Christmas!

Christmas time was great.  I was able to spend time with my friends and together we could celebrate the birth of Christ!  We travelled to a city about an hour and a half away by bus.  It was nice to be able to get away from Macau for a while while still being with my friends from Macau!

We ended up finding a local church that was having a Christmas celebration, and we watched the performances as the church members sang and danced and performed skits.  It was a lot of fun!  We also listened to a speaker (speaking in Mandarin, translated to Cantonese) talk about how Jesus came to the world to save us!  The book that I am 'reading' right now that teaches me Chinese Christian characters really helped me, because he used almost all of the new vocabulary that I've learned!  So I was happy that it was in Mandarin because I could understand maybe 30% of what he said, as opposed to the 1% I would have understood in Cantonese!  (My Chinese isn't quite that good yet, but when it comes to Christian things, I understand more, because that's the vocab I am studying!)

We also got to go up and sing a song that basically translates as: "We Love because God first loved us".  It was sung in Mandarin, and I knew 90% of the characters, so I was able to go up and sing with them while reading the music.  I felt VERY proud of myself for knowing most of the song.  There were a few words that I stumbled over, but it was ok!  They never gave me the microphone, so nobody ever knew! :)

I was able to relax a little after the performance.  3 friends and I went to the spa while the others went to bed.  I had gone to get a massage before, so I figured that we'd be gone for about an hour and a half or so.  No.  We were gone for about 3.5 - 4 hours.  Turns out this is a fancy spa.  We got in, and were separated ladies and gentlemen.  My friend and I went into the lady's room where we showered, relaxed in a pool with various water massage features, went into the wet sauna (where I spent less than a minute because I couldn't breathe!) and then showered again, after which we were given special clothes to wear for the massage.  We were then given robes to put over the clothes, and went upstairs where we met the 2 guys.  They had been playing pool to kill some time.  We were then taken to a buffet.  After eating, we went into a waiting room where we each had our own TV and could relax.  Then we were taken into the massage room where we were given a 2 hour Thai massage.  Now, I don't want to tell you this to show how pampered we were: the massage actually wasn't all that great, and I was super tired haha.  But I want to show you that this is not something of high-class in China.  This is something completely normal to do.  The total for this entire 4 hour adventure (that could have lasted another 12 hours had we wanted to spend the night there) was 168 RMB per person, which translates to less than 30 USD per person.  That is so much cheaper than you would ever find it in the States.

The next day a friend and I walked around in the morning and we found an arcade, where we played some basketball, air hockey, and completely failed at the extremely difficult chinese version of DDR.  (They go at diagonals instead of straight left/right/forward/back, and they incorporate the hands.  I also accidentally chose an advanced song hahaha!  And it was all in English too, so I have no excuse!)  We then met everyone else and went to eat lunch.  We were able to meet up with 2 other Americans (who are friends of mine) and a few Chinese who I hadn't seen in a very long time!  We had 2 large circle tables full of people celebrating together.  We then did a gift exchange, and were whisked off to the bus station where we caught the bus back to Macau.  We got there JUST in time to get out of our cars and onto the bus!

All in all, it was a VERY fun trip.  I am tired now, because it was a little busy (there were things that I didn't talk about that happened as well...it was very busy!).  Right now I am in the middle of cleaning my home.  Even though I am not teaching right now, I am still super busy, and haven't had enough time to keep my house clean.  I started cleaning last night, but I still have over half the things left on my to-do list!  Time to get back to work on my house, and then go in to the center to plan lessons for next week and to teach Bible class tonight!




I hope that you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, and that you have great plans for New Year's Eve/Day!

December 21: Doomsday?

For all of you who are not to December 21 yet: I did watch a UFO come and land in Macau. A dragon emerged and set fire to the city, and many glowing skeletons started dancing, following the leader. But then a white dove came and destroyed the dragon, the skeletons turned into fireworks, and Macau was restored. This is a true story. The only needed detail is that it was on a big-screen at a holiday celebration in a park/square put on by the city of Macau with lots of money. So, I must conclude that today will once again turn into tomorrow, and the world will keep spinning, because God is the one who will determine the end of the world: not the Mayans. May God bless your day, and allow this false prophesy to focus your minds not on fear and superstition, but on the promises of God.

Jesus IS coming.  Just not today!  We know what Jesus said here, in Matthew 24:

At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. 25See, I have told you ahead of time. 26“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man....36“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^f but only the Father.37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 

Taken from NIV translation found at this link.  Click the link to read more!

Bilingual Bulletin

I just finished a project that I've put off because of how daunting it seemed: translating Divine Service 2 back from Chinese to English!  Before you get impressed, don't.  I have a hymnal.  I just had to match the correct parts of the service to the Chinese.

I did this so that we could have a bilingual bulletin that we have every week, instead of having separate bulletins for the Chinese speakers and English speakers.  That way we can also have a permanent bulletin, which will save paper.

