Christmas

Christmas was a really relaxing time!

A few days before Christmas I was able to go to a buffet BBQ restaurant in Zhuhai with some friends.  It was a lot of fun!  We had a difficult time finding it, as we went to the wrong mall---right address, but wrong mall, as they are at the same intersection! (They like their shopping here!)  It was a fun experience, and one of the waiters was a university student in New Zealand who was home for Christmas break, and so his English was excellent!  The food was really good, and it was a fun experience for us!

Christmas Eve was nice.  Before our candlelight service, I went to a coworker's house and helped decorate some edible decorations!  It was fun to do crafty things! :)  After the candlelight service, we went to the Ruins of St. Paul where they had a nice Christmas Carol-singing event.  There was a massive crowd of people who came to listen to local Christian singing groups sing and share the Gospel message! It is a Christmas Eve tradition.

On Christmas day, it was a wonderful experience to do some modified Christmas caroling.  It was modified because we basically just went to 3 staff member's homes and sang a few songs, ate some treats, and talked. I had fun playing with our vicar's 4-year-old daughter along with some others! :) Afterwards, we had a low-key staff dinner where we enjoyed the leftovers from Christmas caroling plus a beautiful spread of delightful American food.

Pictures from the aforementioned events are found below.  Enjoy! :)

Macau SAR Establishment Day

Today was a holiday, which was really fun!  My roommate, a friend and I went out to Coloane to eat lunch, and then we went to the beach to relax!  It was fun to be able to have a break from the cold, because the sun came out and without buildings to block it, we were able to soak it up!  You can see that it wasn't really all that warm, though, as one of the girls is wearing a winter hat!  It was nice enough to roll up our sleeves, though! Enjoy the photos from the outing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am writing from Hong Kong.  I am with many other people right now, as we are celebrating Thanksgiving and having a retreat for missionaries in the surrounding countries.

Last night we were able to have dinner with all of the fixings, which was a fun treat.  We also got to have a fully English worship service! Now we are at a retreat center, just having fun.

It is starting to get quite cold here. I have multiple layers on right now, and I am wishing that I had a nice blanket that I could carry around at the moment.  It doesn't snow here, because it's not that cold, but before you judge, come and experience the cold.  From South Dakota, I know. It feels quite cold here.

Anyway.  I am going to try to get warm.  I hope that you all have a spectacular Black Friday, and I hope that you are able to stay away from too much craziness.

Thanksgiving fun!

We had some fun at our Thanksgiving social!  We made turkeys as one of our crafts, and people had such a fun time making them!  I was excited to share my minimal artistic knowledge with people so that we could have cute treats for Thanksgiving!  After that, I went to the annual International Food Festival here in Macau with friends.  It was such a great time!  I had an awesome weekend.

Updates

So, some updates :)

November's been an interesting month.  There is a relative norm here, since we have similar teaching schedules thoughout the whole year.  The norm was replaced this month, since I had 3 group classes at the beginning, but 2 were cancelled, leaving me 6 hours of empty space.  Once our short-term teacher left on Nov 2, those 6 hours were filled back up again with her students--students that I have never actually met before.  That isn't normal for me, as I know most of the students, and have personally taught many of them!

But with the switch, a holiday or two, a TOEFL symposium, and more, there hasn't been a normal week yet.  I guess this week is normal, but I have adjusted my schedule so much already that it is no longer normal.

What remains normal, though, is the desire to build relationships.  2 weekends ago, I was blessed to be able to go to Zhuhai to eat at PapaJohns.  I brought with me 2 Americans and 4 Chinese people.  It was so much fun to be able to do that with all of them!  They called me their local tour guide, because I seemed to be more familiar with the city than they were, which was a confidence boost for me ;)  It is exciting to be able to make my way around the city without help...that is something that I had lost when I came here, and I am slowly gaining it back: independence. It feels nice to have that again.

