Give Thanks in all situations. In Good and in Bad.
Salutations!!
As I write this letter I have only been here 8 days. But you are reading this, just days before or after Thanksgiving. I envy your holiday cheer, your bellies full of turkey and mashed potatoes, and your familial comfort. Yet, despite this envy I would not wish myself to be there with you. I am so thankful and delighted to be here in the land of Moon Cakes.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the peoples rejoice.
The Hard present gives me: patience to see what I can learn from those in my sphere of reference, hope that I will not always be helpless to do activities of daily life, and joy in the observation of those around me, and ultimately the privilege of becoming once more like a child experiencing the little things of life and relishing them as great achievements. I am quickly learning that when you rely on others to help you accomplish your daily tasks everything takes twice as long.
The Good future looks bright. I can see it shining ahead all the speaking, reading, and writing tasks ahead. Hopefully within the next two weeks I will be in school of some sort. I hope that by the time you hold this in your hand I am speaking more and going to and fro more confidently. I would like to introduce to you my new motto: “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” John 3:27 This gets me through the day. I have been placed here through your generosity and conviction and ultimately by God.
I delight to tell you that as I enter language school I see it as a gift and a responsibility. I do not take it lightly. I will diligently learn so that I may effectively help those I come to help. Please hold me up in this task. I cannot do it in my own strength. Ask me what I am learning. So in keeping with my commitment to you let me tell you what I have learned so far.
Today: I learned how to make tomato soup from scratch, I do not have the cord that will transfer pictures taken on my cell phone to my computer, and that underwear can be purchased in the same place as shredded pork and candied melons. Yesterday: balancing on the back of a bike is tricky and that you can buy a week’s worth of vegetables for little over a dollar. Last Week: I learned that it is important to unplug the drain in the bathroom floor before you take a shower, plugging an appliance into the outlet may not be enough-you may also have to turn the outlet on, dvds from the united states do not play in all dvd players, and my textured flip flops have no traction on marble steps in the rain.
Thank you so very much for being a huge part in all of this. I will continue to tell you how things are going here. Your words of encouragement have been so touching.
Love, Denise
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Tests of all Kinds!!!
11/22/09
So I am pleased to share with you all that the "Rodent of Unusual Size" is no longer a menace to my personal space. There was quite a bit of commotion around here though because of it. I had my cabinets removed with a large amount of evidence that my friend, whom I have named Templeton, had been here but he was not there at this time and we found no holes--except for the huge gap between my front door and the floor. So, we fixed that and were able to replace the cupboards. Thank you for all your encouragement-by note, by email, and by thinking of the situation for me.
I have had three tests at school and although I know that they are just the beginning I feel very reassured that I can and will master Chinese. I have learned to say things like-I am a student and am studying Chinese, I have a tea cup or I want a pencil. I have also learned that when two third tones are in a row the first one changes to a second tone. I also learned the difference between saying also about two objects and saying also about two people. This language is mighty complicated but I am beginning to understand some things.
A new bus line has opened up and it is my new favorite thing here because no one really knows how Awesome it is. It goes from my friend Whitney's home, to my home, to school, to the area where most of my other class mates live, to the foreigner's food store. Basically it takes me to all the Most Important places. :)
I also am learning that even though some things seem just so illogical here there are some things that are just so brilliant. I have recently had to apologize to my teammates for mocking them about how cold it gets here. Since most of them are from California I was sure that they were just wimps. However, the cold here is vastly different from Nebraska.
In Nebraska we have internal heat in all the buildings and we have cars with heaters. So we leave our heated home and brave the cold to enter our heated car and then drive to the heated building of our school or work. Here there is no such thing as a heated building. Therefore, when it gets a little chilly outside per NE standards it is always chilly and the slight chill soaks into your bones and you cannot get warm.
Thus, the brilliance of electric heated hand warmers(they look like pillows that you can plug in and then stick your hands into the middle)and oscillating space heaters. I am very thankful for these heating devices as well as my brand new water heater. Before I had solar water, which means that when the sun shines the day before you will have hot water. However, since about the beginning of Nov the sun has taken a holiday. :) It even snowed yesterday ( 11/21/09) which only happens about every two years. The whole city was buzzing with excitement over it.
Thank you for your thoughts and your love. Denise