Another exciting week! We had a really miraculous experience with a member referral this week. We try to ask everyone we talk to who they know who would like to meet with us. As you might imagine, most people would be more receptive to an invitation from a friend or family member that a stranger (with poor Chinese) on a bike at a stoplight. Last week, one of the members, Sister Zhao, invited us to call some of her friends to set up a time that we could meet with them. One of them she expected might not be interested--actually, what she said was, "Ta yinggai hui ma wo ba" (She'll probably scold/reprimand me). When I called her friend, after the first few minutes of conversation, I thought Sister Zhao had hit the nail on the head, but then she suddenly said she'd be happy to set up a time. When we met with her, we found out that her father recently became very ill. She's obviously very concerned about him. As we taught her how to pray, and encouraged her to pray for her father, she was geniunely grateful for a way to petition blessings now when her family especially needs them. I was really grateful to be with her to share the thing she needed right when she needed it. Through no design of our own (Sister Zhao had no idea until that lesson that her friend's father was sick), we ended up in the right place at the right time. It's a great feeling.
Move calls are this Friday, and move day is on Monday. I feel like I've really learned a lot this move, and the whole time I've been in Yongkang so far. If I stay here, I'll be excited to still be in this area. If I leave, I'll be excited to meet a whole new group of people and see what I can learn and how I can strengthen the area. When I was thinking about putting in my papers, I realized that I was hoping I could go to Latin America, because I really love Hispanics, and I would love to share the gospel with them. I tried really hard to get rid of that preference before I got my call, and by the time I opened the letter, I really didn't care. Move calls are basically same way; I already know that I love this place and these people, so I might naturally hope to stay, but I'm learning to be excited about the people and places I don't know yet, because if that's where I'm called to go, that's exactly where I need to be. Being where I need to be is much better than being where I want to be. But I think Sister Ma would like to stay here, and it's most common for one companion to move, so I sort of hope I move, so she can stay in Yongkang.
