I'm just sending this to a few people who know me pretty well, and I know won't get freaked out by this letter!
Greetings from Singapore where though our work is heating up, it actually seems cooler everyday!
(Actually it's not, but our bodies are adjusting somewhat!)
We sent our pregnant helper Lili off to her home in Indonesia this morning and, barring an act of God, a new gal from Thailand will come next week...(though I am a bit guarded in being excited that we found a replacement so soon. Read: SHE ISN'T HERE YET!) Get this: Her name is LOONIE! The 9 months of delays last time we were looking for a maid was that we were holding out for a Mandarin speaking gal. This time there were actually a few options right away (could be because the economy is down?). So, they say she speaks Mandarin too (worked in a Taiwan factory for 3 years). We shall see!
Lili's had the SUPER intense kind of morning sickness where for weeks she can't keep anything down...all day and night, stays in a dark room, sleeps all the time. Bleeding stomach, raw throat, obviously no energy. We would have sent her home much earlier, but Chinese New Year made getting tickets a bit troublesome (impossible), with everyone traveling to hometowns for the holidays...She refused to see a doctor because a confirmed pregnancy would mean she could never return to work in Singapore. She's lost A LOT of weight and last weekend I was actually checking in on her to see if she was breathing still, thinking through who our guests have been. We might need them for witnesses that we were not mistreating her...in case she died! OKAY, now I know you're rolling your eyes that I'm such a "drama queen." I'm serious! It's been just a little scary.
Thankfully, she perked up a bit when we were able to get tickets confirmed on Monday, and I found some Ensure and she'd kept little bits of that down for the last 2 days. She's on her way home now with the last of her wages in hand. We'll continue to pray for her health, her future, her enduring commitment to follow Jesus in spite of the very hard life of poverty she has ahead. Last year we "adopted" a Compassion Int'l boy from Thailand (though evey one knows so little of our giving actually GETS to the kid, it is SO helpful in teaching the boys about giving and poverty for them to have the pictures and do the correspondence with this child). Waving goodbye to Lili, I wish there was a corruption-proof way to "adopt" her 8 year old boy and this baby on the way. But the Indonesian postal service is so corrupt, we all believe that the money would never get there, and then if it did, I don't know that she'd use it wisely (ie. she has no savings from working with us for nearly 2 years, but she's bought her family a TV and her boy has a new bike). The world is so full of poverty and people who don't make good decisions. God give us generosity and wisdom in how to truly HELP people!
This weekend, if you think of me, would you pray? On my 40th birthday, I'm conducting my first church drama workshop: "Beyond Bathrobes and Sandals." The one last October was postponned until now. I scheduled this one, so that I'd make sure that on my BIG DAY, I'd be doing something I like, with people who are fun and a couple who are friends! (OKAY McNair: so it's nothing like throwing a party for myself on the 50 yard line of the Colliseum...or Jim's Line Dancing party with 120 of his dearest friends, but it's the best we could manage here! And I'm not complaining!)
I've been a bit "blonde" about the administrative details, partly because the Enemy (grrrr) arranged for me to do all the housekeeping (let's not even talk about the 6 weeks of ringworm which has infected us...it IS GETTING BETTER). This has left me a bit unfocused the last few weeks. The other part is because having been let down a few times, I didn't want to put my heart and soul in it planning to the nth degree and have to change it at the last minute to accomodate for people not doing their part, or late registrations etc. (I'm sure you've had your share of those experiences even in the States, and I'm learning to flex with it here).
This MORNING after sending Lili off, while changing sheets to prepare for overnight guests, (yes that's right we have guests the next 2 nights), the church hosting the workshop called to say the space they'd offered last November (and confirmed a week ago) wasn't going to be available afterall. When I hung up the phone I had a hard time gearing up for the final administrative details of the workshop (as you may remember, administration is not a joy for me). I sat on my bed and asked the Lord, "Would it be a sin to open a bottle of wine at 9:30AM? Or should I just take a nap? Can I be angry and sin not?" Instead I read a bit of Ecclesiates about how life is vanity, and thanked him that through thick and thin He's my friend. Then, God arranged for better location (not just nicer, but free!) for the workshop before my boys got home from school!
There are 4 churches are sending teams (some really terrific adults, some who took my playwriting class last fall) for 3 training sessions. It has been really fun to plan it with 2 other Singaporeans who have become my dear friends in the process. So, I'm as Paul says, "knocked down, but [my sense of humour is] not destroyed."
(While I'm fretting my petty details, Jim has a big day today: He met for breakfast with retired Anglican Bishop Moses Tay. Perhaps THE MOST RESPECTED CHRISTIAN LEADER here. An ideal mentor if there is one! They met in order for Jim to ask him to be the President of the Board for CRM Singapore. We are pretty sure he will say yes. Jim then was hosting a luncheon for the SW China network of churches and agencies here who are collaborating on behalf of the advancement of God's kingdom in that part of the world. Pretty exciting!)
Gotta go now to do homework with those two little creatures I'm responsible to raise right.
(You got the New Years picture right? They are as smart as they are cute! Cameron just hobbled over to me leaning on a stick as a can and asked for money like a beggar. Children learn what they live...)
Have a great day dealing with your hassles!
LOVE from the other side of the pond,
K!Mberly
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