RESTAURANT!

And yes, I capitalize Restaurant because the sign is in Chinese and we, unfortunately, do not read Chinese. So. Restaurant. We love Restaurant. And it's definitely because the noodles are amazing (homemade right before your eyes), and also because a huge dish of noodles and whatever topping you want is like $1.50, but mostly because of the family that owns it. They LOVE us. And I'm pretty sure we've increased their revenue because we've popped up on QQ (Asian Facebook) four more times than a lot at Restaurant. So. Well. They feed us delicious foods, and we love them.

One time, I asked (with my incredible Chinese skills) if they have sweet potatoes (I'm literally obsessed with them now). They didn't, but they told us to come back the next day for them! So we went back, and they made us a legit new dish with sweet potatoes and normal potatoes and then gave us a huge bowl of egg and tomato soup and then wouldn't take our moneys. They do that a lot, actually. They keep charging us $1.50 for two huge meals instead of just one. I love Restaurant. Two times ago, they used the internets to translate into English to tell us to come the next day for sweet potatoes. We came, and they, once again, gave us a whole dish of sweet potatoes and a bunch more in a bag and sent us home charging us $1.50 TOTAL for two noodle dishes and two sweet potato dishes and little soups. She then pulled us in for the best Asian hug I've ever received and kissed us on the cheeks before she sent us on our way.

Here's the thing. Pooptown can get pretty awful. But when we found friends in Restaurant Family, that completely changed our outlook on this city. They truly love us. And it's definitely not because we keep going back so they make money off of us, it's because they truly love that we are here and they know that we love them--because we truly do, with the pure love of Christ. I want so badly to communicate with them and share the gospel.

Tonight at Restaurant, they internets translated for us and told us to come back because Restaurant Mom was going to make us some special dumplings. 

I feel so blessed to encounter such incredible people here. I love them with all my heart.