We are preparing right now for a fun time.  Thanksgiving!  We are going to make cute little turkey cookies and some treat baskets and thanksgiving cards.  We'll also be learning about the meaning behind Thanksgiving, and possibly watching a Peanuts video, if we can find it.  I've been spending a lot of time doing that, and also planning a bulletin board that will go up soon after we finish that event on Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, we have an international food festival happening right now, and my plan is to go on Sunday, as long as it is not closed by then! It comes to Macau every year the same week as the Grand Prix, but lasts longer.  The Grand Prix finished up last Sunday, and now the International Food Festival is leaving I believe this next Sunday.

That's all of the updates that I have for now, but I will hopefully get more to you as soon as I have them!

New Guitar Strings

I got new guitar strings!  This is something that is wonderful for me.

I found out that when I am down, something that helps me is singing.  When I have my guitar, it sounds nicer. Getting new guitar strings for me was a wonderful experience, because I was blessed with the ability to play guitar at home for the first time in many months.  This makes me feel good!

It's been a better week than in the past, and I am so thankful for it.  I have been ahead on my lesson planning, and quite frankly not having a whole lot to do, because my teaching hours were low. Starting on Tuesday, my hours jump up to almost the maximum.  I was so thankful for this break that I had, and I feel refreshed and ready to get back to teaching more students.

On Friday we had a man come who has been attending for a long time.  I had heard already, but he officially shared the news with us that he is a first time grandfather!  We were delighted to share this joy with him!  He was sharing the joy of having a baby in the family, along with the chaos that follows!  A story that this man told (without sharing too personal details) goes like this: his daughter had been unsuccessfully trying to have a baby for a long time.  He has been exposed to the Bible for a long time, with a good understanding of it, but belief hasn't followed.  After a long time of waiting for a baby, this man prayed to God, asking for a baby.  God answered his prayer.  He shared with us that this was a miracle that came from God, and he said to me, "Now I believe!" We will continue to follow up with him, and to help him grow in the Faith.  God has given him a HUGE step forward in faith.  Please pray that he would continue to grow, and that this would lead to baptism and salvation!

Saturday was a holiday, which was much needed.  My roommate wasn't feeling so well, and I ended up feeling a little sick as well, so we were able to relax a little that day compared to others.  In the morning, we went to say goodbye to our 3rd roommate who made her way back to America today.  Then, we went to see a movie, and we got some italian for lunch.  It was a nice, relaxing day.  We then were able to go and get some purchases made for the apartment to make it feel a little more like our home.  It was fun to be able to do that!

Today was fun, as after church we went to eat pancakes with some students and friends.  It was a lot of fun to go to the pancake house! (No, not IHOP.  PHOP.  Paddington House of Pancakes).  I then wandered over to a charity bazaar that is going on at a place called Nam Wan (south bay).  It was fun walking around and seeing everything, and listening to the music.  It was interesting sitting by the stage, because it went from watching cartoon characters wave to kids, to a rock band, to 5 year olds dancing to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", to old women dancing, to old men singing!  It was a variety show for sure! Then, one of the missionary kids had a badminton match, so my friend and I went to go watch.  After badminton, we went to have drinks.  The kids had chocolate, and the adults had tea...and yes, I am an adult I guess, so I wasn't allowed to have chocolate haha. Ok, that's a lie.  I could have had chocolate, but I didn't. I then came home, and now I am writing the blog!  The friend who I spent time with today is not a Christian, and so please pray for him as he is searching!

I am very pumped for tomorrow.  Tomorrow my roommate and I will go to meet a friend in the city just north of us to do a few things.  We have explored the city a few times, but never with this particular friend.  I am so excited to see her view of the city, and to be able to spend some time with her!  This particular friend is a relatively young Christian, and my roommate has been able to spend a lot of time with her sharing the struggles and the joys of being a Christian, and helping to give her confidence in our God!

I want to mention that I don't always share if my friends are Christian or not.  A few reasons are this: I prefer to keep my students and friends as anonymous as possible.  If they are reading my blog, I don't want them to feel uncomfortable that I am sharing personal stories.  I also don't want to announce to the world that they aren't Christian.  But I share this today with you so that you know how to pray for these friends.  I want to mention that most of my friends are not Christian.  In America, maybe 95% of my friends are Christian, spurring from the fact that I spent most of my life in Christian circles.  Here, about 95% of my friends and contacts are NOT Christian.  It is a huge adjustment to make, and these past few days I have been talking about this with my roommate.  It's a big struggle to be living in a city where only 1% of the people are Christian. But that is why we are here.

