Gung Hei Fat Choi! Happy New Year!

The theme of the week has to be Chinese New Years, welcoming the year of the rat. Let's just say, I'm glad no rats were released along the streets this week.
Living practically (not even one block away) in Chinatown is quite an experience at this time! Tinseltown Mall is, for once in it's lifetime, packed full as people from all over the city of Vancouver. There are children dancing, women singing, colours flying everywhere, and loads of market stalls everywhere selling everything from Chinese hackysacks to socks ($10 for 5 pair!)
To top it all off, the annual parade occurred this morning through Chinatown (Vancouver, I've heard, has the second largest in the world), with The Salvation Army representing with our crisis vehicle and a handful of volunteers (many from 614 Vancouver) decked out in red jackets and tossing candy. I didn't get to see much of the parade myself because I was standing by the soup truck (crisis vehicle) in the cold wind waiting to be in the parade ( we were the last to go out), but I could tell there were brightly coloured dragons and lions, dancers, marching bands, red envelopes, and fire crackers involved (which scared the living daylights out of me when I walked through them I must say! Quite unexpected as I've never seen a Chinese New Years parade before!) Although the rain we got was a bit of a downer, it was certainly a neat experience that I will always look back on.
The holiday officially kicked off on Thursday and ended tonight, but wow, do the Chinese ever throw a party! The past four days have just been one giant celebration it seems. There is something to be learned here. Party on!

Finally, the youth marching regiment ahead of us was handing out recruitment flyers for their kids program so Major Venables (PR department) came up with a solid idea - next year we're handing out Jesus invitations.

Praise the Lord!

Megan S

P.S. Second term is going fast. I love the classes. I've been under a lot of stress lately. I miss Jordan a lot.

Peace