Life goes on!

Life is back to normal again--my apartment is now my own again, and my dryer works, meaning my laundry is actually able to fully dry before I need to wear the clothes again!  It also helped with the washing of the sheets after all of my guests! :)

3 days ago I celebrated my 3 month anniversary with Macau.  Isn't that strange?  It feels like I've been here so much longer--yet at the same time it seems like it's been much shorter!

Last night I had a wonderful evening spending time with a friend I met while dining at her restaurant (an Indian food place which has killer butter chicken!!!!)  She, another girl, and I went to a Portuguese restaurant, and it was interesting--the other girl and I koew a little Mandarin (both of us only know  一点点...a little bit), they know Hindi, I know Spanish and we all know English.  Unfortunately, none of those languages were able to be used to effectively communicate, so we had to find a portuguese speaker to help us!  This language blend amuses me every time!

Today I got to play badminton with Joanna (Sharon's daughter) and her friend.  It was fun :)  But it was dark out, so we were unable to see the birdie!  It was a good time, nonetheless!

Thanksgiving is on Thursday!  I will be in Hong Kong celebrating with the other GEOS and Careers.  It should be a good team-building event!  I am excited to go to Hong Kong again.  I am also excited to come back after my trip and spend time with some friends that I haven't seen in over a month!

I am still more excited than I should be that I live close enough to China that I can just go there for supper--which is what I will be doing in a week with the friends I haven't spent time with in a long time!

I have a friend from China (Kary) visiting on December 1.  I was so happy to visit her on October 1, and now she gets to visit me before she moves to Europe!

We had a social event yesterday that included making pies.  I taught how to make a very simple Strawberry Yogurt Pie!  Eileen taught now to make Apple Crisp!  It was fun, and people enjoyed the taste.  Mine was a little sour (tart), and the Apple Crisp was sweet, so they were good opposites.

All of the pictures in this post are from the social event.

More updates!

Here is an edited version of the monthly update that I sent out...

Some exciting things that are happening:

• We have a short term couple (Ed and Eileen) serving in Macau who are helping out tremendously!  They are really helping further relationships and the ministry here!  It's great to have a pastor with us, and to have his wife her as well who is wonderful at cooking and able to help me out in that class!  She also provides beautiful piano music at our worship service!
• Speaking of worship service, we had a baptism on Sunday!  She lives in Hong Kong, and has impecable English, so has been coming to help out with the services, and she decided to have her baptism take place here instead of in Hong Kong.  This was great for us, because one of our students who has a lot of head knowledge and deep questions was there, and was able to see what a baptism is like.  He also asked the pastor (our short termer!) a lot about baptism and what it means.  Please pray for him as he is struggling with putting his past beliefs behind him to hopefully follow the one true GOD!
• My house has been crazy lately with visitors coming in and out, and repair men coming a day late and/or unscheduled--but I like crazy in contrast to dull! :)  It's certainly been anything but dull the past week!
• I have a friend who is not a Christian.  Let's call him Alex.  We sometimes talk about Christianity when we are together.  I am so grateful that he is not turned off by this conversation, and in fact seems interested in learning more---maybe not necessarily in becoming one..  While I watched the baptism on Sunday, I had this feeling that one day it will be Alex being baptized.  Please pray that that feeling becomes reality, and for the Holy Spirit to work in his heart to realize that Jesus Christ has come as an advocate with God for us, so that we can live life eternal in Heaven!
• The Macau Grand Prix is going on right now.  This doesn't have much to do with ministry, but the city is a bit chaotic right now.  Please pray for the people who came for the Grand Prix, that both competitors and spectators remain safe as they race through the windy streets of Macau at great speeds!
• My parents are visiting at the end of December.  I am very excited for them to come!  Please pray for the visas to come back good, and for their plans to come through smoothly!
• We have a social event coming up on November 20.  Eileen and I will be teaching how to make pie--Apple crisp and a no-bake pie!

Odds and Ends...

