My Life at June 2002
June 30, 2002 (Sunday)
I brought a friend of mine from the Spanish Class, Mrs. Wong, to the Baptist Church in the morning. She usually has nothing much to do during the day and is very eager to go to church. There are a few people in my Spanish class that are in the same situation too. I hope that they can go to church too.
I went to the MB Church too. The pastor was busy having some meeting and therefore, instead of joining Sunday school, I played with (babysit?) YiSon and other little children.
At night time, I visited an aunt upstairs (check June 24 diary). And I found out that her daughter is also a CCIE. I never expect to see someone like this in that visit! Therefore, I spent some time in some "techie" talk. I also find out that she got an offer from Desca this February. It is very possible that Desca can not hire and CCIE in Venezuela and so they are looking for elsewhere (and therefore I get this job!)
June 29, 2002 (Saturday)
I want to camping rather than at home this weekend. I was helping in the Enoch Outreach Leadership Camp which will be held this weekend. In addition, FCGC has their annual retreat this weekend; I participated in the last three times and really enjoy my experience. Moreover, VCAC has their gospel camp this weekend too! Except in 1993 I had an appendix surgery, I joined every single one of them. I surely would miss and pray for all these people.
June 28, 2002 (Friday)
I went home for a short nap and lunch after my Spanish class. I am in the process of exploring my daily routine: napping, eating, exercising and studying. (I am a "disciplined structured routine person")
I dined with William. I met him in the MB church in June 16. He is talkative; I also shared the gospel with him and trying to clear some of his confusion about Christianity. We were there until 11:00pm and had a good time.
June 27, 2002 (Thursday)
Had some miscommunication with my boss. Well, it is ok now. Don't worry. But in a brief moment I do feel that, being here in Venezuela by myself, it is quite dangerous to make any mistake. And there is fire work at night. I heard that today is the "journalist day" and that's why there is firework. What a weird reason.
The Baptist Church Prayer meeting was canceled because people were either busy or sick. Therefore, I went to a little sharing/Bible Study of MB Church. I later found out that the objective is to share the gospel with non-believer Mr. Yip.
On the way to and from the Bible Study, I carried YiSon. Oh boy, he is heavy! How can Mrs. Chu carry him around? I still remember one incident in my child hood. I was 3.5 yrs old at that time and my mom was pregnant Hansel. We were living in the seventh floor of an apartment and there were no elevator. Somehow, I did not feel like to walk and insist my mom to carry me. YiSon was only 1.5 yrs old and we did not walk upstairs. Yet my arm was soared. So what my mom felt at that time?
June 26, 2002 (Wednesday)
I find that my skin is not as smooth as I was in Vancouver. I still eat lots of vegetable, but just not as much orange (hey, no one peel it for me! But from now on, I better get back to my habit of one orange per day). There is some "bean of youth" on my forehead (which, in Vancouver, was only a few). And my face is not that smooth. It is a price for staying in Venezuela?
June 25, 2002 (Tuesday)
After the Spanish class, I went to take the first of the seven MCSE test. It is the 70-210 (Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional) test. I aced the test; the study guide helps a lot. (I have seen 96% of the exam!)
YiSon keeps on crying at night. I was told that he has never sleep, without waking up, in his life span. And of course, neither did the Chu parents. My parents used to tell me that I always cried at night too; it once again reminds me about the great love of my parents. The old Chinese saying is true: "you would know the love of your parents when you are a parent yourself".
June 24, 2002 (Monday)
I woke up at 7:15. From now on, I will outline and organize my devotion passage.
After devotion, people are still sleeping. So I continue to sleep. And then we left the resident at 11:00 and arrived at my work place at 5:00. I have to update my homepage and also check my email so that I would not be overwhelmed tomorrow.
Mrs. Chu told me that one of a Chinese old woman here hurt herself during work. She works in factory storage; she falls down and broke her arm. It costs her $4000 US for a two night stay in the hospital. No one in the company visited her, and of course the company is not going to pay for her hospital stay. That is mean. But who knows that this may be a turning point in her life. Luckily that she purchased insurance.
June 23, 2002 (Sunday)
Today is something that I am looking for in 3.5 years. I finally finished my Bible reading. This is my forth time. The first two time in Chinese. And then in 1997 Canaan committee president Tompson challenged us to finish reading the Bible in one year, and that is my forth time. This is the forth time and in English.
