Two weddings and two funerals

Somewhere in the beautiful countryside of North Thailand near Chiang Rai on this beautiful Saturday morning, Thais and Americans were singing and rejoicing the union of two of the loveliest people in the country - Brandon and Aum. I met them when we went on a missions trip to help out YWAM Thailand in Bangkok, ministering to college students and at the nearby slums, and generally helping out at the BJD Centre. I was supposed to go, and I planned on going, but instead...

I went to my Aunt's 'funeral', or rather, the scattering of her ashes at a memorial garden at the south of Hong Kong Island. She had fought cancer long and hard for the last four years. Sometimes she won, but not the last time. I heard that she wasn't in much pain at the end. And she went peacefully. It was a brilliantly sunny and breezy day, but despite being surrounded by rolling wooden hills and vividly colourful flowers, Cape Collinson was a heavy and oppressive place. It was a morning of mourning, but also a moment of finally letting go, laying to rest a loved and loving woman. As my Uncle said those simple words of remembrance, the lump in my throat grew harder, and my eye make-up dissolved. I took some of my Aunt's ashes in my hand, said a silent prayer, and let her float out of my hand onto the grass. I tried to not think about the fact that I hadn't seen her for quite a few years, and I won't be seeing her for a quite a while yet. But I pray that she is in the loving arms of God, who called her out of suffering and into His glorious light, as he does for all of us.

The next funeral will most likely be the death of my audit exam on Monday, given the pace of revision that was going on today. I blame this partly on John AY...

...who's in Hong Kong attending a wedding, but so very kindly took time out of his busy-best-man schedule to have

九記牛腩 (beef brisket) with me on Friday night.