What a week!

This week has been good.  In some aspects difficult, but good.

It started out with a team from America.  I do not have a picture of the team to show you, because we were too busy to take too many photos!  They came and helped us put on an event called the Silly Olympics.  The students completed various silly tasks, and we kept score and announced winners at the end.  It was fun--and silly!

Immediately after the event, we had a second event.  It was at the same location (our English Center), but it was a different kind of ministry.  This is aimed at people around my age, and it's done in Chinese (sometimes translated to English).  It's run by my friends, and I have somehow managed to finagle my way into the "core group" who plans and leads it.  It was a lot of fun!   Here are some photos from the day.  In the photo from the potluck you can see a few of the Americans who joined us that day!  They left half way through, so are not included in the group photo.

We said goodbye to the team on Tuesday after they joined us in our group classes.  They were a great help and really brought up the energy in our classroom.  My students really enjoyed talking with them, and we're thankful for their time here!

Wednesday and Thursday I had the opportunity to have a friend stay with me, which was really fun!  She had come on Saturday, but stayed somewhere else until Wednesday. I enjoyed spending time with her, and on Saturday we had gone to a Spanish restaurant with 2 other friends.  The restaurant was delicious, and I am so thankful that they were all adventurous enough to try out a new cuisine, which allowed me to eat paella! ¡¡Qué rica!!

On a different note, I did experience something difficult this week.  It was the first time that I really experienced conflict management.  A different friend and I had a conflict due to communication issues.  If you haven't heard before, Western and Eastern cultures have different methods of communication.  Usually they have differences which are laugh-off-able, but occasionally communication breaks down enough to create a serious issue.  In my year (and 3 months) here, I experienced this for the first time.  Thankfully, this friend is also a Christian, so we were able to start the conflict-management with prayer, and ask God to guide us to find a middle-ground.  We did have to use a translator, who also happens to have an impeccably high knowledge of American culture, who helped us communicate and understand each other.  Living in China, it was easy for me to understand the conflict, since I've lived in Eastern thought for over a year.  (I guess I still don't know it well enough, though, to avoid getting into the conflict in the first place!)  It was really difficult for this person to recognize how I think.  At first, I was frustrated, because how can she not see where I am coming from?!  But then I realized that it's just a culture difference, and that this person hasn't spent a prolonged time immersed in Western thinking.  We ended the conversation on good terms, but I just pray that in the future we're able to learn more about changing the communication so that we're able to work in a middle-ground.  I figure that I should probably change my style, since I am a guest in this country, instead of trying to make others change to accommodate for me.  Please pray for me to be able to immerse myself in this way as to avoid another conflict like this!

Care Package

At risk of sounding conceited and asking for gifts, I just want to remind you that if you were planning on sending something here (or to any missionary for that matter!) for Christmas or birthdays that happen soon before or after, now is a good time to send them, as they can take up to 6 weeks for us to receive them, plus there are many public holidays between now and then!

There are a few things that I would like to add to my previous list: Thin Mints (girl scout cookies), Crest cinnamon toothpaste, Buffalo Wild Wings Sauce: Asian Zing &/or Honey BBQ &/or Hot BBQ, and size 9.5 or 10 (41) dress shoes. Those are all things that I am unable to get in Macau, even at the Western/American stores. (You may be asking why I can't get shoes in Macau...I'm a little bit of a giant here with size 10 feet!  I cannot get comfortable shoes here!  I am a fan of Payless shoes, because they're inexpensive and usually trendy!)

I know packages are expensive, but they are truly appreciated.

On a different note, the city looks and sounds different today: it's much more crowded and a whole lot more noisy.  We have the Grand Prix in town, and though it's exciting, it makes it a little 麻烦 (Máfan: troublesome) to get through the city.  Since all of the buses that I normally would take had to change their routes due to the race track that was built on the major roads, I decided to just jump on the first bus that came that was headed south.  It was worth it: I managed to get to work in a relatively good time.  It took 45 minutes instead of the normal 25, but I was expecting an hour.  That also included stopping along the way to pay a couple bills.  So I'd say it was not too bad!

Hopefully I'll have more information to add later in a new post, but for now, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or would like more information about care packages, the Grand Prix, or anything else that I am doing/encountering in Macau!

Lots of Activity!

I haven't stopped going for a long time. I have been spending a lot of time with my friends doing some relationship building, and spending about twice that amount of time at the office working.  Classes have been good, but sometimes I have been yearning for ideas for some of my lower level and/or lower aged classes.  I'm praying for a solution to my problem with my kids Bible class, and I just pray that it comes soon, because the kids don't speak English, and I don't speak Chinese.  But I think the message usually gets through, and they spend time in a Christian environment, so it does more good than harm! :)

I had a great conversation with a friend today about what Christianity is, and what it means to me, and why I am a Christian.  This person and I discussed their faith that is developing, and I learned what this person was feeling about becoming a Christian.  It was such a great conversation that I was not expecting to happen, but God is always working in the lives of the missionaries and Christians here to talk about Him!

I think that I'll be going to bed earlier than normal tonight. It's been a while since I've gotten a good nights sleep.  I had a slight accident the other day and ended up quite sore afterwards. (By slight accident, I mean that my clumsiness finally did me in and I ended up on the floor--long story for another time).  That, along with having friends over until 2am some nights has kept me from sleeping well, and has kept me yawning throughout the day.

I can't complain, though, because I am sooo thankful for having that time with friends!  Being a people person, it really energies and uplifts me to be around others, and so even if I do not get any sleep, it's worth it! The other night I went with some friends to a young adult gathering at a local church...not a worship service, but a time to get together, have fun, and praise God.  It was in Cantonese, and my Cantonese is quite...bad, but it was good.  We played a fun game with chop sticks and a ping pong ball.  I was actually kind of good at it...not to brag or anything! ;)  Afterwards, we went upstairs and we had a huge turkey dinner!  That was quite a treat, because turkeys are very rare here and quite expensive.  I was soooo happy to have a piece of turkey! :)

For those of you on my newsletter list, my inability to stop has pushed my newsletter back this month.  I should hopefully get it finished soon!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragements!  Please pray for me to have more conversations like I had today (mentioned in the 2nd paragraph), and for God to give me an idea for what to do with Christmas and teaching my friends about our customs!  I am thinking about having a tree decorating party at my house, but I will be gone for Thanksgiving: so I am thinking that maybe I'll do it the weekend before Thanksgiving :)  Yes, I know...a little early, but I don't mind!  I LOVE Christmas, and would love to extend the season!

Have a great day, everyone!  For those of you who might call me or want to Skype, just remember that daylight savings time has caused me to now be 14 hours ahead of Central time instead of the 13 that I was a week ago! :)