Good Questions

One of the best things about ministry has to be when people ask great questions. Recently, I was very thankful when my Chinese colleague, Maggie, asked me some things about why I am happy and fulfilled, and asked if I had any idea how she could be more that way as well. I was honored to be able to give a hopeful and honest reply that shared my faith in God and respect for the Bible. I will be following up with her to find out more about her attitude toward what I said. Please pray for her heart to be prepared.

Christmas Performances

Last year for Christmas, we joined our brothers and sisters from the "Salt and Light" fellowship for a Christmas performance at the local church building. This year, they realized that we were pretty busy, tired, and pregnant so they didn't ask us to join in the actual performance. But the show went on and last Sunday night they had a performance filled with singing, dancing, preaching, reading, and free gifts for all!

As always, it was good to see our close friends from "Salt and Light" stepping out to share their faith with classmates and friends. For us personally, it was special because almost all of the people that we've been focusing our time and energy on lately showed up for the performance. There are about seven people that we've tried to deeply invest in this semester and 4 of them came (with some of their friends!) to the performance. Two more of those seven attended a Christmas performance held at the same church building two nights earlier and the last of the seven attended a Christmas party at the Clarks' house. So even though we didn't personally hold any special Christmas meetings or perform on any stages, all of the students that we've been building relationships with this semester were blessed to be a part of a Christian Christmas performance somewhere. We were thankful for that and the slow progress that they continue to make in their lives of faith.

Oh, and Lisa's supposed to have a baby here in about 2 1/2 weeks. Please keep her, us, and the baby in your prayers!

Speaker for Hire

Last weekend, Jason and I were invited to go to XiaSha and speak at a mini-retreat for other English teachers ministering in China. Most of the people who came were in their first year of work in China, but there were a few people who have been in China for two or three years.

I was super honored to be asked to speak and thought it was a great chance to encourage some younger people and hopefully provide some fresh ideas about what we're doing and how we're doing it. My topic was "God Goes Before Us" and the idea that God has been working in the lives of people here in China long before we arrived. That truth relieves a lot of the stress and pressure that often comes with mission work that sometimes feels like it all depends on our efforts.

We shared some of our ideas about how to find receptive people. We also tried to encourage the folks with some inspiring stories about ministry, having families in China, teaching English, and some other stuff. To be honest, I'm sure that our impact was fairly limited, but I was still honored to have the chance to share something and pass along some of the good things I've learned from others. As part of the deal, we received a free hotel room and a couple of good meals. I think I also pocketed 11 or 12 yuan in extra taxi money that we were given. So if you're needing a speaker for your next event, make sure you set aside at least 10 yuan in your event budget for a speaker of absolutely average quality.

TaiTai's Funeral

There is too much I wanted to write about GaoYan’s Grandma’s funeral. In my mind, I want to research funeral traditions of China and the Bible and somehow draw some connections in a long essay. But it is just coming out as rough notes.

TaiTai passed away in her sleep 4 a.m. November 24. A fire of paper money burned continuously until after the funeral. A funeral business arranged a white poster with black words on the wall in her living room. Her picture. Bowl of bananas. Bowl of oranges. A bowl of rice with an egg. Candles and incense. Sparklers. Black arm bands for GaoYan’s parents and their generation. Black with a red square for GaoYan and I and grandchildren generation. Red arm bands for Caleb, Joy, and great-grandchildren generation. Relatives would come in and bow before TaiTai’s picture. Relatives came all the way from BengBu. I closed the front door behind me when I entered the house. I knew I had made a small mistake when GaoYan’s Dad walked over and opened the door back up again. Though it was cold, the window of her room was left open. Caleb please don’t play with the incense. OK you can light sparklers. Joy, no don’t touch those bananas. For two nights in a row GaoYan’s Dad had to stay up all night. Meals with family and relatives. An aunt whispers to GaoYan. “I had a really scary dream last night. I am afraid of your grandma’s spirit because one time I had a big argument with her.”

