During my two decades in Boston, a city some people call the Hub of the
Universe, I had amazing opportunities to meet people from all over the
world. But only since coming to St Andrews have I had opportunities to
share daily life with a good number of people from other nations. All that
I can say is that my life has been ennriched and blessed by sharing com-
mon living space and/or meals with people from all over the globe, espe-
cially Africa, Asia, and Europe. My closest friends still come from the USA,
Canada, New Zealand, England and Australia-and one dear friend from
Germany. But over the past three years a number of people from other
countries have also richly blessed me with their friendship.
Earlier tonight while I was preparing my evening meal, I chatted with a
graduate student from Rwanda who was also preparing her meal. In pre-
vious chats I had been struck by her radiant smile and her joyful Chris-
tian faith. She was sixteen when the Rwandan genocide took place. I felt
awkward asking her more questions on that, so I asked what other lan-
guages did she speak besides English. Even though she was comfortable
using English, she found it difficult. Her language in school in Rwanda had
been French. And then she told me with a laugh that she apoke Chinese
because she did a university degree in finance in China. Now she's here in
Scotland doing a masters degree in the same subject. I found it hard to
imagine myself doing university studies in Chinese.
But there are a considerable number of Chinese women and men doing
university studies in English here in St Andrews. There are many grad-
uate degree students from China here in my residence hall, and it seems
that the majority of them are studying finance, marketing, or manage-
ment. I find that many of the Chinese students are so eager to chat that
they take the initiative to converse with me. I remember the first conver-
sation I had with one Chinese graduate student in finance. As we prepared
our meals and sat down to eat he expressed his fondness for anything that
had to do with the National Basketball League in the USA and American
TV shows that he downloaded from a Chinese website. I was amazed that
he knew so much about NBA teams, players, and standings, and the latest
TV shows in the States.
Then there was the time I was in the kitchen eating my dinner when
a tall Chinese doctoral student in financial management introduced him-
self to me. I guess it had gotten around that I was a Christian minister.
He stood on the other side of the table from me and started asking me
questions about God, Christianity, and the Bible. As I answered his ques-
tions and shared with him about God, the Bible, the Cross, forgiveness
of sins, what happens during a church service, and what a minister does,
he gradually worked his way around the table, slowly moving ever clos-
er to me, and finally pulling up a chair to sit very close to me, looking
directly into my eyes. He asked question after question and seemed
so hungry to take in whatever I had to say. It was really a special
time for me.
I often pause to remember friends (many of whom have returned to
their home countries) with whom I have shared living space and meals:
men and women from Germany, Italy, Spain, Scotland, Japan, South
Korea, Singapore, Portugal, Slovakia, California (just kidding), Argen-
tina, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, England, Australia, the
Netherlands, Canada, Cambodia, South Africa, and the USA. I have
been blessed by these friendships and they have enriched my life
here.
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