We departed at 8:00 and arrived the beach at around 10:00. Wow, what a wonderful and beautiful place. The sand are nice and the water are clear. I do not go to beach in Canada because the water is too cold. The beach in HK is too dirty. Therefore, this is my first time to see thing so nice.
I swam with small fish. I tried to catch them but discovered that they are fast; so I can't. I tried to swim to far away and feel the Atlantic Ocean (is that the Atlantic Ocean?); but I also remember a Chinese saying that "hey hill don't hey water" so I am careful too. We played football, volleyball and soccer too. And I took some "sunshine bath". We left at 4:00pm and we played soccer for another 1.5 hours. Lastly, I follow some of them to catch some crab at the road. The crab walk very fast; I wish that I have a hockey stick and try to make a "snap shot" :-)
By then, I am almost exhausted and dead. I don't even have energy to eat dinner. The sunburn is hurting. And the sea-wind makes me quite sick too. Therefore, I fall asleep at 9:00.
June 22, 2002 (Saturday)
There was a Spanish class this morning to make up for Thursday's. And then, the teacher Pedro and Mei (I know them from the Baptist Church) bought me to a shopping center to buy swimming equipment for my weekend trip.
I went to my work place and the company apartment for several hours, just to check my email, study, do some exercise and sleep. By now, I am more or less adapt to this workplace-is-my-home condition.
Alejandro, Cristina, Donald, Eric, Hedison, Henry, Keilim and others and I went for a weekend trip. We traveled for about 4 hours and arrived Tucacas at about 11:50pm.
June 21, 2002 (Friday)
My parents asked me to proofread my diary. So I will try my best.
One lesson I learn today is that IP/TV on a wireless link, with one Access Point and repeater yield poor quality. And don't change the speed on the repeater, or else, I would have to bring it back to the office to reconfigure it. (Ignore it. It is for me only)
This is Friday night, and I missed my life in Vancouver again. Originally, I asked a newcomer that I met last Sunday for a dinner. He turned down in the last minute because of the rain. Therefore, I just spent some time to read the cards and letters that my Vancouver friends wrote to me. I am surprised that God gave me an excellent fellowship life in Vancouver. People really cared and loved me! I can not stop thanking God for this. This energized me to continue my Venezuela life.
June 20, 2002 (Thursday)
The Spanish class is canceled today because there is strike by the army. We are told that it may be dangerous to go to the central area (where I have my class). Last time, Apr 11, there were about 15 causalities. Therefore, it is better to be safe today.
I went to work and nothing much happened. However, I am quite "mum" (things happened around me are not smooth: people are noisy, weather is hot (as usual again), the home and work elevators is not working (as usual again!), bank machine is not working (as usual again!), can not send file through icq, my working space is small and has many thing that I need to put, my brain is saturated from studying, ..etc. For some reason, all these add up today and I *almost* explode. I get annoyed easily, but I calm down easily too.
I seldom peel orange myself (once or twice in my life?). Every time, my parents either fed me or handed me a box of nicely peeled orange. I am trying my best to avoid it, but the day finally comes. I just peeled an orange! I used a plastic folk (I later find out that there is knife in my work kitchen) to get some hole and peel. I am forcing it to open and it kind of broken apart. And it does not taste that good (I thought that Venezuela is famous for its fruit!) I miss and prefer my old way to eat orange (most of the time, just open my mouth and that's it) But I have to grow up too.... (I did not eat fruit since the day Carmen left, because no one serves me. But don't worry, I eat lots of vegetable and make sure that I poo as usual)
I joined the Baptist church prayer meeting. We had some interesting debate about basic Christianity questions, e.g. whether save one is save for all, how to believe in Christ and whether I know I am a Christian or not. I have not express my opinion publicly for a long time. That is not a bad time.
June 19, 2002 (Wednesday)
I talked to my classmate today. And that is a very worth-while lesson.
She is from "Yen Ping". She spent about USD $11000 in order to come to Venezuela to reunited with her husband. She has to separate from her 6 yrs old daughter. By the time she is on the plane, she regretted this decision. And the most horrible thing is that, she is not alone. Majority of the Chinese here are black-market citizens. I knew this already, but it is a shocking thing when I get to meet them personally. They can only make about USD $350/month (less than half of what EI gave me!) by being a waiter. (But you can make USD $1000 by being a chef!) So why do they come here? Most of the people regretted. They can not return!
