Hippie Days OR Happy Days?

But He (Jesus) needed to go through Samaria.

- John 4:4

At the moment, I am so excited to write this! The past two days have been so rockin!!! (Kat, send me an email, and I'll explain "rockin" to you.) I have seen Papa's grace abound mightily and known that his lovely and precious son was in my midst with Kat and I as we visited Maggie in Danshui, a suburb of Huizhou (an hour by bus from Shenzhen.)

In the past, people told me I was a hippie. In the past, I wanted to be a hippie! I admired their free way of living or free lifestyle. Their typical lifestyle makes me think of floating in water. I have been a naturally good floater in regards to swimming since I was a child. I truly enjoy floating in water and drifting downstream like at Turner's Landing or in my grandma's pool. While floating, I enjoy just letting the sun shine upon my face and the wind flow over me. For me, it is one of the most relaxing things I can do and an easy way for me to literally enjoy God. It makes me feel so comfortable when I float. I say all this not to ramble but to try and give you a picture of how I felt while on this recent trip with Kathleen (Kat); I felt highly content deeply within and throughout our stay. What wonderful feelings! :)

And now, let me tell you about Maggie. She is an English teacher in a bustling but not highly developed rural area. She is now in her early 20's but was once one of my Oral English students five years ago in 2002-2003. I don't remember her during that time and only had an old picture to go by to help me remember her. She doesn't look like the girl in that picture now though; she looks extremely different as if the picture is of another person actually.

Maggie has taught English to very young students (maybe ages six to nine) for about three years now. Her salary is low, and she struggles with teaching confidently. She regrets not being a better student in the past when given boring English lessons (which she thinks might have helped her now). In some ways, I think she honestly thinks she is a bad English teacher. This girl has heart though!!! We spent a long time discussing English grammar and correct pronunciations of words in both the British English and American English ways of speaking. I answered many of her questions. All of this was done out of love to help her become a better teacher and help her become more confident.

Maggie struggles greatly with depression. It is oppressive, highly oppressive (demonic even), and has been within her mind and heart for many years. She has prayed at times for God to help her (though not a part of Papa's family yet) and asked that he take it away ... but freedom seemingly has never come. Maggie knows some about Jesus and his death. She mentioned his blood and sweating blood just before his arrest in the garden. I do not know how much more she knows aside from this though. While with her, Kat and I read John 1 partially. We invited Maggie to read with us if she so desired, and she so desired. Papa gave me SO much grace to speak gently, clearly, and wisely to her so that she could understand what we were reading. Kat helped translate some too when needed but felt that I should share more than her.

Today, Kat and I visited her school and two of her classes. We missed the first class completely. (She teaches three classes.) Many of the students at the school had never seen a foreigner before. They looked at me. They stared. They waved and laughed when I waved back and walked by them. I spoke English and Chinese to them and played with and loved on them. It was wonderful!!!!!!! I think I gave a little girl her first ever hug; she loved it! I had heaps of fun to teach these students, sing with them, play games with them, and eat lunch with them. They wanted me to stay and teach them more, but I could not do so.

There were two best parts for me about visiting Maggie's school. The first was seeing about 30 Chinese students laugh and move and run some in their classroom (even though they weren't supposed to and were told this more than once) and SMILE when we played a simplified version of Upset the Fruit Basket (a game). (This is soooooo not how you teach in China if you are a Chinese teacher!) My second favorite part was the 45 minute or so talk with only Maggie, Kat, and I just before Kat and I left to return to Shenzhen. It was deeply personal. Maggie cried and was very sad. I made her and all of us laugh at one point because I said the wrong thing in Chinese. It was really funny because I started things off with, "Listen. Really listen ...", and then I made a mistake. I am glad I made the mistake by accident and that it brought joy into our intense (in a very good way) conversation. It was definitely hard to part ways because the three of us did not want to be apart again. Perhaps we'll all get to travel together soon. It is all of our desires to do so in July. Please pray for Maggie.

Aside from all of this, I was also on the trip with Kathleen. She and I met in 2002 on my original return trip to China. She also was a student of mine but quickly became much more than that. She is and was a very close and special friend to me. We have stayed in frequent contact in the four years that I have been back in America. We both longed in our hearts to be with each other daily and as much as possible during this stay for me in China. But ... Papa had other plans. We have spent some time together but only a little bit of time.

I can say without a doubt that Kat understands me very well! She is my sister (meimei), and I am her sister (jiejie). At times, though younger than me, she is my Chinese mama. She laughs when I call her that. (And I am sure that she is probably laughing now as she reads this. She tells me that she checks my blog daily.) She is a source of comfort here because she just knows who I am without me even having to say much to her. It is amazing to me how much of me is a part of her actions and personality now when we only spent about a year together with each other four to five years ago!! I never would have realized that aside from seeing it on this trip. As of now, she is the most Americanized Chinese person I have met. I feel extremely at ease with her.

Getting to be with Kat, my dear Huan Yun, was such a delight and joy for me! I was really hyper for the most part with her and talked sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much with her. Despite being incredibly tired last night, I stayed up talking with her for probably two hours getting tireder and tireder (I know it's not proper to use those words) before this switch flipped in my body to super hyper. Thus, the talk continued late into the night. We stayed up having an impromptu slumber party talking until 5:15 in the morning in fact! What a joyful chat for both of us! I know I'd do it again in a heartbeat. :) I was just that excited to talk to her on our bus rides too, maybe even more excited!! We truly enjoy and love each other on a deep level. I wish everyone could have this kind of friendship!!!

So, would I rather have hippie days or happy days? I'd choose happy days hands down. I don't want to be a hippie any more, but I do want to always LIVE in Christ's freedom! I hope to live that way daily! :) El fin.