New Year!

On New Year's Eve, I went with a couple of new friends to a local Scandinavian Arts Center for the celebration there. We listend to music, watched a Chinese drum performance, and watched fireworks set off inside the building at midnight! (That part was a little frightening...) But my favorite part of the evening happened right before midnight. A friend's Chinese roommate was MC-ing the event. This man had brought his closest Chinese friend (nicknamed "McGrady"), who is seeking, but is not a bliever. All night everyone had been speaking to each other in Chinese, so I assumed that McGrady could not speak English. Then all of a sudden, he asked me (in English of course!) if I was a bliever. I told him "yes," and he asked me why. So I told him as simply as I could. He nodded and said, "I think I want to be a bliever too. But I don't know in my heart. So i think that G maybe doesn't want me to yet." I tried to tell him in the simplest English that I could that G was ready and waiting for him, that that was the whole reason that J died. It was a tough conversation linguistically, but very exciting at the same time. Most of the time, I can't speak to the majority of the 6 million people who live in this city. And, although I can now send a letter by airmail (hangkong xin), I can't really communicate well at all. It's frustrating in daily life, and honestly makes me feel a bit useless and irrelevant in the grander scheme of things. But I was excited to be able to have that conversation and see how the father is using other people - national and foreign - to share his truth and love. 

Now, it's nearly Chinese New Year! There are actually fireworks being set off as I write this - guess people are getting a jump start on the festivities. It's called Chun Jie here - Spring Festival. It's supposed to be pretty crazy - people take off of work for one or two weeks, fireworks explode day and night, people give each other money, put up lots of decorations, and ate lots of good (or interesting) food. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the excitement! I'll be here for the actual day of the holiday and couple days after that. Then a couple of us here are headed to India for a completely different experience...

Whether it's the 1st of January, or the lunar new year, I'm glad to have a new year start. It's pretty strange to think about where I was last year and what I thought I would be doing this year. All that has happened in my life recently has been so unexpected and unplanned by me. Although it's been somewhat confusing and frustrating at times, looking back, I am so grateful that he's brought me here, and it makes me laugh to think about how he got me here. In retrospect, I've enjoyed the adventure and what has happened along the way... Even though it's not what I would have chosen or the path I would have picked to get here, I'm not at all sorry. How could I be? If this is what he asks, then I know - even if it's hard or confusing or exhausting at times - I know it's gonna be good! As for what will happen this year... I think I'm just going to hold off on trying to guess.