A Moving Weekend

These last few days in southern California have been busy for us, but all of it has been good. On Thursday evening, we had a good time together with friends over dinner. Then they spent some time lifting us up. It's moving and bittersweet to think about how encouraging our friends out here in Los Angeles have been... we're going to be sad to leave.

Friday was a day of preparation for me as we had a packed weekend of min from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. We got to share about our journey to some friends on Friday night; then I taught a teacher's training workshop on Saturday morning; then we shared with some other friends on Saturday night. And then on Sunday, I got to speak to the Cantonese large group at our gathering and then teach a follow-up session from the teacher's training workshop. And then in the afternoon, our gathering had an encouraging send-off service and reception for us.

As we get nearer to our departure, little by little, different events trigger in me the emotional reality of our leaving soon. At times I think to myself, "I don't know when I'll see this person next..." or "In less than two weeks, my whole world is going to look so different than these streets and houses and places..."

And, just like Dallas County gave us an official goodbye... so also Southern California gave us an official goodbye on Sunday night too. I don't remember feeling an earthquake for many, many years... maybe over 10 years. But on Sunday night, oh, we felt that. 4.7 is not so strong... most Californians hardly even notice them. But, I was less than 2 miles from the epicenter. A good friend invited me to go play volleyball on Sunday night (woo hoo!) because her league team was short one guy, and they needed one.

So, there we are, in a high school gym, in between points, when the ground rumbles and shakes just a little bit as if a fleet of heavy trucks just drove by. Then it stopped. And then 2 seconds later, there was intense shifting of the ground - left, right, left right - for about 5 seconds. Basically, imagine that the floor is an etch-a-sketch that somebody is trying to refresh and clear. We ran for the doorways, and some people ran outside. Waited for a few minutes, asking each other, "Did that really just happen?" And then... we went back to the courts and resumed our games.