Please pray for us as we live in a city that needs the Gospel, as we are praying for you who are living in America, where the Gospel is becoming more and more of a taboo in society's eyes.  It's not only Macau or Africa or China who need the gospel: the people at home need it too!  I hope that stories from this blog inspire you to share the Gospel with your friends at home, because there is no time like the present!  With some of my friends, I realized that if something happened and they were in a car accident or something else, life is short, and it could be ended in an instant.  I sometimes cry knowing that my friends are not yet Christian, and if something were to happen to them, they would not go to heaven.  It gives me a HUGE motivation to share with them the Good News.

I have (as previously mentioned in other posts) been having some health issues.  I mentioned that I was waiting on test results.  I got a CT back that showed that surgery would be very helpful, if not necessary.  I will not get better if I do not have the surgery, but I won't die if I don't have it...I will just continue to feel sick.
Insurance hasn't been able to give me a clear answer as to whether or not it will be covered, so I have to just keep trucking forward, unaware of what will happen with money.  I don't have enough money to pay for it myself, so I am hoping that insurance will help.  That is something to pray for for me!

Health issues aside, this week has been nice.  I am going out with friends tonight as a sort of good-bye dinner for my coworker.  Right now I am extremely tired.  I just spent the last 30 minutes back in my office between classes trying to sleep a little, which is easier said than done! I hope to get the energy needed to be up and energetic tonight!

I am excited to go to Hong Kong tomorrow for church.  I will also end up visiting a university classmate who is in HK for 2 months.  It will be nice catching up and being in the big city for a while!

Our TV broke a couple weeks ago.  Monday, a student will come to my house to check out the TV situation, and to try to figure out what the problem is.  Then, he will help us call a repair man to fix the damage.  Hopefully it's not more than it's worth!

Today, I taught a student who was soooo tired.  He was writing  little, and then falling asleep.  I'd say his name, and he'd start to fall over, and he'd catch himself, and move enough to get his head on the desk.  Students here are so busy and work so hard that it is so difficult for them to stay awake.  Sometimes I don't know how they last as long as they do: especially the teenage boys!  Kids here are up until 12 or 1, and they wake up at 7.  That's not a lot of sleep for a kid! The younger kids might even get up earlier than that!  It is so different to be in a culture where the people have such a lack of sleep, and where work and studying come before sleep.  Please pray for this student, as he does not have an easy week ahead of him, and he is in need of rest so that he can function!

Back to work!

So, I went back to work today for what feels like the first time in forever!

For those who don't know... Thursday I got a cold, Friday when walking home from an appointment, I started to feel faint.  After getting home and napping, I decided that work wasn't gonna happen so called in sick with a slight fever.  Later that night I was almost immobilized with a fever of 101.8, and I called in sick for Saturday too, and slept from 3pm to 3pm the next day, waking up only to take my temp and grumble and allow someone to give me some liquids (SO thankful to not be living alone).  Saturday my fever was only 100 something, which was better, but I was still dizzy. Sunday I felt better, but stayed home until the evening to avoid risking infecting others and to avoid over exerting myself, and my outing was only 2 hours, 3 blocks away. Monday I woke up early to go to the doctor (for other issues) and came back home and was lazy until that night when I went out with friends.

That brings me to today.  First day back to work since Thursday.  I guess that's the length of a long weekend, but I felt so out of the loop. Thankfully, my coworkers were really good about taking care of my students when I was gone, and keeping me up to date about what actually happened during the classes. I had a pretty good day.  My classes went smoothly, and my food was tasty.  Our meetings went pretty well too, except for my apparent need to make up for all of the talking that I was unable to do the days prior.

I am feeling so much better, and I am very excited for all that is to come!

