Inside their Home

It was a typical morning in our class waiting for the ten minute break to come to a close. Kelley, Megan and I sat in a row together trying to find energy to sustain ourselves for the approaching two hours. Suddenly, the director's wife, Sally, came out of nowhere, "Kelley, your Chinese friend is here". Kelley with a confused look on her face replied, "what?" As we all turned toward Sally, we see a Chinese lady come around the corner! She wears the biggest smile and waves hello to Kelley. Kelley and Megan begin to laugh. I finally caught on. This is the woman who befriended Kelley when she was walking along the canal a couple days ago. Her name is Quiao Ling (pronounced Chow Ling). When Kelley saw Quiao Ling her surprise at the visitor disappeared. Quiao Ling had quickly become friends with Kelley in their long conversation the other day- and the sweet woman had asked what Kelley's schedule looked like. She had invited her to dinner for tonight but she ran by our class to explain that she would love if our whole team came to her house for dinner! I about jumped out of my chair at this announcement! I had secretly been hoping I would be invited because after all we were here for the people. Teaching aside, our role is to love the people here in this nation! How can this happen when we are cooped up in a hotel all month?! Granted we are learning a lot of necessary information in order to establish these friendships but I've always been a doer! I don't like to learn the rules or the rights/wrongs I like to figure things out for myself. Our professor here would classify me a kinesthetic learner. I was beside myself knowing I had the opportunity already to love on a Chinese woman and her husband! And all before we got to our permanent city!!
Kelley arranges with Quiao Ling to pick us up at 5 pm in the hotel lobby. Later that evening, we arrive downstairs and Quiao Ling is so excited to have us all! She has broken English but can make her point very easily! She shares how her back is sore from cooking all day! My first thought: shooot! What are we getting ourselves into?! When you are a guest, it's a requirement to eat what they put in front of you! Well, we will soon find out! The group splits up into two groups into taxis. Quiao Ling was in the other group and our taxi came first. When we first arrived at the stop, we were dumped on the sidewalk in the middle of a Beijing neighborhood. We look around expecting to see the second taxi following right after us. This was not the case. We sat there standing on the sidewalk- four white girls sticking out like a sore thumb. A man riding a bicycle rode by with a little box cart following him and inside the little window was an older woman!! haha it was the funniest sight we had ever seen! Then, we had a creepy black car literally crawling past us on the side of the road staring at us. We ended up needing to walk to the other side of the street by the supermarket because we were not comfortable with this situation! Finally, the other car arrived and we were instantly at home with Quiao Ling! She led us into an apartment complex and up four flights of stairs! Her husband greeted us into their small and tidy place. It was well kept and you could tell a small place of pride for their family! Quiao Ling spent a couple hours showing us photo albums and letting us play card games as she cooked the rest of dinner. One of our teammates, Brian, spent the time with her husband communicating with him over google chat! What a beautiful use of technology! Such a blessing for the advancement in technology where we can share conversation with others. I was so thankful Brian was mindful and patient to spend time loving this man. Eventually dinner was ready and it was quite a feast!! She prepared spicy and non-spicy for us all and we got to enjoy these amazing homemade dishes!! Quiao Ling came to eat by a few of us in one of the rooms and I was absolutely blown away by the amount of food she put down! The woman is so little and yet she was emptying bowl after bowl!! It was mind-blowing! We laughed the whole time- her and her husband are so hospitable and truly funny! Her husband is an independent consultant and has traveled all over the world! She was in the army but is now retired! She is 53 and plays tennis every morning  from 6-8 am! She invited us girls over for tennis on Friday morning (our free day!) I cannot wait to spend more time with this woman! Quiao Ling told Kelley that she has a daughter who is 25 and lives in Hong Kong. She misses her alot. She explained that she only wants to treat Kelley the way she hopes others treat her own daughter! I believe as a retired woman, she is finding being an empty nester quite boring and found a great adventure in inviting us over! Her husband explained to our teammate Emily (who speaks Chinese) that he loves how direct Americans are. Apparently if they were to ask some Chinese people over for dinner they would have declined- yet we jumped at the opportunity to come! Quiao Ling also showered Kelley with gifts! She gave her her old cell phone for Kelly to use (its all in Chinese of course haha) and she gave her a "teaching" purse that is beautiful and leather! We were all blown away by the generosity of this couple! We lifted up their home right before our meal when they weren't paying attention. The Father has a purpose for Kelley and Quiao Ling's friendship! Praise Him that we are already seeing glimpses of the treasures and work He has in store for us this year. Confirmation of our vocation here is not necessary at this point, but when it comes I thank Him for His steadfastness and faithfulness.  The passage I have been meditating on the past few weeks spoken by Isaiah: "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear' then your righteousness will go before you, and the His glory will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and He will answer' you will cry for help and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointed finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. He will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings/ If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath, and form doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and His holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in Him, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob"