BEHOLD: the importance of fanny-packs

I would love to be able to say that I have successfully made it one whole week without getting lost, but alas, I cannot. The amount of unnecessary walking I've done due to being somewhat directionally challenged... is unreal. But it's a good way to see the city in detail. I have discovered the importance of taking a map with me at all times- thus the importance of the fanny pack.. (because purses are so uncool) I swear some days my internal GPS is on point, and other days it sends me in every direction but the one I want. I've pretty much covered this entire city by foot mostly by accident. But it's all part of the fun.

In general people here don't talk to strangers on the streets, they all just mind their own business and get to where they need to go, they don't even so much as say excuse me or thank you for the most part. But, I have an incredible magnetism for random encounters. (oh man have they been random too) I have had more local people try to strike up conversations with me, whether they speak English or not, but so far I have yet to have a 'conversation' with anyone on the street that made any amount of sense. It usually ends up with me smiling awkwardly and shaking my head saying 'wo bu dong' (i dont understand). But that doesn't seem to stop anyone from proceeding with a full dialogue on who-knows what. It makes for lively outings anyway.

I got a chance to meet more people at the meeting this week. This is an amazing congregation. People from every corner of the globe serve here. We have 4 missionaries in our cong. And every

single person I've met has a story of how/why they are there. I got there super early and met a sister from Russia who is here for a few months to see her kids. I guess her ex-husband is Taiwanese and when she learned the truth he made her choose between the Bible and her kids. She made a very difficult choice but she chose the truth. So now she spends most of the year

saving up money so she can fly to Taiwan from Russia a couple times a year to see them. What a sacrifice. The friends here are so welcoming and want to help you out however they can. They seem grateful to anyone who comes to help. (I have attached a picture of the KH room below)

Also, this was the first meeting I've attended where the council during the service meeting was "If you have more bible studies and RV's than you can handle, how do we make sure they're taken care of"...... Apparently this is an issue that the congregation has as a whole.... I can't even imagine. But I am willing to take on some of that burden! ;) Our territory extends 2 hours travel

in all directions around us. So we get a little taste of the whole northern half of the country. I am told that once or twice a year there is a big service week when all the fisherman come to port from being away for several months so our cong. sends dozens of people to the docks and preaches to them while they are here. I guess most of them are Indonesian and Filipino so their English is a little better than their Mandarin. Reminded me of pg.68 in the BT book, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if that was taken here. The brothers buy fresh fish at the docks and BBQ it for break.

The territory for us is almost entirely informal witnessing- streets, stores, markets, etc. This is an area that I am not particularly confident in, so it will be a challenge but I am glad to have my informal witnessing skills sharpened. I had my first day in the field today, it was quite different

from anything I've done before. We just wander around the city and look for people who might speak English, chase them down, and place whatever we've got with them. It's really informal, but we met some nice people. I'm a little gun-shy just yet, but hopefully I'll get used to the new routine. And the sister I worked with today was very helpful in giving me advice.

Melissa and I are still looking for an apartment, but are on the trail of a couple leads. So hopefully we will be able to move out of the hostel soon. Although I will miss eating lunch & watching Sumo wrestling everyday with Bob (a 70-something year old who lives at the hostel).

More to come likely after the weekend... stay tuned.

Ximen at night....