Can God send someone else?

We have left Cebu for over a week, had a few days in Hong Kong taking Dan's mother and her husband touring around, then we took a 4-day trip to Beijing, China. Visited the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, the Great Wall of China, the Temple of Heaven, etc. Kioni was just fine, though tired.

Today we went back to my home church in Hong Kong. Kioni's been there several times, everytime, she had a great time. Today, the Sunday School started off particularly good, because when we walked in, the pianist was playing "Count Your Blessing", a song that we sing a lot in Cebu. She said with a slight smile on her face, "Mommy, I love this song." I gave her a big hug, and headed to the adult church service.

When the services was over, she was quite happy when I picked her up, then suddenly, she was overwhelmed by the fact that she can't be here with her "friends", in streaming tears, she said, "I want to stay in Hong Kong, I don't want to go back to Cebu."

Dan explained to her that we are missionaries in Cebu, and our home is in Cebu, we have to go back and teach those students.

"I am tired of moving around, I don't want to be a missionary kid. Can God send someone else to be missionaries? I want to stay in Hong Kong, I don't want to move anymore, I want to have friends." She said this in the most heart-breaking wailing sound, I have never heard her cry like that before. My sister Annie was sitting right there in the room with us, upon seeing her like that, Annie teared up, and so did I.

Though she has a few friends in Cebu, she didn't like to play with them much. She likes to play with older kids, children who are at least 5 to 6 years older than she is.

Today is the first time I see how much she has sacrificed by becoming a missionary kid, I never realize it so deeply until this afternoon. Lord, please give her peace and help her understand why we are doing what we are doing, because obviously, we cannot.

She discovered she can "draw" pictures by thumb pins, after a while, she calmed down. You can still see the redness around her eyes after the big cry.