Where to go from here?

Ok, so.

Yesterday and today were very different days from the norm. Yesterday I had a number of things that I expected to do that I did not and a bunch of things I did not expect happen. Today however, I mainly just did a couple things and now it's pretty much over...

Yesterday morning around 4am I decided I'd finalize my plans for the day. I asked a couple people what they were doing, if they were going to church, where that was, etc. And it came down to one of my roommates. I would go with them to church at 8:30 and do whatever they were doing until 2:30 when I had to be in Scarborough for another church service at Charis EFree. Then I'd be on the bus at 7 and home by midnight. done.

Well, turns out they didn't have room in their car, so I had to find someone else. Most of by good friends had already left however, so I had to find someone else. In the end I went with DS, AS, RS and IC after helping with some tear down of the main ballroom (so much bigger when empty) and squeezing into a car. I ended up having lunch at their house and meeting AS's parents. So funny. She's sooo Scottish and he's really Chinese. lol. Giant Rice cooker.

After watching some HGTV and having lunch I got a drive to Charis. The service was very much primarily in Mandarin, but the worship slides had English (mainly for the kids I guess) and I just prayed most of the time (that I wasn't semi-asleep...). I was really tired, so I kinda couldn't focus during the main message (fully in Mandarin, no slides) except that it was about 2 Cor 5:17-19. Those who are in Christ are made a new creation. The old is gone the new has come. His grace and forgiveness is over those who place their faith in Him. This is through the cross, His death and resurrection. Both paying for our sins and giving us hope. But also He has given us His message of reconciliation. It wasn't just for me that He died, but for everyone. Would you keep the best thing ever given to you just for yourself? Or would you share it?

That's part of the motivation behind us doing Vacation Bible School (VBS)  in Charis back in the summer; sharing the message of reconciliation with the children. That they may hear about God's love for them, their own sins that separate them and God, but also the fact that Jesus had died for them already so that they can recieve Him if they desire and be given the eternal life offered.

This is where the best part of yesterday comes in.

M(?) and A(?). They had just been to Charis for the first time ever the day before VBS started and decided to stay and help out that week. They heard the gospel. They helped out. They grew so much in that week. They prayed voluntarily. They became friends with the other youth and children. They got their own Bibles. They were able to articulate the gospel.

Coming back to Charis, the first thing I see is M(?) playing piano in the service. They are serving in the church. I also got to see how many children there were. After the service ended, we were invited upstairs for a 'special prayer time' with A(?), M(?), LX and K(?) as well as Pastor S(?) and Auntie J(?). The four of them wanted to pray to receive Christ as their Savior! It's such a great testimony of what God is doing at Charis. Seeing lives changed and saved. Seeing the youth grow passionately and helping serve in the church. I just pray that they'd grow up walking with God and fully being used to reach out to others.

All the kids asked excitedly if we were having VBS this year too. God knows. lol.

Yeah. We had to leave shortly after that, but it's true, there is a giant party in heaven right now over those four turning back to God.

We got on the bus at 7 and shortly after a man approached us asking if we wanted to make a stop or just get home as soon as possible. ASAP please. lol. Me and AL had a really good conversation. I think we were both super tired, but the conversation is still so vivid in my mind. I cried a lot... lol. I cried a lot yesterday. (I also cried around 4am because we were leaving WC and all the new friends and stuff. Even after telling myself over and over that we all get to go to heaven. WC was a glimpse of Heaven on Earth you could say. Constantly worshiping God, singing songs of praise, being surrounded by our brothers and sisters in Christ and being in such a loving community.

Ya, that conversation was really good. If only I could always have a good few good hours to think about things aloud with a good friend and God. I was praying about things and I guess the reached conclusion was that I judge things way too quickly and definitely with little input from reliable sources. In other words, I was the one supporting or going against the options and it was final even though it shouldn't be. Ah... I wanna go to Asia, even if it's only 6 weeks. I don't know if I want to go into a Science career, but I don't really want to change degrees. I don't want to knock down Science yet though, I would like to try it out a bit first. However, I don't really want to do Co-op during the summer because then I couldn't go to Asia. However, I would be fine taking an extra year for co-op (ie, two years). While at the same time, going to Asia for a longer period is becoming another option on the distant horizon. Also, Power to Change (P2C) (the former C4C) is not the only way of serving God in missions or even locally. So complicated.

So, ya. Today I slept until 1. Woke up and basically started cleaning my laptop of unused files and packaging it into folders and stuff, then copying it to USB or SD cards so that we could have FutureShop or someone look at the fan / it to see if they could fix it or whatever. 250$ for a fan. Not happening. They gave us another place's number which I get to call tomorrow. If that is also very expensive then it looks like I get a new laptop. >.<

Ya. That's it basically.

Talk to you later.

D.Fa

PS. A couple months ago I was given a Bible reading plan. The whole Bible in a year, four sections at a time and I had decided to start that come January, so that's one thing I'm doing this year. Actually my friend AZ also started the same one. lol.