And I am a material girl...

Something bad has finally happened. Since I arrived in Shenzhen, things have gone smoothly. I have not lost luggage, suffered from exotic illnesses or chronic diarrhea, crashed in any motorbiking accidents. I've been fortunate to live in a decent apartment and work at a good school, so I guess it was my time...

Yesterday morning, I rolled over in bed, looked at my cell phone, saw that it was 8:30 AM and decided that I would not be making the hour and a half journey to church. However, my ever-persuasive roommate sweet-talked me out of bed and into a taxi. I felt tired and grouchy and a little hungry as we arrived at the metro station, took the metro to Nanshan, jumped on a bus, jumped off and on to another bus and arrived at church. But once I walked up the steps to church and heard singing, I was instantly glad to be there singing, "please make me a sanctuary, pure and holy..."

The pastor on this day was a small Chinese man, dressed nicely, with salt and pepper hair and dimples. He smiled a lot, and even though his message was all over the place, lots of tangents, I liked him. I liked him because he showed emotion. I liked him because he used personal experiences and because he smiled a lot but also had tears in his eyes at times. On this day, he spoke about couples...about being unique and having separate roles, about a love triangle created by God, Woman, and Man - where Woman and Man submit to one another under love and out of reverence to God, where Woman and Man are drawn closer to one another as they grow closer to God. Not being married myself, I listened carefully but wondered if any of this was relevant to me. An older couple, married for 40 years, came to the front of the church and shared their advice on love... I am not sure quite how or why this verse came up, but it did...

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be."

After church, I left Serena, Stephen, and a few others there and jumped on a bus to meet Danielle at Windows of the World. She gave me a big hug when she saw me, and I felt glad to see her. Something about her relaxes me. We went to Central Plaza Mall and window shopped and talked. In H&M, I struggled against shopaholic tendencies and overcame! She said I seemed very stressed, but as we walked and talked my stress seemed to melt away, and she noticed it too. We decided to grab lunch, and her admission of an addiction to KFC french fries helped us make a quick decision. At KFC, I ordered spicy fried chicken drumsticks/wings with a side of french fries. We sat at a table for two. I looked up and past Danielle, who was sitting across from me, and noticed a woman talking to someone behind me. I looked behind me but no one was there. The woman kept talking and smiling, and everytime I turned around no one was there behind me. Then suddenly I looked down to where my purse had been sitting at my feet. It was gone. I looked up. The woman was gone. I jumped up and told Danielle my purse was gone. We looked around, but I felt so helpless and so uncertain about what I was suppose to do. As I started to cry, Danielle put her arms around me and a Chinese woman and her daughter came over to help. The woman's English name was Joan and she called the police. She was an angel. She stayed with us as the police came, she translated for us. The camera in the restaurant caught the thief in the act, but it was unlikely that they would ever find her. The police took Danielle and I to the station in their SUV. Joan jumped in the car with us and went with us to translate for me and help us. I felt so helpless and empty handed, and everytime I thought about this I would burst into tears again. I couldn't stop replaying everything in my head and revising it - what I should have done... Danielle hugged me, the police men offered me smokes, and Joan rubbed my arm comfortingly. Afterwards, Joan walked us to the metro, and Danielle took me home. When I got home, I cancelled my credit cards and debit card. My friend Jeff, came over, bearing beer and Brad Pitt movies to cheer me up. Danielle, Jeff, Serena and I went to get cheap dumplings for dinner. Danielle and I joked that it had happened because I hadn't tithed at church. We also thought maybe the person who stole it needed the money... and perhaps my Bible. I wanted nothing more than to punch the thief in the face - something I had never felt before, I mean, I really wanted to hurt her, because she had hurt me. I felt so personally offended, so attacked, so confused that someone would do this to me.

But that verse came back to me... do not store up treasures on earth. I get so attached to my things. Thinking about the new LeSportsac bag that had been stolen from me, my old wallet that I loved, the nice cell phone I had bought, and lots of other little things and then admitting to myself that it was RIDICULOUS to be so sad about losing these things - maybe that was the whole point. And life in China...well, it hasn't been to hard to adjust for the most part. Didn't I come here to get out of my comfort zone? To struggle a bit? With that in mind, I've accepted the whole ordeal. Though I do admit, it irks me everytime I go to look for something small - like the triple A batteries I had just purchased, or my hand wipes, or my hair clips and realize they were in the bag. Perhaps the most annoying thing is not having my cell phone. But like my roommate Serena said, "if you never lost old things, you wouldn't have a need NEW things" - now how's that for optimism?

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