Day of the funeral 6:30 a.m. drums, cymbals, and a band. People dressed in white sack cloth standing around the fire of paper money. Everyone must wear white sack cloth. Lady from the funeral business came into the house. Her hair was dyed red and wore a sporty coat almost same color red as her hair. We all stood in the living room wearing white sack cloth. The lady said in a strong commanding voice, “TaiTai’s son and his wife bow down. Another son and his wife bow down. Grandchildren generation bow down. Great-grandchildren generation bow down.” Then in violent fashion the lady ripped the poster with black letters off the wall. She took the incense bowl and busted it in the stairwell. GaoYan’s Dad held his mother’s picture and carried it out of her home. (I think the saddest part) Everyone left the house following behind according to generation. There were firecrackers now outside and very loud behind us in the stairwell as we left the home. Men of the family stood up in an open bed truck with GaoYan’s Dad holding his mother’s picture. A firecracker truck followed with deafening boom, boom, boom, boom. The truck with the band following, then the family cars. We all drove to the funeral home. The family had one last chance to see TaiTai’s body. The ladies of the older generation knew how to kneel on the ground and cry and wail loudly. And the men were supposed to pull them away (Not allowing the women to linger too long at the body? I’m not sure why?) There were about 50 people and a lot of activity. I tried to stand back holding Caleb out of the way. But then I saw a relative kind of pushing GaoYan away. Just out of instinct, I went and stood on the opposite side of GaoYan to brace her (In America mourners can stand by the body as long as they want). They show the final preparations for cremation on a video screen. 8:30 a.m. We left soon after, to make room for the next family.

Sometimes I write with a touch of sarcasm. However, I wrote this with all seriousness.



One might assume the majority of Chinese people do not believe in a spiritual life after death, according to this government. After being part of a funeral in China, I think every person in China must believe in spiritual life after death. Nearly every custom and ritual in the funeral is to treat the spirit of the deceased with respect. How can a person attend a funeral and not wonder, “What will happen to me when I die?” Maybe the subject of death is scary or unlucky to talk about for Chinese people. My friend Dan has said many times, “Only Christianity offers an answer for death.” I supported the idea but I never really thought about it until attending this funeral.

Praise God that Jesus has prepared an eternal home for us. The Bible tells us life is short, and then those who believe in Jesus will go to that eternal home. This is good news. After attending this funeral the need to share this good news becomes more vivid, more urgent.

Thousand Island Lake

The Davis family has free time on Monday and Tuesday so we went to the Thousand Island Lake for a short rest. GaoYan found a great deal on TaoBao for a nice four star hotel with breakfast buffet. The Thousand Island Lake is famous for fish heads. We enjoyed two meals of fish head. Out in the country a village was harvesting oranges. The hillsides were covered with orange trees. It looked like orange polka dots. To enter the village you walk past two giant trees that are 500 years old. A small creek runs through the village where everyone washes their clothes along with their vegetables or salted pig leg for lunch. Many wooden plank bridges crossed the creek. The paths and alleys were narrow. Joy turned a corner face to face with an ugly black pig. The people in the village were very friendly. We ate lunch in a local house. In the house was a well and in the well were gold fish and turtles swimming about. Driving through fields where farmers were harvesting vegetables by hand we told Caleb to look carefully and remember. They have done this for thousands of years, but as you get older no one will do it this way anymore.

Popcorn Bible Class

For our final Fall Bible study, we had an open-floor Q & A session, then afterward, we decorated our little tree for Christmas.

We've gone with the popcorn-on-a-string theme two years running. It's easy, simple, old-fashioned, and most importantly...

...it's a good way to fellowship and a unique opportunity for the Chinese kids to experience a part of our traditional, American-style Christmas.

With the popcorn strings and lights, we have ourselves a nice, little tree!

Thanksgiving

As is our tradition, we celebrated Thanksgiving on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  This holiday is not celebrated here and many of us must work on Thanksgiving.  We had a huge crowd with lots of food.  If my count is correct, we had 28 people  (including kids).  I can not think of any traditional Thanksgiving food that we were missing.

This picture was taken after the turkey and chicken had already been picked over.  Also do you see the little girls hiding under the table.  They found a cozy spot to eat their dinner.

Good food and good company!

Sometimes the holidays can be hard and we miss our families and American traditions.  But on good days like this we wish you were here instead of us being there!  We are very thankful for our many, many blessings.

12 years old!

On November 9th, 2000, I met one of my favorite people in the whole world.  Now, twelve years later, that tiny 7 lb. 13 oz chubby cheeked baby is almost as tall as me!  

She had a good birthday.  She had her friend Bliss spend the night, and they stayed up until the wee hours of the morning.  

She requested a plain cake with chocolate icing.  The cake looked great, but I do think it was lacking something in the taste department.  It was made from scratch.  However, Hallie loved it and I guess that was the most important thing.

She is growing into a lovely young lady and she makes us very proud.  Happy Birthday Hallie!

