1) Bible. During month three and four I started reading my Bible in Chinese but after some time it wasn’t working out the way I was hoping and I wasn’t progressing. Therefore, I reverted back to doing my devotions in English and it wasn’t until recently that I was able to start doing everything in Chinese again. Now I try to read my Bible everyday in Chinese and am currently working through the New Testament.

2) Listening. My listening is still the farthest behind, but it is still slowly improving with time. I am starting to understand the sermons more and other conversations. Before I could understand a word our phrase in a sentence and now I understand a sentence except for a word or phrase.

3) Reading. My pace in reading is starting to pick up and I can read quicker and comprehend more. I am still doing about 6 hours a week of reading one-on-one with a teacher.

4) Characters. I didn’t progress in Characters this past month but have been doing some research and planning as to how we will start learning them once our first year is complete.

5) Crisis Point. As we are nearing our one year point of language learning, I realize we are coming to a crisis point. A point that is scary. A point that many wrongly choose…stop learning, start ministry. We have learned enough of the language to get by and live comfortably, but we haven’t learned enough make a huge impact. I can easily convince myself that I am better than I am. The temptation to stop and start ministry is knocking on my door, but I know that would only hinder and hurt what the Lord has for us to do here in China. At least 13 more months of language school ahead!