Yaqian has been cooking, doing laundry, and taking care of children in the mango garden for nearly a year, while Yulin has been dedicatedly serving everyone in the Merit Garden for nearly two years. Being a chef, working early and late, is a fulfilling job. To give Yulin a chance to rest and Yaqian an opportunity to serve everyone, Yangle suggested that the two switch workplaces. Yulin moved to the mango garden, where, besides cooking, he could spend his free time growing flowers and vegetables according to his interests. Yaqian moved to the Merit Garden to focus solely on cooking for everyone. This adjustment, despite some initial hiccups during the transition (which helped everyone improve in getting along with their brothers and sisters), led to significant improvements. Both individuals rejuvenated the environments and atmospheres of the two kitchens, bringing greater harmony, order, and vitality to the mango garden and Merit Garden.
To ensure Dengdeng's physical and mental growth in the community, Yangle and Yixian, after discussing with everyone, decided that the Thai home would provide education for the child. Currently, Yixian, Jiao'e, Baichuan, and Qudan are Dengdeng's teachers. From Monday to Friday, each teacher spends an hour a day teaching Dengdeng about God's knowledge, life skills, and scientific knowledge, based on the educational outline provided by the guide. The four teachers flexibly choose the teaching content. We are very grateful and admiring of the teachers' wisdom, patience, and love. To help Dengdeng adapt to the school rhythm, the teachers prepare their lessons carefully while finding creative and flexible ways to combine play and learning. Within five days, Dengdeng transitioned from crying and refusing to go to school to willingly participating in classes and starting to absorb new knowledge: listening to Yixian's stories about living in an international family, hearing Jiao'e's stories, reciting poems with Baichuan, and learning to write numbers with Qudan.
July 10 was the birthday of the Longpao Buddha. The entire street of the village where the temple is located was in festive celebration. We joined the Thai people in singing and dancing to celebrate Longpao Buddha's birthday. The community kitchen specially prepared braised fish and a birthday cake for Longpao, and upon hearing that Longpao enjoyed the food and praised it as delicious, we were all very happy.
Thanks to the hard work of the vegetable gardening group in the Merit Garden and the mango garden, despite the rainy season, we still had a good harvest of long beans and cucumbers. Yangle and Jiao'e repaired the old chicken coop that was about to collapse and partitioned a section to use as a nursery. The chickens, which had been temporarily housed elsewhere, returned to their safe and comfortable home. Over the past two weeks, they have regained their vitality, strutting around lively and cheerful. A little kitten, feeling the love from its brothers and sisters, decided not to leave and peacefully made the community its home.
It's not just me; my brothers and sisters are also marveling at the beauty of our daily life. There are so many beautiful things in the world, so much love to express, all because we are fortunate to live in this community, experiencing its beauty firsthand, being part of its beauty, and being deeply moved by the small daily moments of beauty. The natural beauty, the hardworking and smiling faces of the brothers and sisters, the masculine responsibility of the men, the graceful charm of the women, the beauty of simplicity, and the beauty of harmony—all these beauties are truly manifested and evidenced in God's kingdom, continuously spreading and transmitting to the world.
Walking in the Greatest Creator's way, life becomes more and more beautiful, and the experience of life becomes more and more wonderful. These words are truly not false.
2024-07-19