• We have fun plans this weekend to go to Hong Kong for a celebration of 100 years in China-ish for LCMS!
• We might have a dress up day next week Wednesday to celebrate Reformation Day (which I realize is actually Thursday... but it means that I can wear my orange pants!)
• We have plans to talk about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving this November
• Christmas plans seem to be coming along well!
• My birthday is soon! (well, soon after Christmas!)
• My parents are coming! And probably my brother too!

I have so much to look forward to.  I am excited for the future, but still living in the moment as to not overlook any opportunity to share the Gospel!

Last night (as I said I went out with friends) I met some new people.  One of the people told me that she is a Christian--sort of.  She hasn't been baptized.  I asked her what was keeping her from being baptized, and she said that it's because she doesn't know everything about God.  I told her that I was baptized as a baby, and I knew nothing!  And in fact, I still don't know everything about God!  I told her that if we wait until we know everything about God, then we will never, ever be baptized.  I encouraged her to think about this and consider being baptized.  In the audience was a young man that I've known for over a year, and he is in the same boat that she is: he believes, but is not baptized.  For sake of privacy, and because I didn't ask permission to share this, I will not share their names (as normal).  But I would like to ask you to pray for them.  You can name them yourself if you would like ;) God knows who you are talking about!

I think that is all today!  I pray that you all have a wonderful week! :)

Health

For those of you who read my updates sent via e-mail, you may know that I haven't been doing too well.  I wrote that when I was in a down mood, so it maybe came off more extreme than it really is, but I do have some things that need healing. I'm normally more private with this, but since I sent out an e-mail with stuff in it, I should probably explain some more, as many people were worried.

I took 2 days off of work because I was sick.  This is my first sick day, minus a day that I went home early wayyy back when I first started...so this is not normal for me.  I was sick enough that I couldn't stand for more than 30 seconds without feeling absolutely ready to fall.  I slept for about 24 hours, getting up every now and then for restroom breaks and to check my temperature...and to try to get the sun out of my eyes! (Here in Asia the curtains typically don't block much--if any--sunlight.) I ended up with a relatively high temperature and I was thankful that I had called in sick earlier that day. I now have downgraded (or maybe upgraded?) to only a slight fever.  I am still not in a position to call myself well, but I am definitely better.

I have been plagued with headaches--most of which turn into migraines--for a long time.  They have been getting worse, and I am sick of having migraines.

I've had a sore throat for...well...at least half a year.  Apparently that's due to some sinus problems that I have, and I am consulting with a doctor to see if surgery is needed.  I have some tests coming up on Monday, so I should know more about that later.  I am hoping that if surgery is needed, that my migraines are also being caused by this, because it would be WONDERFUL if all of it could go away. That's where I am with my physical health.

I try to remain positive through it all, but after so long of not feeling well, it's harder and harder to be positive.  So that's a lot of what is emotionally draining for me. I did write that my emotions were not so great, which is true.  Just know that it's mostly from my physical (un)wellbeing.

I am thankful for the friends that I have here who have been helping me with doctors appointments, getting food when I can't, listening and caring, and so much more. Though I have found English speaking doctors, the specialist that I needed (and who was recommended to me) doesn't speak English, so it's been helpful having a friend go with me to understand what wasn't translated 100% by the nurse. God has really blessed me here with local friends.

I also am so thankful for the responses that I have had from the e-mail that I sent out.  I am really appreciative of people who truly care and pray for me!

Feelings

You will see a few different posts from the past couple days.  I haven't posted in a while, and I want to separate the updates into easier to read sections, so I posted a few things tonight. I guess you can say that I followed the gov't shutdown ;)  Ok, just kidding.  I was just lazy.

I think that the reason that I haven't been posting lately is that I have been going through a little bit of culture shock to say the least.  It's been a rough couple months.  I have had the lack of motivation for...well...about anything. I don't like this feeling, and I am trying to shake it.  It's been better the last few days, and I am not as worried as I was before.

