stellar weekend

this weekend has just been one highlight after another after another after another after another...ok you get the point. such a solid weekend. loved it!

highlight #1
it started off with darren's talk at the guelph weekly meeting on friday night. it just blew the crowd away. it was so powerful, inspiring, and challenging. you could FEEL the presence of the Holy Spirit. i cried because it was so moving and never has the vision to go to the world been so clearly casted at guelph. my only prayer is that people will do something with the conviction from that night.

if that was the only thing that had happened this weekend it would have been more than enough, but there's more!

highlight #2
after the weekly meeting ash and i went to pick up ryan at the train station. his train was delayed by about 40 min, but it was providential cuz we had a super conversation about the goodness of God that totally FILLED my heart to the brim and overflowed. plus it was a bonus to see them greet. ;)

highlight #3 guelph's hoe-down
enough said. country music and dancing? that's just icing on top of the cake. mad props to silas and alex wong (no relation) for mad improvements in their dancing skills. alex brought some swing dance moves in and it worked oh so well! and double mad props for taking the initiative and not being wallflowers.

highlight #4 the djembe
saturday morning i got up early and got my own djembe. so i finally "stopped my whining", "had a lovely day", and definitely "loved it".

highlight #5 chopping my chopsticks at king's buffet
lauren called becky and me up spontaneously and invited us out to dinner for some [fake] chinese food with trev, jamie, and suz. kirsten called us when we were on our way and we invited her along too. it was such a GOOD night. all through dinner i kept thinking how blessed i was to have such awesome friends. to top the night off we karate chopped a few pairs of chopsticks which led to the birth of the facebook group "i chopped my chopsticks at china king's buffet". btw kids, all guelph staff and students get 10% off at king's. (just trying to help becky keep her promise to the manager is all. :P) thanks andres for treating us!

highlight #6 showing up early for church
i woke up late this morning and thought i was half an hour late for church. bu hao i know, but i totally forgot about the time change and ended up being half an hour EARLY. yay for grace!

highlight#7 teens choir leading the service
it was so encouraging to be led in worship by the youth of the church. i know i'm not that old, but they were younger. that they are seeking and loving the Lord at such a young age is sooo refreshing. there's just something about mandarin too. definitely renewed vision and spurred me on.

highlight #8 the chinese community and lunch at church
love my aunties and uncles who are so welcoming even though i don't know them that well. love being in the chinese culture. i was glad that it didn't feel foreign or scary. got to pull out my hometown dialect and that felt SO good. i could go a mile a minute in my hometown dialect, but speaking in mandarin is like having a mouthful of marbles. it's definitely loosening up though as i'm getting more comfortable conversing in mando.

highlight#9 sunday afternoon nap
self-explanatory

highlight #10 marie antoinette movie date with the girls
after two hours of productive emailing i went to the movies with the girls to watch sofia coppola's marie antoinette. LOVED it. it was so lavish. :) also brownie points for NOT showing the gruesomeness of the french revolution and the beheading.