Thanksgiven

Quite the holiday weekend so far. Still got one service to go tonight. We spent Thanksgiving with about 20 or so of our closest Chinese friends at our new house. Had a Chinese food banquet with American desserts galore. One of the best Thanksgivings I’ve ever had, to tell the truth. We did the same kind of thing last year, and it’s pretty amazing to see how our relationships here have deepened and multiplied in the past year. The most incredible thing was the lack of awkwardness, the lack of forced friendliness, the presence of genuine fellowship. Awesome to be part of the lives of these students.

Friday night not as enjoyable, but not less remarkable. Guy in our church who leads an international club at his university asked me to host their Thanksgiving celebration, which they had worked hard to promote. About 500 students packed into the activity center to watch a bunch of performances. There weren’t nearly enough chairs, so about a third of the people were standing around the edges of the room. Since the sound system was as inadequate as the seating, people gave up on listening and just shouted out their own conversations over the rest of the din. The effect was somewhere between bizarre and maddening. The best product of this activity from our church’s standpoint was just publicity for… well… myself. (bunch of people came to church last night from that big party) One of those things that you don’t particularly care to do, but if it was some other church that had connections with an organization like this, I’d be scheming to try to figure out how to get a similar inroad. Best be thankful.