What is one way to get girls to let loose and just be themselves? A Girl's Night!!! This past week we invited a bunch of girls over to our apartment. We treated them to an American snack of Graham crackers and milk. We have one foreign store called Sabrina's and that is where I found the precious gift of graham crackers. Tonight all of you in America should savor the sweat taste of graham crackers and milk. Like the song says, “You don't know what you've got till it's gone.” I think I ate a whole sleeve of graham crackers by myself. It was a grand treat and they loved it. In the Asian culture it is also a tradition to bring the host (which was us) a gift. So some of the girls brought pears and peanuts. However the pears crunch like an apple when you eat them and Asian peanuts taste nothing at all like our peanuts.
We had about 10-12 girls in our apartment and the night was off to a great start thanks to the nice, delicious, honey, golden graham crackers. After the snack we taught them how to play Wink. They loved trying to get from seat to seat without being tagged by the person behind them. Yuan was crazy. She was diving all over the floor. Thankfully there were no injuries. Next on the agenda for the night came the more violent game of spoons. Once again it was a great hit. We screamed and dove for spoons. Cards were everywhere, people were everywhere, and spoons were everywhere. What a fabulous game.
As the evening was drawing to a close we went around the room and asked various questions that everyone had to answer. “If you could invent anything what would you invent?” “What do you like most about yourself?” etc. etc. Then Li Liang asked the question, “What is your favorite song.” When it came around to my turn I was soo excited to share. Right now my favorite song is “I Belong” by Kathryn Scott. I had my laptop open so I played the song for them. It is a beautiful song that talks about how we belong to God and that no matter what happens in life it can't take us away from His love. (If you haven't heard it yet I encourage you to find it on iTunes.) It was such a powerful moment. As the song was playing I would describe to the girls more in detail about the meaning of the song. Some of our friends struggle with the fear of being poor, the hurt of losing someone close to them and failure. This song touches on those issues and just resounds with the fact that God's love is always there and is always constant. The Lord will take care of us no matter what.
It was a great ending to the night and I am excited to see how God will use that opportunity to speak to their hearts. I also have been listening to that song and looking at the pictures of my Asian friends and just declaring over them that they belong to Jesus Christ and I can't wait till that request becomes a reality. Also on an exciting note one of our guy's friends Allen came into the Family!
Thank you so much for your support and talks to God on my behalf. Please ask the Lord that our friends hearts will be opened to Him. That the hunger inside of them will be stirred for our Father. That I can have the discernment to see into my friends needs and a deeper love and passion for my friends.
On a more serious note, I have shared previously that the pressure on the Asian Students is very immense. A couple of days ago there was a suicide on my University. Please bring before God those that are hurting on our campus. One of our friends said that every year there is usually a suicide on the University. Ask the Lord that we will know how to comfort those who come to us. The pressure here is very heavy please keep the students before God on this issue.