Well, Thanksgiving is now passed, and Christmas is coming, shortly after that will be New Years, and this is the second year in a row that I will not be with family for the Holidays. This is a very difficult blessing for me. I am so thankful to be here, despite my struggles, I love it here, and am so happy. In fact, I keep The King and I on my computer so that I can watch it and think about how much I feel like I can relate to her....except there is no Yul Brynner here, which is a shame.
This Thanksgiving was amazing. I didn't have any turkey, I didn't talk to family, I didn't get any pumpkin or apple pie, but I had more to be thankful for then I could even put on my annual thankful list. I went to school in the morning to study Indonesian, and I had a blast. I went to school in the afternoon to teach English, and I had a blast...there was even one student in particular who is difficult, who had the best day we have ever had learning together. I went home and got some much needed rest without feeling guilty, and that night I preached at the weekly chapel that the kids have.
A few weeks ago I began to feel that God was putting a message on my heart for them, and I asked if I could preach some time. The next week was busy, so they said "Two weeks ya?" Which, unbeknownst to me at the time was Thanksgiving day. When I realized it I began to think of how I could preach what was on my heart, and also say a few words about being thankful...Glory to God I was able to mix them together quite well, and I think that I was able to really say a few things that needed said. Of course, the translation was a little bit difficult, and the mentors were tag-teaming it and discussing the meaning of what I said sometimes so it took a little while, but I cannot even tell you the joy that I felt in preaching that night.
My heart is so full here; there are days when the homesickness is almost more than I can bare, and then all of a sudden it just goes away, not the missing of family and the season, but the "sickness" of it. God is so good to those who follow Him. Actually, my message ended up being about James 1:4 "Count it all joy when you go through various trials, knowing that the testing produces patience." The Father always brings about the good, there was another verse I preached on, I would have to read it to write it down here correctly, and my Bible is not with me right now, but it says "having nothing, yet having everything." We have everything in our nothingness, and I have fulfillment in my loneliness. I had always been taught how to be thankful, and had always felt that I knew what Thanksgiving was about, but I think this year I have really begun to understand it in a whole knew way.
I am still unsure what exactly I will be doing for Christmas or New Years, but whatever it is I know that I will miss you all terribly, and that I will thoroughly enjoy myself every step of the way.
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