Why is God so unfair? Why am I so lucky? My problem seems so insignificant compare to them. And how can I bring them to church? The churches that I go to (especially the Canadian one!) are for middle class. I have never seen people like this before. what would they think about Christian? (Irony, most of the early church's Christian are lower class people)
And I thought that they are poor. No. They are the middle, if not middle upper class, in Venezuela. More than 60% of people living in rancho (you can check it in my Venezuela photo). These are the "free" houses located in the mountain. They don't have to pay for water or electricity either. However, in 1999, about 30000+ of them die because of the collapse of mountain due to heavy rain storm. They earn for US $150/month. Everyday, they spent for 3hrs+ in transportation.
And I thought that they are poor. No. Pastor Loh once told me that, more than one third of people living in less than US $10/month.
Why me?
I spent time to study today again. My brain is full and it is very hard to eat anymore (on contrast, I am very hungry on Monday)
I meditate at night. I have lots to learn. I have to obtain both the MCSE and CCIE security by the end of this year. That is a lot. Moreover, in order to survive, I need to get a hold of Spanish. (btw, I am mute and deaf most of the time!) This is also my first time to leave family and stay with some other people. Therefore, I have to learn how to look after myself and also how to be smooth in human relationship. In addition, it sounds like to me that I need to learn the lesson of humble and not self-center quick too. I have to learn how to open my eyes and see how other people survive. Wow, I am thankful that I am in Venezuela.
June 18, 2002 (Tuesday)
Today I went to my Spanish class as usual. I started to make some friends and hope that I can bring them to church. They speak "weird" Cantonese, but I am grateful that I can understand about 80% of those.
I once again spent time to study about my Cisco and my Spanish.
At night time, I don't feel good enough to study. And I just sit back, enjoy and listen to some Spanish Praise songs, hope to improve my Spanish.
June 17, 2002 (Monday)
I went to my first Spanish Class this morning. I have not been in a small classroom environment for a long time. These classmates are almost half my age. Should I feel old or should I feel young?
I spent three hours at work, just to update my homepage, reply emails and so on. As I have indicated before, it costs me a lot if I am absence from Internet for a weekend. I am an "Internet" man.
I also spent time to study my Cisco certification again. I find out once again that it is easier for me to study Cisco than Microsoft. Why?
June 16, 2002 (Sunday)
I went with the Chu family to the park in the morning. I thought that it is only a park, but there is animal too, e.g. monkey, crocodile, turtle... I also took pictures for them. This digital camera really makes me a professional photographer! It also reminds me about the time my parents brought me to the park when I was 4 years old.
I had a music offering at the MB church with Pastor Semson. It went pretty well. I even sang in front of the public too (my first time?). And afterward, I chatted with the youth there (using Chinese, of course) and "jam" some songs. Music really brought us together. I am thinking of starting a worship team. And I introduced Christianity with a Chinese youth new comers. It once again reminds me about starting a Chinese youth fellowship.
Night time, two churches friends ate with us. Since there are 4 Christian at our house, it somewhat acted like a hub. The Chu's family is outgoing and like to invite guest too. I enjoyed to eat with them and share with them. I find my human side this way; I also shared with them about my struggle as to which church to go to. There is no answer yet, but at least there is peer support.
June 15, 2002 (Saturday)
I went with people in Baptist church (Alejandro, Cristina, Donald, Heidson and a new friend named Kim Wai) for hiking. Originally I thought that hiking is a no-brainer. Well, it is tougher and harder than I think. Is it because the road is too steep for me, or I have not jog for a long time? I still am the fittest, but still....
And I went with Pastor Semson to practice the Father Day's musical presentation. And I read a book named "how to preach". And I ate dinner with them. There is not much happening for today.
June 14, 2002 (Friday)
I went to the Canadian Embassy to register myself. In the past several weeks, I feel so proud to be a Canadian and know how to speak English (they asked me to proofread some email too!). I have never felt this before.
I went to Cisco for some presentation. As usual (I am used to it now!), I am just sitting there and hear, but not listen, the presenter make noise in Spanish. However, another thing that is interesting. I was talking to one of the Cisco people. They told me that, almost all people in Cisco Venezuela office (30 people) heard that Desca hired a CCIE from Canada. Hey, I am actually famous. During the last three weeks, I find that people here really respect my CCIE certification. I feel so proud. People in TELUS do not care about that at all. This gives me some kind of uplift about my studying now! My presence actually makes a difference.
