A peek into my new neighborhood!

It has been such an interesting start to the internship. I am living with one of the pastor's mothers in Diamond Bar which is south of Hacienda Heights. It is also a highly diverse area and my neighborhood is mostly Asian. I am living with Annie Chan and we get along great so far. The first night there I learned how to make dumpling soup. She has taught me how to make vegetables more tasty with different spices and has taught me to make some stir fry! On Saturday night she passed me a bowl of rice and there were little 0ne-two inch fish in it. She was eating them whole with her chopsticks so I followed her lead! It wasn't too bad! Once I got over the fact that I could feel the fish head and all, it was actually quite good; plus very healthy.


Above in the picture on the right is of one of the shopping centers. It is actually in Rowland Heights but just minutes from the church. This is what most streets surrounding the church and my house look like. Many signs are in Chinese and the workers within the store do not all speak English.
The picture to the left is the Mandarin Church service at Great Commission Church International (my church!). The website for the church is: ucchh.org -however it is all in Chinese!! There is an option to translate to English but it isn't always accurate or great.

This morning we had an all church staff meeting where both the Mandarin church staff and English staff were both present. Those are always my favorite. We start with worship and then pray. Everyone is kneeled on prayer pillows in the prayer room in which we do not wear shoes. The meeting is probably 90% prayer. We go around and each give a short statement about our ministry and prayer requests. The whole time is devoted to prayer for members who are sick, pregnant, getting married, ministries, students, leaders, China earthquake, and many other things! Everyone prays at the same time so the room is very loud. Two languages are being spoken and it is an amazing sound! This is how I get to start my every morning! What a blessing :)