Kids class

We really enjoyed the group that visited from Clear Creek.  While they were here,  the kids were treated to a class taught by Diane Elliott.

I am sure if you want to hear some great stories, you can just ask any of the group that visited.  We can't wait to see you all again this summer.

Voting!

As you know, this November the United States had a presidential election.  Four years ago right after we did not get a chance to vote.  We thought that we would not be able to get all the paperwork finished in time for us to vote in that election.  This time, we made sure that it happened.  We wanted to vote in the Primary, but that did not happen (we got some wrong information, and missed a deadline).

We even watched all (but one) of the presidential debates.  We voted by absentee ballot and Jake carried our  ballots back and mailed them into our county.

This is a picture of Jon filling out his ballot.

If you look very closely, you can see the book that Jon is using as a desk is "Put me in the Zoo".
We are grateful that we had the privilege to be able to vote, even when we are so far away.

Parable of the Soils

On November 16, we taught about the parable of the soils in our home on Friday. The Taylor's also discussed this parable with their contacts semi-recently, and we have been able to discuss people's funny and interesting reactions as they try to figure out what type of soil they themselves are. We would all like to think we are the good healthy soil that encourages abundant growth, and some people tell themselves they are even if they aren't. Some people though are quick to see that worries or desire for wealth or whatever is crowding out their desire for God. Some people who are not blind to their own weaknesses come away with a resolution to seek God more purely, and throw out some of the "weeds, thorns, or rocks" in their life, or to somehow soften their heart and make themselves more receptive. It isn't easy to do, but it all comes down to this, doesn't it? Do this, and the kingdom is yours. Leave it to Jesus to put it to us in such a way that we can all understand it. To Him be the glory.

Getting to Know God

We are about to complete our autumn eight-week session of studies that we have conducted on Friday nights. All during October and November, seekers and a few Christians who want to learn more have come to our home to study prayer, following Jesus, Christian marriage and dating, purity, forgiveness, and sharing faith. We have tried hard to keep most of the sessions in Chinese, and have always had reading and study material and some personal discussion in Chinese. That part is still a challenge and we need prayers and effort to improve, but I am thankful to say that the students who came said they could feel the love and dedication we bring to the subjects we taught. And they seem to be learning, asking some good questions, and willing to pray with us when they come. Thank God that he showed us some good contacts. Pray the seeds planted in their heart this semester will be nurtured and will eventually be very fruitful.

Watchman Nee Group

Several weeks ago we met a few students from a different Christian group here in Shaoxing. They are part of a group that was started by the famous Chinese Christian Watchman Nee. If you don't know about him, go check out his Wikipedia entry. He's an amazing (and kind of controversial) guy whose congregations are still growing and multiplying today. He also wrote some super books like "The Normal Christian Life" (which you can download a free PDF version of here). But back to those Christian girls...

The group they are a part of seems fantastic and really mature. So many of the Christians we've met at our university are fairly immature, know only a little about what they believe, and don't do any kind of outreach. Last month though, the group that these girls belong to had a month of intentional evangelism. They had special meetings, invited lots of students, and ate meals with people as they shared the Good News with them. During that month alone, three new people decided to become Christians. Several more students said they were interested enough to keep studying (directly with the Christian students) each week.

It's so great and fills me with so much thankfulness to see young Chinese Christians equipped and bold enough to do such work. And it humbles me to see how well they do it and how passionate they are compared to myself. Our part of God's work here in China is important and we strive to do it well as we rely on God's help. But there are many old churches (like the 100+ year old church in Shaoxing) that have been been here for decades and are continually passing the torch on to younger generations. We're johnny come lately to China compared to these great Christians. Praise God for them and we hope we can encourage, help, or at least praise them for their good work.

Clear Creek Ambassadors

We know a lot of planning, schedule juggling, and fear conquering goes into a trip to China and it is worth it. Thank you Ken and Jan for taking part in my student study. We studied the Prodigal Son. Ken and Jan had a lot of great insight from their life experiences to share with the students. I’m not really 100% American, so it is funny for me to see Chinese students meet real 100% Americans. The students were all asking the following week, “Where are they?” Thank you to Walter and Diane for coming to our home and our university and enjoying the beautiful mountains. GaoYan wants to thank Diane so much teaching the children and saying so many encouraging words. Thank you to Jake and Shelly for keeping us connected to a loving Clear Creek family. It was fun to see Jake and Ruthie enjoying the pink Bonnie Ray bicycle so much. Thank you for gifts and supplies from America. Thank you to the children’s ministry for creating the great video. We’ll be on the lookout for dragons in China.

