Monday, April 30, 2007

Earth’s Loss is Heaven’s Gain

On Saturday, April 28th my grandfather Lionel Arthur (Art) joined the praising crowd around the throne of God. At the age of 85 he had lived a long and full life that was an example to all of us who loved and admired him.

While he may be gone, the lessons that he taught us about life and faith will carry as a legacy for generations to come. I feel fortunate to have been raised in the shadow of such a great cloud of witnesses. I hope that I will be able throw off everything that hinders because by faith Art lived his life as an example for his family.

Mexrep in Canada

This past week I travelled out to Vancouver for a conference and got to hang out with one of my friends. I also meet some of the Uyghur community that have immigrated to that part of Canada. They were having a large party, often called a Mexrep, which just means there was a lot of good food and dancing.

When I first arrived I had was shy and decide to not mention to much that I had lived in Central Asia, or spoke the language. So I was just asking people questions about the food, the culture, and there clothing. When I got to the end of the serving table I heard a person yell “Mehrigul” (my Uyghur name). The girl severing drinks also formerly lived in my dorm building at the university. Next thing you know she was speaking Uyghur to me a mile a minute, and everyone looked shocked. Before the end of the night this girl had me up front singing a traditional Uyghur folk song ( and if you know me at all you know I should not be up in front of anyone, singing any song in any language).




Dinner at My Uyghur frinds house

It turned out to be a great trip. My friend gave me the grand tour of Vancouver. Neither my home in Central Asia or here in Canada are surrounded by such beautiful mountains and rivers.






I can't belive that I actually crossed that bridge.