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The second week in New York was exhausting, but amazing. All 9 of us were together in Chinatown, split into three groups. I was with Ms. Debbie and Christina and we had the 5-6 grade kids. We did four clubs a day at what seemed like a whirlwind pace. At 7:30 sharp we started our 10-minute walk to the ferry, took the subway near the ferry terminal to Canal street, then walked about 7 blocks to the Oversea Chinese Mission (OCM). We usually got there right around 9:00. The first club was at 9:30, so there was time to share from God's Word and sing. For years, OCM has had this program for children. It's kind of like a VBS, but with school subjects as well as Christian activities. So we went in, did our teaching for an hour, and then had to rush out the door and up the stairs to the second class. It was hard because there is no time to get to know the children or answer any questions they had. After that class ended at 11:30 we had some time to get lunch before the next club at 1:00.
Lunch was different everyday, although it was always Chinese food. Real Chinese food, that is. It's very cheap. I could get three courses over rice for 3.75. Another day we had dumplings, and one day we went to a fancy dim sum restaurant, which is sort of like a reverse buffet. The servers go around from table to table with carts and you just point to what you want. It was delicious, mostly. Elisa and Helen took every opportunity to show us the sights in Chinatown, so we would often have a quick lunch so we could do some shopping on Canal street, or see a real Chinese grocery store (you could get a preserved bird's nest for $1,500 a pound).
The third and fourth clubs were challenges for me. In the third club, my team was in a room adjacent to where Mr. Larry's team was and there was no door. Many times I had to shout over their singing or just wait for them to quiet down before I could continue. But it didn't seem to bother the children much, thankfully. The fourth club presented the greatest challenge. There were only 18 kids there (our other clubs had around 30 and the other groups had 40+ in their clubs) and they were very smart. Many of them were Buddhist and had a lot of good questions, like, "How could God have a son if He isn't married?" or "Why would God create someone to kill us?" or "How could Jesus love the people who put the nails in His hands?". As much as we wanted to answer their questions, it was a disruption of the class and we really needed to keep going in order to get everything in. I am so glad we were able to share the truth from God's Word with them. And I am even more glad that His Word is more powerful than anything I could come up with and will not return void.
After such a full day, it was nice to get back to the apartment around 5 and relax for a little bit. But not too long, because lessons needed to be prepared for the next day and I wanted to get to bed as soon as possible. I was quite tired by the end of the week, and by the last couple of days I was so exhausted that the world would not stop moving. It was an interesting sensation, to say the least. But God gave me the strength to press on and I was able to get through all the clubs. It was a very fulfilling week. It was sad to say good-bye, but among Christians there are no good-byes, only see you laters.
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