Being along on Friday night is always tough for me. Thank you that I have a "home stay". And I spent quite some time with little YiSon (harassing him?) and reading the cards that people wrote to me before. Thanks God that I eventually pass through the first Friday in Venezuela that I have nothing scheduled.
June 13, 2002 (Thursday)
Today is just a usual day. I feel bad that I am not writing too much thing, but this is just very normal. (No news is good news)
I went to the Baptist church prayer meeting at night. I shared that I am having a hard time at church because there is no one that is within my age range and speak Chinese. They shared that this is a problem with the church for a long time and need someone to break this cycle.
Should I be that person? And in what church? For the past several years, God prepared me in VCAC and FCGC. I gained many experience from serving in these two churches. I was always thinking that, what God’s next step is for me. And I know that there must be a plan for myself working at Venezuela. On the other hand, I need some fellowship too. In VCAC and FCGC, there is already a team of people that I can work with. Now, I can not see any teammate yet. I did not really reserve anytime for Church, as I plan to work hard on my job.
WWJD? If that is Your plan, let it be.
June 12, 2002 (Wednesday)
It is the culture that I am adapting to. Venezuela (at least the area that I am living in) is noisy. Especially late at night. Somehow people like to party or shout. This early morning (4:30am), people are either shooting a gun or playing fire cracker. Either way, it wakes me up again. And may be that I sleep too much (8.5 hrs/day) so I am not too tired.
Another thing that I find, is that people here do thing slow. At least the secretary. I have asked her to help me with a few things (insurance, book a test, get a cell phone...) and it takes forever. It makes me mad. And partially because her English is pretty bad. One time I remember that when she is touring me for some rented house, and I causally asked her something, she does not understand. She bought me all the way to a hotel (well, just 10 mins walk, round trip) just to ask that person to translate that for me. It seems like to me that she has eternally long time. And she just wants to waste some time at work. I must learn patient! Now I am MSN her and my attitude is quite mean. Well, I must calm down!
I did some "house keeping" thing for the rest of the day. Checked some website for certification, do something for my Wireless project. I did not push myself to study. Here is the reason: I push myself quite hard several days ago because I want to get that done soon. And then I asked to book the test. They told me that it takes a week to book the test! By that time, I will forget! So why bother to push myself now? (And judging from the efficiency of the secretary, it may take forever! Really make me mad!
I went to the MB Church Prayer meeting at night time. Wow, they told me that we are in the special moment in Venezuela. Strikes may occur and the president of the government may be changed anytime. This is something that I have never experience before (except a small magnitude of it in 1989 June 4). So now I know what a "real" person go through in his life.
June 11, 2002 (Tuesday)
Before I accept this Venezuela offer, my boss promised a sum of relocation cost. Since I used to have a habit of practice piano daily in Vancouver, I plan to use this money to buy a new digital piano. (It is too dangerous to move the existing one; I have no room for that anyway. Moreover, a digital piano is relatively more portable and therefore I don't have to worry about it if I move again)
I talked to the boss about this today. However, he said that the expense is for relocation or furniture and not for new goods for me. From my perspective, there is furniture in my existing resident; piano is more important. His response is something like this: he requires the receipt for tax purpose; the government official does not understand English so I can write anything and lie to him.
This is my struggle. On one hand, I don't want to lie. After all, I want to practice the piano so that I can serve God. On the other hand, this is his promise and I don't need any furniture. What should I do?
Here is one option. In my expense form, I write "personal item" instead of "furniture". The other option is to buy stove, refrigerator and furniture, not for my Venezuela home buy for my new Vancouver home. After all, this is just a play of how to transfer my money from one place to the other.
I am confused now. Please pray for me that, I would not sin but obey the peace within my heart. Drop me an email or write on guest book to let me know what you think!
June 10, 2002 (Monday)
I went to the apartment that I previously stay in lunch time. I like to go there everyday for some sleep, some exercise and a shower. Today, the lock in the washroom failed to work. I was stuck. All I am given is a coat-hanger. It is a mystery that I need to solve. I tried to bang, kick, and gentle touch the door. Nothing would work. I want to dis-assemble the door lock, but I don't have a screw driver. Oh well, after seems-like-forever minute, I finally use the coat hanger to open the door. (Now, I can be a thief)
Nothing much happened for the rest of the day. I worked, I studied, I enjoyed and I slept.