The way the Chinese bulletin was laid out was that the chants were scanned as one photo, and to add the English into the music I had to save each photo as a jpg (which wasn't difficult, but it took me a while to figure out a way to do so as I am accustomed to a Mac, not Windows!) and then cut each line individually, re-insert the photos in the correct order, type out the English, match the words to the notes, and format it correctly.  It was very tedious, but it is done, and I hope that our vicar will approve it, and that we'll get it printed out within the week to use either this Sunday or next Sunday! Otherwise I have some more formatting to do!

We received the biggest care package that this center has ever seen (at least in the memories of all who work here!).  It was spectacular, and full of Christmas decorations, presents, Christmas music, Christmas movies, and sweets that we cannot find here!  It was shared between our two centers! Thank you to CTK for the wonderful care package! It made us happy, and we'll continue to be happy every time we see the items!

Speaking of Christmas, I have been very happy lately because of Christmas decorations. I don' tknow why it makes me so happy, but it's such a warm feeling that I get when I am in the center or walking down the street or in my house looking at the decorations!  I think it's the reminder that Christ came for us, and that he is our Lord!

I received Christmas presents from my family yesterday, and so I celebrated Christmas a LITTLE early, though I re-wrapped some of the items and put them under the Christmas tree :)  The cookies and cinnamon roll that I received, though, went right into the kitchen awaiting a party :)

What are your favorite Christmas cookies?!  Please tell me, because I am looking for ideas of what to bake :)

The Truth

I often try to paint missionary work as exciting, wonderful, and problem-free.  I apologize for that, as I have been trying to keep my burdens to myself.  My other posts haven't been lies: all of the wonderful things happen.  In the midst of the struggles, there are great things.  But I have sometimes left out some of the tough times that I have had, because I don't want other people to read my posts and be discouraged.  I want people to feel encouraged after reading them.

Last weekend I learned that it's ok to share my struggles, and I hope that it can be helpful for you to see that I'm not just living in a dream world: I am living in the real world.  Working abroad is great, and I love it most of the time.  I don't want this to be a discouragement for you, but merely a glimpse into the not-as-glamorous side of working cross-culturally.

So: here we go.

It's been a strange couple of weeks, with highs and lows galore.  I had a retreat over Thanksgiving.  It was less of a retreat and more of meetings, but it was called a retreat.  I was able to learn a lot, which was helpful.  I also got to meet some of the other GEOs from the area who had just arrived a month or two ago.

Other than that, life's been interesting.  I have had so much work to do lately, it's been really difficult for me to keep up with lesson planning, teaching, bible classes, and relationship building.  I've somehow done it for the most part, but I am, in all honestly, exhausted.  I am swamped with more work than I can do. It doesn't help that English teaching is not my passion, though I am doing it at least 40 hours a week. (including lesson planning, meetings, classes, etc).  Right now it is merely a means to be in Macau building relationships and sharing the Gospel.  Yes, it is also a tool of it, but it is still exhausting for me.

I don't have physically too much work: but I am exhausted from constantly being alert and constantly trying to decipher what people are saying, whether they speak Chinese or broken English, and whether it be in class or during relationship building.  Sometimes when I am spending time with my friends and they speak Chinese, I literally tune them out, because I can't understand them anyway, and I just need time to myself.  I know it's bad, but I tune back in once they get back to English ;)

Being completely honest, I'm gonna throw it out there that I am in need of some encouragement.  On paper, nothing is going wrong right now.  I am also not homesick.  I am just going through a rough patch, and I could use some encouragement, whether it be through prayers, e-mails, letters, etc. 

It doesn't seem logical that I am unhappy right now, because I have been surrounded by friends lately, and I even have plans for the holidays. I've been so blessed lately with some awesome friends here.  I got a new phone, and I needed to manually transfer all of my contacts to my new phone.  As I was doing so, I was also arranging my friends into favorites, because there was that option.  As I was organizing it, I realized how many friends I actually have here in Macau.  I feel really blessed.  I didn't even know how to arrange my contacts in my phone because I had too many people that I wanted to put on top!

I have been exercising once or twice daily, which is helpful too.  I feel very lazy here due to my exhaustion: once I get home, I just want to sit down and relax.  I found that I can relax while exercising too, which helps my body AND my mind!  Though I don't get to it every day, reading my Bible is helpful for my spirit as well.  It's possible that that's what's missing in my life: that my personal relationship with God is stagnant...not by his doing, of course, but because of my failure to respond to the millions of blessings that he has given me.

My complaining is not something that I want to make common.  But I want you to know that there are struggles that I face: these are some of my most common issues that I have: mostly a lack of energy.

Please pray for renewed energy and liveliness, and an energetic willingness to share the Gospel.

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! :)