Thanksgiving Day

My Thanksgiving Day was normal during the work day since it is not a holiday here. However, in the evening I invited all of our employees to eat hot pot with me. We shopped for ingredients, ate, and cleaned up together. Our conversation was also good. I shared with them the story of Squanto: how he had been kidnapped by English speakers and taken to England twice, yet was willing to forgive and help these English-speaking Pilgrims. I cried as I told the story. Then I said that his story had similarities to the story of Joseph and asked if anyone could tell that story (I have told Joseph's story on two different occasions). Jordan, one of our employees, then told Joseph's whole story with great fidelity. I was both amazed and grateful. I had thought that everyone just slept when I told Bible stories. This was the first time that I had any evidence that they paid attention to me. Then I took another risk and asked if someone could tell the stories from Daniel. And Daniel, another employee (to whom I had personally given that English name), told those stories. His memory was less accurate, but I was grateful nonetheless. Afterward, we all talked about what is important to a successful marriage and what qualities we are looking for in a spouse.

As you can see, even though Thanksgiving was no holiday for me, I was still able to see a bit of long-awaited fruit.