That being said, I don't want to get into my being sad too much.  I am human, and even though I am here as a light to the world, I sometimes feel sadness too.  But even through that sadness, God works.  I had the opportunity to talk with a local who I have gotten to know well, and whose English level is close to a native speaker.  I ended up talking her ear off, but it was comforting for me to have her listen.  She knows me fairly well, and knows American culture, and she listened and responded to my concerns.  Additionally, she was having some concerns of her own, and it was nice to be able to share that with each other, and to share the love of God with each other, and His place in our lives.  It was encouraging to talk with my sister in Christ, and to share burdens with each other.  I realized that God has placed others in our lives to share our burdens, and I found out that he has given me a few friends here who I can rely on to help me when I am in trouble as well.

Though I still need prayers for getting over the hump, Also please pray a prayer of thanksgiving that even half way around the world, I have been able to find sisters to share both joys and struggles with. Please pray for the ladies that I talked with this weekend who have struggles of their own. Please ask God to comfort them in their time of need.

China

Last Sunday was a holiday.  It was the mountain climbing holiday.  The origin for the holiday has a deeper meaning, but it's celebrated now as a vacation time, and for the most part strictly mountain climbing. This weekend since it was on Sunday, there was a make-up holiday for Monday.  That doesn't affect me, as my day off is Monday anyway, but it allowed one of my friends to agree to take an overnight trip with me! My roommates, friend, and I went to a nearby city in the mainland to visit some friends and climb a mountain!  It was a lot of fun to be able to go outside of Macau and to climb a mountain to see new scenery!  I enjoyed the trip, as it was a way for me to discuss many things with my friends--both the one from Macau and a couple who live in the mainland.  It occurred to me as we were walking up the mountain that we are all Christians.  Besides spending time strictly with coworkers, it's not common that I get to spend time with a group that is all Christian.  It was comforting for me to be able to be with my brothers and sisters and to receive encouragement from them that is not only worldly, but grounded in Christ Jesus.

Things we did while we were there: tour the local Christian church, eat good food, see friends, climb a mountain, eat at a revolving restaurant (in a tower), and go shopping!

Thank God for a community of believers, and for a wonderful trip! :)

Korea

I was able to go to Korea in early October to visit some friends who had moved there.  They are my former colleagues (from here in Macau).  It was so great to get to see them!

We were able to visit cultural hot spots, namely a palace and a preserved village. It was so cool to see what it used to be like.  I don't know if it would have been cool to live under a king or an emperor, but it was really neat to see the area and learn about the traditions.

The food there was delicious.  Most of the food was vegetables, and it was mostly spicy.  Every meal was accompanied by some sort of pickled vegetable and/or kimchi (which is pickled itself).  Most of the places where we ate served food that was cooked at your table.

One of the restaurants, however, didn't have that.  In fact, it was American: it was Taco Bell!  I was so excited to be able to eat at Taco Bell outside of America!  My Chinese friend who traveled with me had never eaten Taco Bell before, and was understanding when I said that it was my favorite fast food restaurant, because the taste was so delicious!

Something else that was super exciting was the baseball game.  We started off the day by going out to eat, but we had a 40 minute wait for a table.  Across the street there were some batting cages, so we crossed the street and hit some balls!  I hadn't played baseball in a LONG time, and it was fun to be able to do that!  Later that day, we went to a baseball game.  This game was so exciting!  Take the crowd from competative college basketball game and insert it into the baseball stadium.  It was jam packed, and the crowd was wild!  They were singing, dancing, clapping their inflatable clappers in different rhythms, and eating dried squid and Burger King.  It was so exciting to be able to be in the audience and watch a baseball game!  I didn't realize how much I missed that!

Something that I learned, by being there is how far I have come in China--with locations, the language, the culture, and more.  In Korea, I knew nothing, and I could have easily gotten very lost and unable to find my way back to the house we were staying at!  But it was such a great experience to be in a place where I knew nothing!  It helped me appreciate what I do know here!

Food!

Food has had an interesting part of the last month.  We have had people in and out of the center constantly, and it is difficult to keep it all straight!  But a common element is food.

