Bilbe Study X 2

Thursday night we go to the English speaking Bible study. These are friends of Jen and we meet in the apartment of Ruth and her husband. Jen forgot to tell us that they have dinner there. We have eaten at McDonald's. There is always room for carrot cake. Maggie is a home economist and her cake is almost as good as Mrs. Adamson's ( my favorite recipe )
They are discussing "What's so Amazing about Grace". I have not read the book, but Ruth has some questions printed out for all of us. many share what their mental picture of God is like - does it relate to their own father?
Ruth has also written out several statements about God and stuck them up around the room. We each pick one to give our own interpretation - feelings.
They have some very open sharing and then it is 9:15 and time to stop. We visit a little longer, then the bus ride home.

Friday night we go to the Chinese speaking Bible study. This is the group where Rob attends, and we were there on Sunday. The study portion is actually a message on Romans 12:13 to the end. Romans 12 is my favorite chapter, so I go over the verses in my head. Rob interprets for Darrell. Jen shares some with me. Enough to think about,in a certain area I am struggling with.
Then we go into small groups and write out our prayer request. ( there is some interesting snack on the table - dried squid?- i try it )
Then we go around the room and speak about our prayer request, then we pray silently and then Tommy closes in prayer.
It is almost 10:00 and a large group head to a nearby restaurant. 14 of us sit around a table. We all get a bowl of rice and then about 10 different dishes are put on the center turn table, as well as tea, and we stuff ourselves. ( We have eaten at McDonald"s at 6:00)

We follow the usual preparation. The waitress brings several tea pots. Tea is poured into the glasses, sloshed around and poured out into large bowls. The chop sticks are dipped into the hot tea. Now everyone has a "clean" bowl and utensils. More pots of tea are brought and we drink our hot tea out of glasses.
Along with the rice we have, BBQ pork, chicken, squid, tofu, goose,beef, two vegetables, and an egg dish with oysters.
No dessert. No room for dessert.
We have been invited to join these friends, so we are their guests.
They are very generous.
They all agree that they will come to America and we can treat them.
Ringo drives us home - it is about 1:00. There is so much activity on the street you would think it was 5:00.