the wonder years: Sleepless night on the Happy Little Island

Bon Nochi! Hard to believe it's already the fifth night we've been in Aruba. It was pretty surreal at first as we kind of left on a whim and everything just happened so quickly. I had a rough start as I was ready to pass out before our 1am flight to Toronto and had slept for only about an hour during that flight. It was a little after 7am local time when we arrived and we managed to shove some food into our system after we got passed US customs with our luggage checked in and all. I felt a little sick as my body was going through a little shock. I was really grateful to have been able to sleep through most of our flight to Miami. We managed to find the AA counter after much exploration of the Miami airport and checked in our 2 carry-on's. It was definitely a smart move because we only had to carry our backpacks around for our 7 hour layover. After some deliberation, we checked out the information booth and decided to venture out into the city. Thanks to the convenience of their buses, we made our way to Dolphin Mall (which turned out to be a bigger and better version of Cross Iron Mills in Calgary). We had the most amazing lunch and even got some shopping done. All in all, it was a good 7 hours well spent.

In Miami, on the bus enroute to Dophin Mall

if only they have this restaurant in Canada!

it's kind of like Bolero and Gaucho but many times better!

endless meat on sticks coming to you and awesome buffet of other foods :]*

Our flight to Aruba went by pretty quick. At least it did for me. I think Cyrus was a little restless thus became quite grumpy. I guess we switched. Luggage retrieval took longer than expected but it was worth it to see all 4 pieces turn up! One of our big ones had been opened but it doesn't seem like we lost anything. Plus clearing customs was a breeze! The only question the officer asked us was, "how was your flight?" and then it was "ok, have a good night." PTL!

First impression stepping out of the Aruba airport was... HOT & Humid. Little did we know, it was considered a cool night since it rained just prior to our arrival. It's actually a lot less humid here than I had expected. But then it's also a lot hotter! Even with the AC on, it still feels uncomfortably warm. With just a fan, I seriously sweat even if I'm just standing or sitting still. At least this country is very breezy. Warm wind is better than no wind!

So far, things have been going quite well. We got to attend a few of the fellowships, from the English teens to Chinese adults. We attended the English service of the local church on Sunday and then Cyrus preached for the Chinese service while dad translated. It was a real blessing for all of us to hear and see the father-and-son-team work so well together. We also sat in during their Sunday School class. Even though it was in Chinese, it was quite nice to hear someone teach straight from the Bible. Unfortunately, it feels that I've sat in on too many Sunday School classes where the focus isn't quite on the Bible nor did the teacher reference the Bible quite enough. So that was definitely refreshing and exhilarating.

A highlight for me so far was Tuesday night's prayer meeting. Even though only 2 of the ladies came out to join us (since most people are out of town/on vacation), it was very meaningful to hear them share and pray with us. Their passion and dedication was very inspiring, which encouraged me to pray in Chinese for the very first time! I knew I could've prayed in English but I wanted to connect with them better so I boldly used whatever limited Chinese "Christian vocab" I had. Our time together made me realize that I have been a Christian not much longer than most of these people. It was real humbling to see and hear their stories and see how strong their faith is. Even more so, it gives me a better understanding as to why missionaries give up their lives to serve in foreign countries when they have so many hurdles to overcome. Though their numbers are small and the stats may not be so "satisfying", being able to come and really experience "the work" mom & dad have done... it is truly priceless. It's so inspiring and eye opening to see how they have invested and poured out their hearts and time into shepherding these people. Very humbling indeed.

It's 2 am so I should probably try again to fall asleep. So here's a few more pictures for now and hopefully more to come soon!