They that wait on the Lord's

This evening I went with my church to help out another church in serving dinner and putting on a Christmas party of sorts for families of prisoners. All I did was carry in a tray and scoop food out of a disposable aluminum pan. I am no hero. But I loved it and I think it really meant something. There is something about the ability to serve in Christ's name that really just makes my day. I was looking around at all the children with full tummies and smiles, the essentially single mothers that didn't have to cook for a night, and the little boy who went through the line 4 times, and I just grinned. I had the ability to put a little sunshine in a gray sky, and that was worth every minute of my Friday night not doing whatever else.

I met one of my students, Cora, for lunch today as a friend instead of as a teacher. She'd taken something that goes with a gift, translated it for me and bought me lunch when she was my guide in Zhuhai, so I wanted to treat her as a thank you....plus, she's just absolutely delightful to be around. I made the mistake of telling the sweet girl in my invitation email that it was my treat, so she ate beforehand and 'wasn't hungry' I'm sure so that she wouldn't 'burden' me with cost. We talked about a variety of things, and I find she still learned quite a bit. For example, I taught her that mono- means one. Monochromatic...these are things I talk about in day to day conversation. Yep, I'm a nerd. She also gave me a neat fossilized piece her dad gave her from her hometown so that she wouldn't get homesick. Wow. That was such a personal gift and it meant so much.

Before helping at the church tonight, I was walking around and the wind was going right through my clothing...chilly. I stopped into the cute little ice cream parlor I'd been to a while back hoping they might have hot tea. I asked for it in poor Cantonese (lit cha), and the guy spoke English. ha. They were a bit surprised that I was ordering hot tea to go from there, and the owner ended up giving it to me for free. Maybe they were impressed by my poor Cantonese. Maybe they saw my cute mittens. Then again, maybe people are just genuinely nice and sometimes surprise you :)

I know I said I wouldn't blog, but this really will be the last one for a bit as 'to infinity and beyond' is about to begin!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good...everything :)