First she just walked into our room... "Who do you think you are... Do Chinese people have no manners? And no, I do not feel like roller skating tonight! I'm lazy, by bed is warm and I seriously do not feel like trying to figure out what you say over loud music... These I have to admit were my thoughts when our funky Chinese friend came to fetch us for our roller skating date...

Being a missionary and therefore feeling compelled to be friendly and kind I drag myself out of bed and put on my best fake smile for this funky young lady! So there we are walking down the street , much to the amusement of our many fans... Not quite sure where we're going and how long the walk might be I focus my energies on the camera in my hand and try not to think of how lucky Margot is for having the great excuse of flu to stay in bed...

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So we turned the corner and now enter an ally I would normal avoid at all costs. Not because I'm afraid, just because some places are no place for a young lady to be seen.  So we stand before a building, lights flashing and from the inside the faded sound of some Chinese pop song booming over the speakers can be heard. Why, oh why am I here?? There's coffee at home... Oh, how nice a cup would be right now!

So we enter and I am reminded of a tween movie seen. The boy buys the girl a coke and now he's the man! While all his friends stare at him in admiration the girls fall around in heaps of giggles. He ponders should he, shouldn't he... Take her hand?  You get the picture? 

So while Avril (our funky lady friend) buys the tickets and have a few Chinese words with the many onlookers, I can't help but feel excited. I haven't been in skates for over a decade - except for that one time I went ice skating, which in this case doesn't count, and these are those old roller skates, not roller blades or -balls. Skates! 

All of a sudden a crowd is staring at my feet, "Size?" they ask me. I have no idea! "6 in South Africa, but who knows in China?" A key and 2 plastic bags are pushed into my hands and I'm shown away from the counter. How considerate of them to give you bags to protect your shoes while leaving them in the filthy lockers! So I find my locker and take out my skates, off goes my shoes and into the bags. Laughter all around... Am I so amusing that my every move gets these people in hysteria? Evidently not, the bags, dear friends, are to protect your own feet.

I gather all my energies, my feet are wrapped in plastic and my heart pumping like it hasn't in a while. I am now ready to show these Chinese a thing or two! I stumble to the skating floor and am almost knocked over by the first group of about 10 Chinese teens zooming past me at an speed I'm sure will register on whatever tool measures speed. Chinese teens go skating like South African kids sneak out to play "tok-tokkie?" it's just what they do!  Needless to say, they do it well!
Someone grabs my hand and off I go! Round and round I'm dragged. What a joy! My corners are a bit dodgy and every now and again I think I'm in the way of a professional skater, but who cares... I'm in China! Skating! What a delight! Around the second bend I lose my balance and wipe out, before I can even think of blushing there's three pairs on little Chinese hands stuck out to help me up. Now I need a break.

This is far too much excitement for one evening! I chose a spot in the corner of the room, with a view off course! As I sit and watch the laughing faces go around and around I realise that there's something universal about youth. No matter where you are we have the same desire! We all want to be noticed, we want that special boy to grab our hand and swing us around the bend, we want to be innocent yet we want to have the whole world right now! We are all confused and longing for something more and we're all looking in all the wrong places. It is here, on the bench in the corner, with a Pepsi in my hand and Bryan Adams in the background that I, for the first time, longed for my lost youth. A time lost to all the world wanted me to be. A time I could've used to be what God made me to be but rather used to entertain my own selfish desires.

My heart goes out to all those beautiful young kids, blinded by what their world tells them to be. So young, so innocent and so, so lost! I know Jesus loves them just as He loves me and you ?they are loved by the greatest Man in the universe and they do not know. I am so thankful that I learnt this before it was too late.
Remember this ?God loves us all. Forget all those ? people in the world loves you, you are beautiful, say it in the mirror?crap. God ?the creator of all things, the one and only true Saviour loves YOU! What more do you want?

And ok, I love you too...

Until next time,

Jana