Lately, many things have caused me to be looking around at the vast variety of people here in Beijing. I have never been in a city with such diversity of people living here from all kinds of countries and cultures. I think of NYC being this way, but I have never lived there, so I can't testify from personal experience. I am amazed at all of the different places represented here in one place. For those that don't know, Beijing is the capitol of China and is obviously a business epicenter, so there are people from all continents and countries for diplomatic, business, teaching, and missions/volunteering purposes.
The first place that causes me to notice and be thankful for this is the church we attend. I like to say that it is a little piece of what heaven will be like. It is a non-denominational church where people from all over the world gather together to worship the One True God and to study His Truth. People stand side by side in a huge auditorium (this is just the English service; there are many services in other languages that happen during the week as well) and sing songs they know and some songs they don't know in humble adoration of the Source of Life. To me, it is the closest I will witness this side of Heaven of what it will be like to sing together from all nations. What a blessing!
Another place that made me ponder this realization was this last week at Jackson's school. They had International Day where families were asked to bring a dish of their country's heritage to share. The gymnasium was filled with tables and each country was represented. Families took great pride in their "home" by cooking traditional dishes and dressing in native attire. It was beautiful. The women of Bangladesh and Pakistan stood out to me as being very excited to share about their countries. Their tables had so much information about their customs, etc, and I loved their beautiful dresses.
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| Pakistan |
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| Bangladesh |
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| Colombia |
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| Russia |
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| China |
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| Korea |
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| Australia |
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| Taiwan |
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| Japan |
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| Brazil |
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| U.S.A. |
Grace made me notice the blend of cultures this week too with the outfit she chose. A nice traditional Chinese dress with a very American winter puff jacket. :)
Friday night we went out for my birthday dinner. I chose Japanese because sushi and sashimi have really become a favorite of mine. We went to a teppanyaki place where they grill in front of you, also. Notice after our Japanese dinner came a little American token for me to notice. They served Wrigley's Doublemint gum.
I really think this is God's desire. To see His people love each other as neighbors and value each other, look for the best in one another. It's hard sometimes, but this week I was definitely reminded that I am called to do so. Now for some all-American fun! Congrats Cardinals fans (Aunt Mel)!
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