Friendship bracelet faith

There's a lovely team here from CA. A couple of strong, wise, wonderful adults and six young teens. Luke and I are kind of in love with them. Which is good, because we're supposed to stick with them all week as they run a five day club for kids and health classes for adults. This is our only real VBS outreach this year, so we're hoping to channel these unchurched kids into our Sunday school. The most exciting part is that the VBS is bilingual! Everything is presented in both English and Mandarin (and sometimes Cantonese). This is something we would love to be able to do all the time, but is only possible when churches like this one (another Chinese EFC on the opposite side of the country) volunteer it. We're so grateful to have them, and to get the opportunity to learn from them. I'm blown away by these kids, who are 12-16 but so mature and enthusiastic about the work God has given them!

As if an excellent team weren't enough encouragement, God gave me a fun bonus Monday. Following last summer's successful solving of the Rubix Cube, I decided to make this summer's hobby friendship bracelets. I've been taught how to weave these at countless summer camps and slumber parties, but I've never been able to make a bracelet on my own. So this summer, at 23, I intend to learn.

Not a week after I made that resolution, I met the CA team. And you know what they were doing when I walked into church Monday? Yep, making friendship bracelets! The girls were eager to share their skill - and string - with me, and by Monday night I'd made my first complete friendship bracelet! Since then, I've graduated to more difficult patterns and finished six bracelets and necklaces so far! I love having something to fiddle with when I'm not at church, and it's so fun to be able to give such simple handmade gifts away, and receive them as well.

Of course God had no obligation to help me with my silly summer goal, and the fact that He provided even that is so incredible to me! If He is attuned enough to my life to give me that tiny thing that I never would have expected from Him, what more is He waiting to do? The summer's barely begun and already I've seen so much! SAY Yes starts Monday, so I know there will be more soon. I can only thank God who gives above and beyond anything I could ever ask or imagine!

Janet's xǐ-jǐu

In Chinese culture, the wedding ceremony is often less important than the following banquet. Here's Janet with her new mother-in-law, preparing for her's, which was held Friday afternoon.

Wedding Banquets, called "xǐ-jǐu," are huge, expensive ordeals. They feature a lot of toasts, games, cash gifts, and food: ten courses! Here's a rundown of Janet's menu.

Course 1: Pickled jellyfish, suckling pig with crispy skin, and boiled octopus (whole)2. Scallops and crab
3. Shrimp in a white sauce, with broccoli and carmelized pecans4. Shark fin, chicken and crab soup.
5. Beef? Not really sure. It may have been something else.6. Lobster & vegetables.
7. Chicken. Whole, of course.8. Fish-whole and un-flipped. Do you see the face?9. Chicken fried rice with shrimp and lo main noodles
10. Sweet black bean soup and (Chinese style) wedding cake.

This is D.

He made me take about seven pictures of him because tomorrow he's leaving to Puerto Rico for the summer and he's worried I'll forget him. He's such a punk - I could never forget a personality like that. He followed me home after class, and wouldn't leave until he'd slammed every door and shrieked, "See you next fall! Don't forget me!" Even though he's one of the most exasperating kids I deal with, he's also one of the few I feel like I can talk to on an adult level. He's constantly giving me career advice ("You didn't babysit this week? Then don't buy anything - save your money!") and asking me all about God and "up there" (heaven). He has serious moral quandries, even at eight, and his questions always challenge and encourage me. So while I won't mind a summer vacation from his more troublesome antics, I definitely won't be forgetting the little guy anytime soon.

Now presenting

Mr & Mrs Dion & Janet S*!*Okay, so the effect is stifled a bit by censored names, but you get the idea - this incredible, beloved couple is finally married!

Waiting at the chapel

Here's the line outside of church this afternoon as we prepare for tonight's wedding! I think it's a lovely representation of the culture around us and the unique community of our church!

It's rained here at LEAST every other day for the past TWO months. Not cool thunderstorm rain. Not brief rainy season rain. Just dreary gray oppressive rain. By the time summer weather finally arrives, my umbrella will have to be surgically removed from my hand.

All About Anthony

One of our third grader's final projects at school entailed making a gigantic book about himself. I snapped a couple photos of my favorite of his illustrations.

This is his family: Dad, Mom, Anthony, and baby sister (who's three or four).

I like how his sister appears to have been penciled in as an afterthought, possibly by an entirely different artist. Anyway, let's take a closer look at Anthony's mom.

Wow! What a face!

Now we see Anthony's family gliding by bus through the night, I think on their way to a new apartment.

If you can, click the image to make it bigger. Note the way his mom's dental problems in the previous illustration have mysteriously transferred to his dad...and the moon.

Lastly, we have Anthony's aspirations for the future. I'm still not clear who the stubby guy on the right is, but the smiling man is a police officer.


When I asked Anthony why he wants to be a cop, I expected a typical ten year old boy response about catching bad guys. Turns out he just likes the curled mustache he saw on a TV show policeman.

Painting!

Today the Here's Life art team prepared a special treat for our afterschool kids: paints!

Beeswax

last night

Fruits of the Spirit

Sorry for the terrible photo, but here's the tree our Sunday school has been working on the past month.

Feed the Birds

Light Up Light With Love!

Jimmy and I went on the Staten Island ferry last night!

Please pray for Baby W!

The youth pastor and his pregnant wife rushed to the hospital at midnight last night. Apparently J has ulcers on her kidney, which is causing her severe pain, but doctors don't want to deal with it until the baby is born in October. Please pray for her, him, and their unborn baby.

Interview this morning with Emily. Four people from Here's Life Inner City and two from One Hope (formerly Book of Hope, the group that donated "Bible books" to our outreach packs for Easter) came over to talk to us about the challenges of urban outreach. They're doing really cool things, so please check out their work if you get the chance.