June 9, 2002 (Sunday)
I could not sleep in the middle of the night, and study again!
I also wrote to share about my experience about ACM. I was their fans for 14 years; lots of memories came back to me when I wrote this sharing. I know that God wants me to learn how to worship, not only in Vancouver, but also in Venezuela too. And I went to MB Church and joined their Sunday worship and Sunday school. There are more Chinese speaking people in my age group and I can relate to them more.
I spent some time to play with YiSon. Wow, it is so demanding! I tried to come back to study, but he keeps on knocking at the door. I am too kind to ignore him, so I taught him how to use my lap top and my guitar. That is a mistake! Now he wants to play around with these two things more than his basketball!
I had some causal chat with my house-mate. We may think of starting some kind of small family group for fellowship or inviting new comers to church. Is that one of my first mission in Venezuela?
June 8, 2002 (Saturday)
Finally, I met "it". I went to washroom earlier in the morning and saw something moving. Oh no, this is a medium-large cockroach! I was told that there is no big cockroach in this place; this is true until this morning. Now, I would pay attention every time I walk!
I went to Pastor Nip house and practiced some violin and guitar. He and I are glad that we found each other because we share the same passion about "Stream of Praises" (Mandarin Christian songs). He invited me to play one songs during Father's day next week. Sure! And then I went to Spanish Youth fellowship. This is a drama day; as expected, I don't enjoy (because I don't speak the language). Two or three of them are quite friendly and asked how I am doing. This sends me a strong message: next time if I see some new comers to church, I should not ignore them!
Night time, I phoned Carmen for about half an hour, talked about a lot of thing, and relieved ourselves about missing each others. And of course, I spent time with my studying too!
June 7, 2002 (Friday)
This is South America and we watched (remember that I configured the IP TV two weeks ago?) World Cup Argentina versus England. I, being bought up in HK, support England. However, the rest of the people are the Argentina fans, especially to the people sitting besides me. Wow, it is dangerous after England won! I can't control my smile and they can't control their anger!
I also have my first cell phone. The number is (416) 631-7932. Call me (but you have to pay the fee) if you have time. And should I use a cute voice mail message or a more standard one? I will stick with the standard one for now, since my co-worker may call me.
Some of the Chinese speaking Iglesia Evangélica Gracia De Dios adults went to Chu's resident (which is also my place) for a dinner. I get to meet some young couples too. They are the closest background to me (although they are 10 years older than I am, and lived in Venezuela for 25+ years). I talked to them and played some violin for them too. Probably they will be my friends in the future. And I saw a pair of brothers in their very young age. It reminds me about my childhood with Hansel too!
June 6, 2002 (Thursday)
Today is my Master of Engineer graduation ceremony in SFU. Obviously, I missed that.
Today basically is dedicated to my MCSE studying. I log on to some web sites and did some sample testing. And I also copy-and-paste some info too print too. This is me: the info originally is 135 pages long. However, since this is copy from the website directly, there is a lot of empty space. I actually spent the whole afternoon (4 hours) in editing that. It drives me nuts. I am thinking at that time that what happen if the computer crash and waste all my effort? And what happen if the info is not on the test....
I went to the prayer meeting at night. We had some devotional sharing and peer support. And that was my first time sharing in front of them. I borrowed the guitar from Pastor Loh too and relaxed myself at night.
June 5, 2002 (Wednesday)
YiSon cried last night. Even though I don't have to wake up and take care of him, his loud voice still wakes me up. It once again reminds me about the great love of my parents! I am sure that they suffered a lot when I was young. I should start to prepare myself mentally for this late-night-call
I went to Cisco today again for meeting and demonstration. They are in Spanish. Once again, there is some incentive for me to learn Spanish (so that I don't need to be transparent all the time). But I really learn how to be patient and smile even though I have no idea what they are talking about.
I spent quite an amount of time to study for my MCSE afterward. It does not take long for me to figure out that my brain is pretty much saturated and this is not the right way to do it. I tried to stress myself to shorten my time needed to pass the exam. But I ask myself, am I happy and enjoying life? After all, I want to enjoy every second of my life. So now I must learn how to relax. This is a tough lesson but is necessary for my survival and well-being here.