Beijing October Holiday

October holiday we met my Dad and his younger co-worker, Andrew, in Beijing. We climbed the hill overlooking the Forbidden City to take pictures. The Drum Tower has an Olympic like drum performance after ascending the steep dangerous wooden stairs to the top. We ate Beijing duck and inspired by Andrew most of us, except for me, nibbled a fried scorpion. We imagined ourselves standing in TianAnMen Square for the flag lowering ceremony, but that was impossible for the millions of people with the same idea.

On two separate occasions ladies handed us Christian tracts. The first lady walked by real fast and put the paper in GaoYan’s hand without saying a word. The second lady was standing at a subway station. I was pushing Joy in the stroller so she helped me carry Joy up the stairs. I said, “Thank you so much.” She said, “Thank the Lord.” I looked around and over my shoulder wondering if they could legally hand out these tracts and said a prayer for their safety and great work to spread the Gospel.

Patrick and his girlfriend met us in Beijing at the Temple of Heaven one day. We saw something romantic from Patrick. His girlfriend had chosen high heels for a day with lots of walking and her feet hurt. Patrick offered his scandals to his girlfriend while he walked barefoot for a while. After we all ate a hotpot lunch together. Back in June Patrick moved from Hangzhou to Beijing.

HaiBin was one of our first neighbors in Hangzhou in 2008. HaiBin taught GaoYan some art classes, and Caleb is the same age as her little boy. About the time we were moving out of ZhongXin neighborhood, HaiBin’s family was moving to Beijing. Ever since, GaoYan and HaiBin have kept in touch and seen each other once a year. While visiting Beijing, our family stayed with HaiBin and family one night. The next day we all climbed the Great Wall together. We slid down from the Great Wall on a luge just in time to miss my Dad and Andrew’s flight to Hangzhou.

Hardin Halloween

 Halloween is one of those holidays that China does not always seem to "get".  It is catching on, but slowly.  Jon has to work late on Wednesday (he gets home at 6) so we just planned to go to Pizza Hut. It has sort of been our tradition.  The kids dressed up in their costume and se headed out.  We started to take the bus, but it was super crowded, so we took a taxi. Even without walking the whole we, we were seen by many people and the kids did get more attention.  They loved it though, because it was on their terms.  Eryn even went out of her way to wish some security guards a Happy Halloween.

Liam was there, but he was sitting next to me and it was harder to get a good picture of him.

The next day we had a "mini" party at our house after Trick-or-treating with Margaret and some neighbors.

  Eryn is not unhappy here, she is just playing the part of an evil witch.

Liam was a skeleton (I made the leg bones with tape)

here, you can see his face.

Thanks to Shelly for bringing the hat and green face paint!  I am happy to report that she is no longer green, but her eyebrows are still a little darker.

She is the Wicked witch of the East--before the house fell on her and she lost her shoes to Dorothy.

Our front door.

Three witches riding together

The whole group that trick-or-treated.

Brownies, cupcakes,  apple cider, and good company

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Green Vine

We do a lot of ministry with students. It is what we are suited to, and also, students in China are comparatively receptive. But...we still like to branch out in our ministry and keep planting seeds and considering possibilities among other age groups. for example, in a previous post, we mentioned going with Maggie's family to pick grapes. We just added a couple photos to that September post, titled "Vineyard Talk". A while back, we also decided to spend a bit of time talking with a local poet who has taken the initiative to be friendly and get to know us. We asked him if he would like to go with us to a local very minor tourist attraction called Green Vine Study. This place is famous because it was the studio of a very legendary painter in the 1600's in China, a man named Xu Wei. Xu Wei was great because he had some ideas about how to do things in a radically different way from others. He was willing to present his ideas on the canvas and in writing, even if it was in contrast to what society appreciated or wanted to hear. This gave us some food for discussion with the poet An Rong that day as we hung out together. Our approach to life as Chrisitans is also radically different and fresh in comparison with society's typical standard for how to do things, so this concept is something we often think about. It was also refreshing to get a more mature, thoughtful perspective about some of the trends we see in this society, and how one mustn't yield to societal pressure, even if there is personal cost involved. It was a meaningful day at Green Vine Study.

