A Day in my Life

I often get asked what a typical day looks like for me, so I thought I might as well tell you. No day is ever the same, and particularly today was quite full with mountaintops and valleys, and may things in between.

This morning, our team began with our usual time of singing and sharing together. And between songs, one lady called Mandy got up to share with us something the Father had really been impressing on her. She explained how a few days ago, He gave her a very clear picture of a wooden, jewelled box. She knew the box contained treasures but was hesitant to 'open' the box. She kept having this picture in her head, and finally in her quiet meditation time, she 'opened' the box and could see herself covered in a glorious white robe, with gold embroidered words of love and how she is His child. There was also an eagle holding her in its arms, keeping her safe and soaring with her. It was a really beautiful picture, and it's amazing to me when He gives people such clear and powerful images to remind us of His overwhelming majesty and love.

At the end of this morning meeting, another lady named Helen shared about her friends in Zimbabwe. She's an Australian woman but she lived in Zim for a while, and Helen is someone who very much has a heart for hurting people, and does personal mission trips to places with her husband to care for refugees, orphans, and anyone in between. Anyway, the couple she lived with while she was in Zim runs youth camps and really strives to make a difference in the broken country that Zim is. Because of a land dispute, the husband of the couple was accused of training soldiers to overthrow the government (when he is actually running youth camps) and is now imprisoned. At first he was charged with treason, which is punishable by hanging, but his sentence is now being converted to a life term. For doing absolutely NOTHING wrong. And the justice system there isn't very just, so he's is looking at slim chances of this wrong being righted. I can't even imagine the powerlessness and fear he must be feeling. Helen has a real burden for the country, and was remarking on how Zim keeps cropping up in her life. The Father is doing something in her and in that country, and as horrible as it is, we can only look to Him for what to do next.

After this meeting ended, I headed up to our Communications area where we have a girl named Amy working with us for a few months. She is not a believer, but has been asking lots of questions because she knows we are all believers. And it's been really cool to see in just a week how open she is to attending Studies with us and wanting to learn more. She is of a different faith, but we are all hoping she will meet Him while she is here.

In more mundane news, I finally taught myself how to use Adobe Illustrator today. It took me hours to make a simple thing, but I got there in the end and felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

And at the end of today, I had the kids for an hour to help them learn about our Father. I have them once a week for this time together (I see them every day, but we only formally do the Study on Fridays together). Today we learned about the process of turning away from Him, experiencing a turning point, and then turning back and living in relationship with Him once again. During this lesson, one of the boys, Joshua, who is a good kid but has a hard time sitting still and gets frustrated very easily, really surprised me. We had some verses to learn, and he was in my group (he's about 8) and another girl, Courtney, who is 5, and who always does her best to annoy this boy and push his buttons, was also in our group. Courtney has a very hard time learning things by heart since she's so young, so Joshua, without my prompting, took it upon himself to sit with her and help her learn it. She kept trying to give up, but he very gently would not let her, and was really cheering her on and giving her little cues when she needed them. Like I said, he usually gets frustrated so easily, but Courtney, who is often his nemesis, didn't get to him in the least, and they got on really well, and she learned her verse! It was really beautiful to watch.

Besides that, there were all the little things in the day. I went to the grocery store to get some snacks for the kids, and ran into several people I know. I also talked about tourist spots and how to get there for Amy, who is new in the city. I practiced a new Cantonese phrase with my Chinese friend, Annie, and killed yet another roach in my kitchen (the heat brings them out in droves). I made myself a chicken sandwich using delicious pita bread for dinner, cooking it all up in my little kitchen. I treated myself to a mini Toblerone from the store. I lent a bread pan to my neighbor, who in turn gave me a slice of fresh apple crumble she just made. I spent a good chunk of time talking to Maz on Skype, and tried in vain to check my email (Yahoo keeps giving me errors when I log on ... so annoying!). I've read some of my book too ... a new one called "The Secret History" which so far is very interesting.

So that's my day. It's unlike my day yesterday, where I spent a good piece of time in Tuen Mun with Annie, going to a hole in the wall copy place where her native Chinese speaking skills were quite handy, and as we waited we had such a good, long chat about faith and life and it was really encouraging to both of us I think. The day before was Pancake Day, and over the weekend was traipsing through back alleys of the city. I never know what the day will hold, which is true of my life even in the States. Yet I love the unique flavor my life has here, in the midst of Hong Kong and its culture, sounds, smells, tastes, people, heat, and dirt.