June 4, 2002 (Tuesday)
I guess that I should do my Wireless project as soon as possible. It seems like that my boss would like to get it done soon (although he will travel to US tomorrow). Sometimes I have to adapt to the "slowness" (or are they busy?) of my co-worker. I can't do this project by myself, and the one that helping me is always busy! I need to learn how to persuade him to help me without sounding too pushy!
And I receive two books for MCSE today. Gotta start studying so that I can at least accomplish something here. I have accumulated so much energy after I am idle for about nine months. It is time to return to shape.
One thing I find here is that the world has an extremely good communication system. I am not in Vancouver now, but through ICQ and email and telephone, I can contact my family, Carmen and my friends almost daily (this diary web site helps too!) I can't imagine how one survives ten years ago without all these goodies.
I am more or less getting used to this life. I have housemates that treat me really nice, co-workers that are co-operative *most of the time* and church friends that are very helpful. Thanks God for preparing all these people for me. And I am living a very discipline life too - go to work, study, do some exercise, play with little YiSon, sleep, spend time with my church friends. I am not the type of person that look for excitement (going to movie or Karaoke is too excited to me (hey, did I mentioned before that I go to Venezuela alone?)) and I have already lived a structured life for my last 15 years. So I get used to this very fast. And the transportation system (Metro) is very much like MTR in HK; the living area is similar too. So you don't have to worry about me.
June 3, 2002 (Monday)
I did not do much today. Basically I just study the Cisco Content Network Delivery website today. And I also checked out the World Cup website too, just to release some of my stress.
And back at home, I get to play around with YiSon. Hey, this is a good way to redirect my technical mind, enjoy family time and even to preview what it is like to be a father!
Today is one of those standard day that there is nothing much to write on. I guess that in the future, my life would be as discipline (Structured? boring?) like this
June 2, 2002 (Sunday)
This is the first day that I am alone. I called Carmen to make sure that she is safe and then I walked to church today (only takes 13 mins)
I went to the Spanish speaking Sunday school because one of the adult encouraged me that if I listen more, I would understand. Well, I guess that it is quite a suffering for me because once again, I have no idea what they are talking about. God is teaching me a humble lesson again today.
We had church lunch today and then I went back to work (since I have no where to go anyway) to update my website and check email (wow, I can’t believe that I need to spend 2.5 hours for these kind of stuff after only 40 hours absence from Internet!)
I used to run every other day in Vancouver. I have not run since I moved to Venezuela. I finally did it today. The apartment that I am staying has 24 floors and I run up and down 4 times. Oh boy, this is very tough! Much tougher than level-ground running (or because I am old?) But at least, my life is more or less return to normal (except practicing piano)
I ate dinner at home with the Chu resident (check photo!). And I had fun with little YiSon too. It prevents me from feeling alone and isolated from the world. Thank You Lord for this nice resident.
June 1, 2002 (Saturday)
I woke up at 5:30 am to do my usual devotion and discover that Caracas is still dark until 6:00 am. Then Carmen and I went to drink coffee (I won’t usually drink coffee (but I changed in Venezuela) and I won’t usually go out that early in the morning just to drink coffee)
Pastor Loh and wife picked us up at 7:00am and went to airport. One thing that I am very grateful about in Venezuela is to know this couple. They really take a good care of me and share some family love with me. I can’t imagine how sad I would be without them! After some check in and then we had a drink. I say good bye to Carmen at 9:20am. This is not a sad good bye (yet) because Pastor Loh is here (and I am embarrass to show my sadness) and he kept me busy the whole time by talking to me (actually, it is more like I am talking to him instead) He also invited me to his house for lunch, together with another missionary family from USA.
I moved to Dr. Chu house today too. His address is:
Av. Francisco De Miranda
Res Irene Piso 11, Apt 114
Los Ruices, Caracas
(212) 239-3917
I spent some time to clean up the room too. I need to make sure that everything is clean and organize!
In order to keep me busy, Pastor Loh invited me to the youth fellowship committee meeting. God is teaching me how to be humble here! I am always proud about my gift in church-management (sorry if I sound boast!). And I can have tones of advice to the fellowship. But I am forced to be quiet because I have no idea what is going on. They all talk in Spanish (but Mrs. Loh translated for me sometimes) and I have no way to express my "expertise"! Next time when I have a church committee meeting again, I will either be humble and learn to listen or I will explode all my "stored" energy that I persevered in Venezuela! Pray for me (if God put me in your mind) that I would choose option #1