Lunch on Tuesdays

There were a lot of things that I figured I would miss about being at Geneva.  There are a lot of things that I miss.  One of these is having lunch each week with my lovely friend Laura.  We'd get together and talk, about life and classes and whatever we felt like, and it was great to watch her growing up over the years that we were at school together.  As I'm now in China, and she is studying in Ireland, obviously this tradition has ended.

What I did not guess was that the Father would provide another sister for me to eat lunch with each week.  On Tuesday of my very first week of teaching, a friend who I had met the Saturday before texted me to see if I wanted to go get lunch together.  I was excited and of course agreed.  We had lunch, and it was good -- there was the natural awkwardness that comes from language craziness, and the fact that we didn't know each other well -- but it was great.

The next week, she texted me again.

So I agreed again.

The next week, I texted her.  And she said, "Of course!"

And last night, we were texting (okay, yes, we do this in China as well as in America... of course we're not going to walk across campus to find each other!) and here's how it ended:  See you after the class at ATM.  So today she and her boyfriend and I ate lunch together.

It may seem like a small thing, but it has been a huge encouragement to me to have a Chinese friend who is not one of my students.  The fact that the Father provided someone for me to have weekly lunch dates with blows my mind.  It reminds me that He loves me an incredible amount, enough that not only am I able to be here to teach, but He does things that just make me happy.

We have fun together.  We have serious conversations.  We play around a little (just a little) with each other's languages.  She is a huge encouragement to me, and I hope that I am also able to encourage her this year.