After the mooncakes and holidays...

Autumn is usually a festive time here. There's the traditional mooncake craze, where people gift and re-gift colorful, elaborate boxes of glorified lard balls (apologies to all mooncake lovers!) followed by the long awaited week-long holidays in October. Pollution level is at an annual low, and the weather is most enjoyable.  

After returning from Ghana in July, we had a nice, peaceful month of quietness before the chaos kicked in. It was a glorious month of rest! Since we are both night owls, we continued living on Ghana time for the whole month of July. Why? Just because we could :)

Joe took Joyce out on a kite flying date on a beautiful day in July

This fall feels different. A good kind of different. G is bringing new elements into our lives and is continually challenging us to trust him more each day. Since the beginning of the year, we have seen  numerous new ministry opportunities popping up, and we sense that he wanted Joyce to take an even bigger role with the youth girls than she did last year. After months of deliberating (and struggling on Joyce’s part), she resigned from Bethel the foster home for blind orphans – work that she loved and cherished – and joined Joe in investing in the expat youth community full time. It has been a LONG time since Joyce was a teenager, so this was a scary step for her. But it’s all turning out quite nicely – she is adjusting well and learning how to be a better helper to an amazing leader in ministry and at home.

Another change, or accomplishment, rather, is clearly a result of Joyce’s prayer in 2009 (or so she claims): Joe is now a certified, legit Personal Trainer! Back in 2009, way before Joe and Joyce even met on this planet, Joyce was training with a personal trainer in Ottawa. His name was also Joe and he is really the best trainer in the world. One evening as Joyce was struggling to do a 400lb leg press, she casually asked G in between breaths: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I get to marry a personal trainer in the future? That way I’ll get to be fit all the time!” Who says seemingly frivolous prayers won't be answered?

Random shots over the summer

After we finally gotten over our jet lag, Joe studied really hard and eventually passed the PT course with flying colors. Working out has always been a favorite hobby of ours, and we've been hitting the gym hard ever since. Hopefully you'd see a difference in us when we meet up next time!

Now you would probably understand that it’s no accident that the theme for our youth this year is “Get Ripped.” We are taking the theme rather literally, but it also has a significant spiritual meaning. We encourage our youth to work hard on getting ripped not only physically, but spiritually; to exercise our spiritual muscles and tone them to be more sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. Another important emphasis is the collective aspect of bodybuilding. We want to build up our own bodies, but even more importantly, we also need to focus equally hard on building up the body of Chrst, whom we’re all called to be a part of.

This is a snapshot of what’s up with us in this part of the world. What’s up with you these days and what has G been doing in your life? 

JJJ in action with the boys and girls!