Today I took a nap.  It's the first nap I was able to take since I got here!  It was glorious :)

My friend Jennie and I!  She was AWESOME and
came to Macau to visit me!!! :)

I have been blessed with the opportunity to host a few different people over the past few days.  A coworker of mine is staying with me this week, and I had 2 different girls stay for one night each also--one was my college friend Jennie!  She lives in Asia, and was in Hong Kong, so took the ferry over to Macau to see me!  I feel so blessed that she was able to visit!! I also had a coworker's girlfriend stay with me.  It was great to spend time with her and get to know her better!!

I also was able to make plans with a new friend of mine.  I was walking past her place of work with the whole Macau team as we were on our way to supper, and I saw her! So I waived, and then after supper I stopped in to say hello.  She and I are going to go to the food festival in Macau on Thursday--should be fun!  It should be interesting getting there, though--the Grand Prix also starts that day, and lots of roads will be closed off!  It will be fun navigating during those days!

Maggie (left), Peter (yellow shirt), Serena (upside
down) and me pose for a pictureat the office one day!

I have a prayer request.  And I guess it could be considered urgent, because it's urgent for people to come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  You never know how short life will be, and I ask for fervent prayer for those who have not yet come to faith in the One True God.

I ask for specific prayers for Alex (I changed this person's name due to the fact that this is on the internet...).  Alex is a friend of mine, and I am so sad that Alex does not yet have a personal relationship with God.  I have been very troubled about this for a long time, but especially in the last couple days.  Please pray for Alex, that the Holy Spirit would work as only He can to create Faith.  And please pray for me, that God would use me to be a witness and that I would be given the right words to say at the right time, and that all would be in accordance to God's will.  I had a vivid daydream (I think that's a good way to put it haha...a daydream that I remember quite well) about Alex becoming a Christian, and I pray fervently that that comes true!

On a slightly different note, I went to a casino the other day.  When I say that I went to a casino, it wasn't to gamble: rest assured!  I went to look around.  It was the first casino you encounter when you enter Macau via ferry terminal, and I walked right from the terminal to the casino.  The entrance...well...there was a small entrance, and you open up another door to find 4 floors of gaming.  It's not even a "welcome! We have many things offered here, and gaming is among them".  It was: "Here's the casino. Enjoy!"  It was crowded.  It was about 2pm on a Sunday.  The only place that wasn't crowded yet was the top level...which was almost empty, because it wasn't crowded enough for people to make their way up that way yet.  As I was walking around, I felt pain.  I looked at the faces of the people gambling, and I just felt...I don't know what word to use...very...sad.  I don't know what everyone in that room was going through, but I just felt a contagious sadness.  There was no hope, except for the hope that they would get rich.  So please...pray fervently for the people of Macau who spend their time and money on gaming instead of placing their hope in God.  Pray that God would put something in their lives to turn them around!

A little 'bout what's goin' on!

I don't have too many updates at the moment, but I'll think of a few to tell ya!

• I got a text from a girl that I gave my business card to.  I am excited and hope that that turns into a friendship!
• I have a University friend visiting me this Friday.  She is from Taiwan, and is on a business trip to Macau, so I am excited to have my first visitor from home come!
• I now have the apartment to myself and am living in the master bedroom now instead of the smaller one.  It's a lot more spacious.
• I have a cooking class tomorrow morning.  We're making meatloaf.  I'm also gonna make some hotdish (this link is similar but not the same) with leftover ingredients from last week and we'll eat it before making the meatloaf.  I think we're also gonna learn how to do mashed potatoes while we wait for the meatloaf to cook.  Should be fun!  I'll try to remember to get pictures with my camera this time!
• We have a baptism on Sunday!  She is from Hong Kong, and she is a classmate of the vicar that works with us.  She will be coming to our bilingual service to be baptized.  Should be great :)
• I feel like I am getting the hang of this city.  I successfully found multiple things within this past week, including but not limited to: the post office, daiso (a japanese store), a western grocery store, and the automatic passport checker at immigration (yep...no more long lines for me on the Macau side!).  It's exciting.

I think that's about it.  I can't think of any more updates!