Monday, July 4, 2011

The Last Month, Jul 2011

This month is my last month at my present office before I return to the States for a three weeks break. In fact I do not need to go in after taking all my vacation days, so today (5th) is the first day at home and I am slightly bored since Wife is at work. There are notes to edit for my new book and a sermon to prepare, but otherwise I have all the time to myself, which means I must look for lunch with friends.

Today (8th)is hang-out day at Tung Chung cafetaria in the morning and an exceptional HK$98 curry buffet for lunch. Yesterday I had a good class whereby I discovered that six times the word "served" is used in Gensis 39 to sum up Jacob's new-found attitude after leaving from his family. Small details like this makes the Scriptures come alive.

I had 3 hours to kill waiting for the next bargain-price ship at 3p to Macau today
(12th), but no one was available for lunch, so I hanged around and was surprised to see how busy lunch is. 20-50 patrons lined up patiently outside some restaurants for food. I needed to get out of the building for air, though it was drizzling. Outside I found a bargain lunch for HK$30, including noodles, bread and tea, better price than most tea restaurants here. With the extra time I wrote this part, too. Wife wrote a piece yesterday if you are interested to read.

In Macau the next day (13th) we had lunch at Macau's finest, but the price wa snot worth it! I bought a dictionary of Chinese phrases end of last year, but only managed to read 40 pages. However, I read another 60 pages in two days after six months of inactivity. And my plan was to complete it in a year. Returning home, the greatest joy was to find Pacific has opened its new store in Ma Wan. Now I want to buy a card and be a fan because Starbucks has nothing here.

Yesterday (18th) I had a great time speaking at TST. I was completely shocked that both my wife and I received a small gift from two different sources, people who hardly know us which reminds me of God' provision for our needs no matter where we serve and what we do in Hong Kong. This is important because I have an appointment for ministry tomorrow, which I hope will work out, but God's way, nevertheless, is not man's.

The big-decision day (20th) sputtered out deja vu-style. Again I was called to have another meeting with another group of people. I was calm, not annoyed. Things are what they are. Maybe the Lord wants me to do something else, who knows? Hopefully the next call-up is less complicated. I can only stay focused. At least I had good fellowship over lunch. It is so unbelievable that I can write a book on "How to Find God's Will for Your Life."

This is the first day (23th) we have been at Starbucks since Pacific opened nearby, and we totally enjoy the old place more. It's scary to say this, but the the food is better at S. There is no toast or egg ciabatta at P, so we missed that. Other than that the weekend is boring since the meltdown. We plan to attend evening worship at Tsing Yi today.

Last night (26th) Wife's back hurt the worst so far, so I put my years of treatment to good use and gave her a rub. Her fear is for her back if she has to sit on a flight for more than 10 hours to USA three days from now. After continental breakfast today, we submitted our residency papers and hope for the best. We ate a lot of fridge food at night to clear them before we leave. Tomorrow is my last day at class, boo-hoo.

The last day of class was a blast. I had lunch with a former student at an Asian retsaurnt at IFC; the Malaysian-Singapore food was great. One of my colleagues took me out for high tea and five students took me out for dinner. The best was from the night class students, who treated me like celebrity, taking pictures and all. They progressed the most. I was also happy that my project on translating my favorite gospel songs have taken flight, with Sacrifice and When God Ran for starters. Soon to come is Blessed Be Your Name.