Mid-Autumn Festival

Grace and peace to you in abundance through J-s-s Chr*s+ our S@vi0r.

I will write in a rush this week because I have to leave for the train soon. This next week is Mid-Autumn Festival, combined with Chinese National Day. I was told the Mid-Autumn Festival is the 2nd biggest holiday in all of China, rivaled only by the Spring Festival (which I think may be Chinese New Year, but I'm not 100% sure at this point). It's a holiday about family. Most of my students are going back home, but we had to have class on Saturday to make up for the classes we will be missing next week. (I conveniently postponed some of my Saturday classes so I could make the train.) The festival, as it's been explained to me, is about family togetherness and unity. There are also some legends about the moon falling in love with a young man on earth, but their romance was forbidden by the moon's mother (and that's all the farther I got into the story before I had to start class again--sorry). Long story short, families here eat cake in the shape of a moon to celebrate their unity.

I mentioned the train. I will be traveling to Yinchuan this week for the vacation. I will go through the Gobi Desert on camel and get together with some of the other FoC teachers. I'm sorry, but due to time constraints, I will not be attaching any pictures to this post. Look for pictures next week; I should have lots of pictures of my travels to Yinchuan, which is in the northwestern part of China.

Pr@yers for all of you. May the All Mighty keep you all safe. I love and miss you all. Pr@y also for me, that my vacation may be restful and help me as I continue my service here when I return.

Peace to all.