Last month, I was blessed with the ability to invite some friends over for dinner.  I have 2 roommates right now, and they were willing to join us in a fun night of eating delicious food.  I invited 10 people to come over, but I was a little too late with my invitations, and only 3 were available.  So we had 3 people join us, and we had a wonderful time!  We played games (picture Apples to Apples and Phase 10 Dice), and we ate delicious food.  I have been in a pulled-pork craze ever since I found a crockpot stored in my kitchen!  We made pulled pork to eat with rice, and we made some delicious pasta with cream of chicken.  Our friends brought over some food as well, and it was a good time.  After eating the food, we went out to watch the fireworks that were going off that night.  It was so fun to be out on the town with some girls ;)  I had a lot of fun!

Another food event is an activity where the Church of All Nations came from Hong Kong to join us for a bi-annual social event. We ordered food from a restaurant to provide lunch for our attendees, and we used plates that were brought back from America.  This may seem like a small thing, but they were fall themed, and that is something that you just don't
find here!  It was SO fun to be able to use the pre-decorated paper plates and cups and napkins, and I was very excited. If you're looking for something to send in a care package, that might be it ;)  It was a successful event, and the turn out was great.  We had the PERFECT amount of food: there was enough for one more person to eat!  That is it!  We haven't had that perfect of a food amount in...well...ever!  That day was so busy, because we still had classes and other things going on, but it was a blessing to have them here. They were able to talk about different fall activities, and to discuss what is important to them in their lives, like Jesus Christ!

The same weekend, we also had a separate team from Hong Kong come to help us out with our Bible Study and Sunday morning worship.  So on Sunday we had a pot luck meal, and it was so much fun.  We made pulled pork (as I said, I am on a craze!), and it was one of the most talked-about dishes!  It was so different from Chinese food! The food attracted the people to come, and the Gospel was shared to them in the process!  The team had around 30 people on it, and it was fun to see them interacting with our students, sharing the Gospel.

More things with food have filled my time, but there have been so many that they have all melded together in my brain!

So much for that typhoon!

So Usagi came and went...but it went before it came in actuality.  It avoided us.  That is a good thing!  All of the school kids are sad right now, because we were expecting a day off of school, but such is life!

I don't have any 'after' photos, or even during, because pretty much all we got was wind.  It is howling through the glass doors that don't fully shut. Since I can't capture that in a picture, I didn't try.

We had a taco night tonight... Super Tacos for the Super Typhoon! We tried to watch a movie too, but the TV decided that this was a good time to stop working, so we don't have a TV anymore.  Fun stuff! :)  So we ended up playing Mahjong.  It was a fun night!

I hope that you all are having a splendid day as well!  I am going to go to bed soon, and if there is no typhoon in the morning, I will be off to do other things throughout the day, and enjoy my day off like I normally do!

P.S. I don't want to downplay this typhoon.  It is a really bad one.  It just missed us so it seems like a joke that we got all prepared and cancelled plans for something that didn't even come close! ;) Better safe than sorry, though!

Today's the day!

Our apartment's view!

So, today is the day of the typhoon.  It should be here sometime this afternoon or evening.

It's already started raining, but it is not so bad.  We already stocked up on a few more groceries than normal, in case we can't go outside for a couple days, and we bought battery powered lights in case of a black-out...and we already had plenty of candles.  Here are some 'before' photos of my view.  I hope to take 'during' and 'after', though I would expect that 'after' will look only slightly different, and the 'during' will be difficult to see... but I'll try!

We closed the gate in order to keep
flying debris out of our apartment!

Yesterday they posted a T1, and today we are at a T3.  A T8 will be posted later.  You can find the meanings of the T signals here. I know, it's Wikipedia, but it's correct this time.  We use the same system as Hong Kong.  I personally expect it to go up to at T10, but I am not the expert...we'll see.

Thankfully, even though it's a super typhoon (category 5 hurricane), it's lessened in intensity a little.  It's now classified as a severe typhoon instead.

If you want to follow Typhoon Usagi (especially if I lose internet to share updates with you), then you can visit Hong Kong's website or Macau's website...the Hong Kong one is more detailed, but the Macau one is the one I use more often because, well, I live in Macau ;)

A holiday, a super typhoon, and a make-over!

I have a few updates for you!

