Week 45

Week forty five continues my dream week. On Monday  I went with a fellowship friend to watch the movie Silence. He was disturbed by the negative depiction, I can understand, so I won't recommend it unhesitatingly. Most moviegoers forget about the other heroic missionary who sacrificed his life to rescue believers who were drowned for their faith. Another thing to bear in mind is the Catholic priest's burden as the representative of God, thereby the key element in the inquisitor's plan was to make him apostatize to cause others to stumble when previously the believers would not apostatize. The third observation is that believers did prosper in Japan for a while until the priests' apostasy.

Tuesday was another boring week, unchallenged by the lack of preaching new sermons. Now I have eight half done sermons. The only new thing is welcoming a new coworker W at lunch.

Wednesday I woke up to a fourth week dreaming of Doris. She asked me, "Do you wanna go for a walk at the beach?" As usual, we were also driving, but this time to a strange house. At one time, I was looking for a restroom. At night a neighbor and his wife offered a ear massage to treat my high blood pressure, bless their heart!

On Thursday I received news that my former church chairman suddenly died of leukemia. The person who notified me talked to him on Sunday but he was hospitalized on Tuesday and died Thursday 1am. Poor family, there is no grief like no preparation for the family, Doris used to say. At night I had dinner at Sheung Wan with my prayer partners and my mentor, who will be returning to L.A. after a short but rewarding stint at ABS. He's such a wonderful person, I cannot say enough of Herman. However, he too failed trying to encourage me to move on; maybe what I need is just not to stand still or be stuck. At night a buddy's wife had a dream:
"Last night I dreamed of Doris for the first time. The background was unknown, she looked healthy but serious, she told me there were many good restaurants near her office,西餐廳、cafe  and bakery ...then she laughed."

On Friday our department had a birthday lunch as well as to welcome my department predecessor. Our department has grown stronger and the relationship sweeter the three years I have been here. By God's grace I have matured in the mentoring part. On Friday I wept as I searched for the emails Doris sent to Herman and another good friend in USA, of which I will release the second below: 
Dear Michael, Michelle, Herman & Eleanor, 
I have previously sent very similar emails to you asking for support for Victor.

I am so very eager to be with the Lord but I know it is difficult for Victor to let go. Please pray that God will guide us on the same page so we can have peace about His will together. We want to embrace God's will for us individually and as a couple. 

Thanks!
Doris

Saturday was the first week I returned to lead prestudy for my fellowship after a prolonged absence to care for Doris. Thankfully, the group was receptive to the study. I had inherited a lot of pointers from Doris and experience from fellowship talks since on how to run a group. The laughable moment was I wanted to eat a durian mochi from a foam box, but got a mango version instead from a wrong box , and later a strawberry version until one of the members grabbed the final correct durian onr for me!

After teaching my last Sunday school lesson the week before, I was free on Sunday to exercise without hurry in the pool. I found my weak toes were strengthened from a swimmer's tip to jog on top of the drainage manhole in the pool where the irregular surface can massage my feet. It really worked today on the second day of exercise. At night a flood of tears swept over me thinking of going to Shanghai two years after our last trip together. I later had a misunderstanding with a friend who tried to care for me with a Bible verse, but I was not up for it, taking it as another call to move on. It made me regret even sharing my pain. It was not entirely the person's fault, but it was not the remedy I need. By the end of the week I had finished all 16 chapters of the OT marketplace passages in two weeks of revision, praise God!

Apr 4, 2017