I Thought I was Volunteering

A few weeks ago, I had to fill out some paperwork and state the number of times I taught English Club. I just thought they were formalities in China. But the other day I received this We-Chat from Lily, the teacher who oversaw me.

It's an envelope with my name on it. Then this conversation:

That amount is equivalent to me making $36 an hour. That's not an awful wage in the US, but it is unheard of here. WAY too much. They *really* don't understand volunteering.

It was the next day that I finally heard back from Lily. (I think they really don't know what to do with me!)

After this conversation, I sent the top image to Tom and said, "I hope I didn't preach the gospel too loudly here." And then I got on my knees to pray for Lily to have a revelatory experience knowing who to help with the money and to experience great joy in doing it. I hope she'll repeat it again and again! What I wanted to say to Lily was that I'm not necessarily a great and kind person, but I'm trying to live my religion and that is what it teaches. I really feel that serving others is a key to eliminating the disparity and oppression in this country. I hope Lily's actions trickle far and wide--for her and others.

I'm thankful for these types of missionary opportunities. So thankful.

Comments

While We Are Waiting: Temples!

I love the temple. When I first learned of the possibility of us moving to China in December 2019, one of my first questions was "How can I leave the temple?" That question was answered in part during the closure of temples in 2020. However, when the joint venture was signed and Tom was officially offered the position in China in November 2020, I began fasting and praying that I would be able to attend the temple just once before we left. Our original flights were for July 7, 2021 and just a few weeks before that, our temple opened up and miraculously we were able to get 2 appointments for baptisms and 4 other appointments for Tom and I before our departure date. I can't express my deep gratitude for those 6 precious appointments. Then when we didn't obtain a visa in time for those flights and access to nearby temples was given, I took up a new hobby. Temple scheduling. The girls teased me it was a bit of an obsessed hobby; but since we will go ...

Medical Check Ups -- China Style

I knew our medical check up would be extraordinarily different from what I could ever imagine, and recognizing that, I thought I was prepared for anything. I was wrong. Very wrong. I could have never dreamed up what was. We had to drive 45 minutes to the medical center for foreigners. Yet we were the only foreigners. Stella explained that it was also for international travelers. For such limited traveling allowed, it was sure packed. Tom asked a couple of people where they were traveling to and they said they weren't traveling. So we don't know why there was such a crowd. In the back of my heart, I was slightly hoping that since it was for foreigners that it might feel less foreign. Wishful thinking. Note to self: don't ever ever hope for things to not be foreign. We first registered. It only took about 15 minutes. For us, that is lickety split. We got print outs with the work we needed done: "Blood taking, x-ray, urine s...

An Accomplishment!

The process: Cut the recipe in half so that the bread will fit in your teensy tinsy oven. Convert everything to metric--- ingredient amounts and water temperature. Get your purified water to the right temperature. Measure ingredients out. Mix it up. Humidity changes things.... Hope you did it right. Shape and let rise. Convert oven temperature to Celsius. My little oven heats up nicely, but you get to guess when it is preheated. Notice there are no smoke alarms in your kitchen. Hmm. Decrease the cook time and cross your fingers that is right. Add a cooking thermometer to the shopping list. Let it cool for a long time because you only have a small serrated knife for cutting it. Slice and eat. It probably could have tasted pretty awful and we would have thought that bit of home tasted very delightful! But it was quite good! Needs a little more salt, but that is an easy adjustment. And it could have been crustier, but we're at a point o...

This Great Work

Search This Blog