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival.  Actually, yesterday was the holiday, but today is the day that we all got off of work and school!  That is because the actual festivities happen at night when everyone goes outside to look at the moon and eat mooncakes and pomello and carry lanterns around the park!  I got to go around last night and eat mooncake and pomello and play games with my friends!  It was a lot of fun to be able to do that.

I'm including with this post some screenshots of Super Typhoon Usagi on its way to Hong Kong and Macau. It is the same as a category 5 hurricane. As you can see, the center is projected to hit just north of Hong Kong, and maybe 45 miles north of Macau. Here we won't have to be too worried, and buildings here are built more sturdy than in America. I'll keep you updated!

Over the summer I noticed that some of my links had disappeared from my blog...I have no idea how it happened.  I sent a message to support, but they decided not to reply, so now I decided that my blog deserves a make-over!  It's not as drastic as the last time that I did a make-over, but it's a new look!  I will experiment with the background and see if I can get one of my own pictures as the background instead of one the website provides.

Well, it's 11:30pm, and it's back to work tomorrow, so I should start getting ready for bed!  I will include a couple prayer requests for you to include in your prayers:  

• for 2 of my friends in particular who are searching for God's love, to have God find them!
• for me as I have been feeling under the weather lately and am finishing up my antibiotics without feeling better 
• for my roommates as they continue to adjust to life in Macau (one for 2 months and one for a year!)
• for the Super Typhoon heading towards land, that lives would not be lost...and if they are, pray that they have the knowledge and belief that Jesus Christ is their Savior so that they can spend eternity in Heaven!

"Alissa老师,你是罪人吗?"

If you can read the title of this post, you'll know that it is an interesting question.  For those who can't, it's titled "Teacher Alissa, are you a sinner?"

That is the question that I received last night at Bible study.  I teach children, and they ask me a myriad of questions.  Unfortunately, it's not always easy for me to answer, because the girl who asks the most questions doesn't understand English.  Thankfully, last night I had a friend co-teaching with me.  She is Chinese, so she was able to teach in Chinese and include me when needed.  Usually she will teach in Cantonese, but it came up that I know some Mandarin (the kids love the fact that I can "speak" Mandarin!), and they decided that they wanted to practice Mandarin in class that day.  I obliged.

So the questions kept coming.  I understood some of them.  We stopped the questions so that we could get the story in, and I told an anecdote about fishing...in Mandarin! It was using really bad Mandarin...my grammar was horrible and English words were weaved into it, but with my friend's help, the story came across.

After the story, the kids just started firing questions back.  A lot of the questions had to do with Mary and her state of perfection or imperfection.  They then asked if priests and pastors are sinners.  Then came the question if I was a sinner.  I looked the girl straight in the eyes and I said that yes, I am human.  I am a sinner.

I feel like we really got through to her.  She knows that I am an imperfect person.  I feel like that is important for her to know!

I try not to blatantly sin.  Always.  But especially in front of other people. But it is important for people to know that Christians are not perfect people.  They are not free from the bondage of sin.  The difference between Christians and non-Christians in regards of sin is that Christians are forgiven for their sins while non-Christians have not asked for forgiveness, and thus have not received it from God.

I hope that one day we will see this young girl be baptised.  She attends a Catholic school, but she comes to our English center most weeks, and hears what we have to say!  I am very excited that she has questions to ask us, and I feel blessed that I am able to have my friend join so that we have the ability to answer those questions in Chinese! :)

Life back in Macau

Life is in full swing!  I am back in the fine special administrative region called Macau, and I am back at work.

My apartment's occupants has increased three fold as I have 2 roommates living with me now.  It is exciting to be able to share stories, time, responsibilities, and cooking (making food for 3 people instead of 1!) with other people.  I am excited to experience having roommates once again.

Classes have started: I am on my 3rd day back today.  I have gotten a little ahead on my lesson planning, and I am excited for Saturday so that I will have some free time to hopefully catch up with some friends.

I don't have any pictures yet of life back in Macau, because I just haven't snapped any since I arrived.

