We are blessed.

Friday night was the Chinese bible study. I (Barbie) was able to attend this one. It was a great time even though I had to follow along the quick discussion via an interpreter. They were studying the end of John 8. The group of 9 that meet every week is a mixture of new Christians and more seasoned Christians. No one seemed afraid to ask questions or give their own opinions or thoughts. At the end we had a time of discussion on sharing our faith. Some struggled with the thought of vocalizing their Christianity to everyone they came into contact with, prefering to live a life of love and to be an upstanding person at work and with friends and if they are noticed to have something that others do not they could then share their faith. Both sides had good arguments and I commented that this same struggle could have been discussed at home in Ohio with our own church.
As for this morning (Sunday) we had to walk in a monsoon. Literally, an active southwest monsoon brought heavy rain today and walking by myself to church with the kids and umbrellas and bibles and music, and snacks for children proved rather difficult. Especially when certain areas that we walked through the water came up to mid-calf. Needless to say, by the time we got to church Micah and I were soaked up to our knees.
The service was nice, they love to sing, their rhythm is atrocious and melody fun to follow, but they love to sing praises to God. They are getting used to our sense of humor and we are to theirs. They have now enjoyed Tj's cookies for the second Sunday in a row and some were almost fighting for the last few cookies.
The afternoon prayer time and bible study was very good, with much discussion and sharing of insight. The prayer time includes singing songs with interludes of prayer. It is a blessed time for us to sit and share in this experience with them without concern of having to go to this function or that party etc. (Micah and Ariella take a nap upstairs) Please pray for Charity. She is a very new Christian, she just got baptized about a month and a half ago. She was not in church today because she had gone to the doctor this morning to look at an area in her neck. They think it may be a goiter or possibly her thyroid. There was some talk of cancer. We don't yet know the details partly due to language barrier and partly because I don't think anyone really knew for sure what was going on. The hard part is, most Philippine workers come to work for families, by law the families are required to pay for insurance, her employers are illigally employing her in the way that they have not been doing so. Hong Kong has socialized medicine, so if you are a tax payer, you can get free medical care. Most of the domestic workers pay $400 HK a month for a tax. For some reason Charity has not been doing so, we don't know if that is related to the legality of her employment or not, but because of this she must pay out of pocket for her medical expenses. She is a dear girl who has really taken to Ariella, pray that her faith would be strengthened through this unsure time.

This is our last full week left here in Hong Kong and it is starting to fill up. A Chinese couple (who speak very little English) will be coming over Tuesday evening to teach us the Chinese game Mah Jong. Olivia will be joining us to help interpret the instructions, the Burmese doctor, Helen will be having us in her home for a Burmese meal. We have a trip to a an area waterfall somewhere in the week as well as keeping up with the Guzheng. I have developed a good relationship with the ladies at the music store and hope to have an opportunity to share Christ with them before we leave.
Tj has nothing more to add because as usual on Sunday nights, he says his brain is fried.
God Bless,
Barbie