classmates has been a personal highlight.

Welcome

My name is Brian Cottrell and I'm a student at George Fox
University.

This is my personal blog. I will share with you about my
school and travel activities.

Thanks for visiting.