Back in my early days of faith, I remember being introduced to a song by a band called The Kry. Anyone remember Take My Hand and Walk?
I don’t remember much of the song, but one line has always resonated with me. It reads:
Don’t you say why were the old days better
Just because you’re scared of the unknown
Gotta love that 90’s cover art! Listen to the song.
When we first moved here, it was easy to wonder why the old days seemed better. We had family, friends, community, and virtually every comfort we could ever want. It’s not to say that min work was easy. Any min family will tell you that it’s not, wherever you are. But when you take away adjusting to a new culture and place, the challenge seemed slightly more manageable.
As easy as it is to gripe about how difficult it is living here, it’s important for us to share gratitude as well. The dramatic change in weather started me thinking about Thanksgiving. As we draw nearer to the holiday, we hope to share what we are thankful for on a regular basis.
A few things we are thankful for:
Yarpers: For family and friends who have been faithfully yarping on our behalf. Please keep yarping!
His provision: Not just financially, but for everything we need. A home, a job, a community, help when we need it, etc. He recently provided a language partner for me. She’s already a C, but I’m hoping this relationship will help me to become more comfortable speaking so that I can share with someone else.
Friends: It can be really lonely here, so it’s exciting when people come to visit. We know that it requires time and finances, so we’re very appreciative that people would make the sacrifice to come and see us.
Online Shopping: I was already a huge supporter of online shopping, so I feel in my element here when it comes to navigating stores and deals online. You can buy almost anything online here, seriously. I buy groceries and produce, household necessities, clothes, you name it. We sometimes order food when we’re short on time and can usually get a discount. I’m planning on buying almost all of our Thanksgiving meal ingredients online. Thank you Taobao!
Help: When we are desperate, we know that we have friends here who can help us. I’ve had to ask friends to call virtually every vendor for me at one point. They’ve hailed cabs/cars for us, helped us set up bank accounts (or revise them), given directions to delivery guys, ordered stuff for us, and the list goes on. They’re always so willing to help us, we’re truly blessed by their friendship.
Good Health: We’ve been blessed to be generally healthy. I was nervous about all the negative aspects of living here (food safety, pollution, gross water, etc.). But it honestly hasn’t been that bad. We’ve probably had more good or decent air days than bad. They have a lot more organic food options now. It’s pricey in comparison to the non-organic, but for certain food items, I don’t think twice about paying the extra money. There’s also more affordable imported food options. We buy imported milk in bulk and it’s pretty cheap! The only time I experienced stomach problems was from Starbucks. Go figure. Our water delivery service provides really good drinking water and we’ve discussed getting some kind of filter for the kitchen in our next place.
Sanctification: Moving here has been very trying. It has stretched our faith tremendously, and we’re grateful for it. I look back on all the complaints I had when we first moved here and I now wonder what all the fuss was about. We’re not living in a wasteland, or in a remote village in the middle of nowhere, or in a hut in some bug-infested jungle. I’m actually a little disgusted at how much we can actually live without — I try not to think about how much I wasted before we moved. Not only that, we’re living in a place with a great harvest. It humbles me to think that even if we could gain one person every day for the rest of our lives, we would scarcely reach one-millionth of the population.
More to come (1 Thess. 5:16-18)!