I had spent 2 days in Hong Kong at meetings before coming back to Macau, and it was nice to be able to see all of the people that I work with who I don't see but a couple times a year.

It's been POURING rain lately.  I am so thankful for the waterproof tennis shoes that I purchased last year, because they have saved my feet from drowning in my shoes.

Since it didn't rain this morning, I went out and ran a little....and that's no lie.  It was a little.  I am not a runner, but I have found myself with a lack of exercise, so I figured I need to get back on track.  Please pray for me as I start that!

Today my new roomies and I went grocery shopping and we have a fully stocked fridge. I am excited to be able to have one of those--I can't normally eat everything in time to be able to buy a lot at once.

We also did a little rearranging in the apartment to make it a little more homey.  The only thing that is not working out is the laundry, as we have to hang it to dry, but there's really nowhere good to do that.  The balcony has a bar, but it's too high--I can't reach it.

Tomorrow I have to spend my morning/early afternoon at immigration getting my blue card renewal.  It was already approved and issued, but I was in America, so I wasn't able to go to get it right away.  I don't know if they had me enter as a tourist or if they gave me a paper that said that I have a pending work visa at immigration.  But I will get that tomorrow.

I think that's all that I have.  The apartment building that they are building across the street from my apartment has risen a few stories since I was last here.  By a couple, I mean at least 10.  They have large red numbers that show how high the building is.  The highest that I can see from my chair is 25, but it keeps going up. I have been looking out and watching the workers go up and down the elevator to the work floors.  The elevator is glass, so I can see them all as they're ascending.  Interesting.  I will continue my construction watching now...or go to work.  One of the two!

I hope that you all have a blessed week!

I'm home! Kind of...

So I am in America!  I was able to be home for a couple days, and now I am on the road!  I have already been to Mission Central, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.  I am on my way home to South Dakota to travel out to the black hills next weekend, and to hit up a few other churches along the way!  I am looking forward to presenting in Joplin, MO and also in Texas the following week!

I have been enjoying wonderful things that I cannot enjoy in Macau, such as pulled pork sandwiches, peanut butter candies, root beer, fazzolis, and more!  I am about to eat some delicious sherbet! I am also taking advantage of shopping in stores that carry my size!  I have to get my year's worth of school clothes shopping done while here, so it's off to the clearance racks!

If you have any questions about my time in America, feel free to ask.  I leave again in 2-1/2 weeks, which is crazy.  I am excited to be back in America, but I will be happy to return to Macau.

Below are a few photos of my visit thus far!

If I haven't seen you yet, I hope that I will be able to catch up with you on one of my visits! :)

Homeward Bound

Yes, that's right, I am homeward bound.  I am very close to home, actually.  I am currently in Detroit, and my flight to Sioux Falls boards in 25 minutes.  I am excited to be on the last leg of the journey, and I hope to be able to sleep soon.  I am getting very tired!  I had the opportunity to have lunch with my uncle today, but about half way through the jet lag really started setting in.  I had only slept a few hours the night before, and it was a long time ago when that happened.  I have been traveling since 3pm yesterday central time.  Exciting.

My flight was just delayed, which stinks. I have to get going now, though.

Time to go to another gate to figure it out and get on my last flight.

The past month in pictures!

It's been quite a while...I think that this is the longest that I have gone without posting.  To summarize what's been going on in the last while, here are some photos!

This restaurant is called 东北人 (East North People). The food is from around Beijing, and is delicious! I was
able to go with a few friends who were free for an evening of fun in a nearby city!

Here is a mural of 'Macau' in cow print, which I loved, because my dad always joked: where's mah cow? 

The Harlem Globe Trotters came to Macau!  I went with some coworkers and friends. One friend is not pictured.

If you don't know, durian is a Southeast Asian fruit that is quite pungent.  I don't appreciate the taste,
but many Asians do. Here's durian cheesecake! It was found at a restaurant called
the Venice Restaurant that serves delicious Australian steaks.  It was a great find in Asia!

I ate this delicious desert at a local restaurant! I want to go again!

Here are some coworkers and friends from a nearby city who got together to go bowling and eat dimsum!  It was delicious and a fun time!