Tired and Hungry

I have been overwhelmed indeed by how the past couple of weeks have been incredibly busy and thoroughly out of the ordinary. But as Dale notes in the next post, sometimes that is also ordinary life. It was amazingly packed, with such blessings and surprises from Clear Creek family visitors, but then also some extra efforts required of us with a sick friend in town. But I notice a softening occurring in the midst of it, and I realize that God is doing something here in Shaoxing with us His workers. It seems our hearts are being tilled. We are lovingly prepared by these busy weeks and the stresses that have come our way. We are made tired, and we sink into prayer more naturally. We are made hungry, and then the Word, and just a few moments in which to savor it, becomes more precious. We are humbled sometimes by the tasks that lay before us, but that is good for us. Coming through the hardships and helping each other out have their own reward, and perhaps the reward can't be gotten at any other way. If that is the case, then we are thankful for the lessons these days have brought. Father, we thank you for gently opening our hearts to give and receive.

Helped and Helping

Phew! We've had an incredibly busy couple of weeks here. First, we had a wonderful time with the Clear Creek group that came to Shaoxing from Saturday through Wednesday, but I'm sure there will be a lot more to hear about that later.

After the Clear Creek group left Shaoxing Wednesday morning, one of our good American friends had to go to the hospital Wednesday afternoon and later had her appendix removed. In the week since she first went to the hospital we've been busy taking care of her 2 kids, cooking food for the family, getting their laundry done, cleaning their house, and visiting her in the hospital. But the point of this post isn't to share how busy we've been (did I mention that we've been busy?). Instead, this time has been a good reminder that this is life. It's easy for our family to long for routine and regular rhythms of life that feel like "normal" life. But we realize that the interruptions and unexpected surprises are just as much "normal" life as anything else. How we respond to emergencies and people in need reveals a lot about who we really are and what our priorities are.

And that's why it's been great to see some of our friends and the people from our weekly study volunteering to help us so much. One girl and her boyfriend brought us all dinner one night and then helped Dale take care of the 4 kids while Lisa taught class. The next day another girl brought over more food. And people from the Salt and Light Christian group have been regularly asking us what kind of help we need. Meetings and studies together are super important, but there's something really real and concrete about learning to live together and learning to live like Jesus did that goes beyond meetings.

So it's been a busy week, but it's been a great week. We've been blessed to be able to help our friends and we've been blessed by the help of many of our other friends.

Searching and calling

A couple of weeks ago we had a visitor at church.  His name was Danny and he looked Chinese, but he was from Malaysia.  Danny is backpacking across China and Asia.  He is a member of Couchsurfing.com.  This is organization where you sign up and can stay with people for free (often sleeping on the couch).   Danny was here in Hangzhou on a short stay and was staying with James and his family.  James works for the government.  While spending time with his host, Danny asked James if he thought there was more to life...and they started talking.  James is searching.  In the past James had met Shelly (Xiao Li) on the train  and they had also talked about God.  James told Danny that he knew a Christian and Shelly got him hooked up with our group.
Danny mentioned James, his host, during the pray request that Sunday.  Then just as service was over, James showed up.  We all went to eat lunch together.  James has a son about Liam's age.

We invited James and his family to movie night that week, and they came! Liam and Kevin had a good time together.  Then the family also came to church the next Sunday.

James story is not finished.  I believe that God is calling him.  I think it is amazing to see how He is using others to get James to where he can learn more about Him.  Please pray for James and all of those who are in his story.

New Permanent Members

We have started to pray for more permanent members for our Sunday church family. I have a lot of student friends and they sometimes come to our Sunday worship. The students offer a great energy but most of them are only here for a year or two then move away. We have friends in our neighborhood, but they are busy with family on Sundays. Just when I was beginning to doubt where permanent members would come from…
Filly has been coming back to our Sunday worship. Two years ago when our student study was investigated, she was probably the first and most questioned student. Now Filly has graduated and works for a bank in Hangzhou. Filly still lives close by, but thankfully the university is no longer in charge of her spiritual protection.
Sam lives on the second floor in our building and a teacher at one of the nearby universities. He studied in Wisconsin for two years. Sam told me he attended a church every Sunday for a year and a half while in America. Sam and his wife are expecting a baby in a few months.
David came to us as a friend of a friend of the Hardin family. David’s family lives in America and he is away on business a lot. In September David’s wife was visiting Hangzhou. Our group was praying about a new meeting place and David’s wife spoke up, “You can use my husband’s office space.” On another week David led the singing and made some good short comments in between songs.
I could choose to doubtfully think, “They will move away soon or be too busy to come to church.” Instead, I will choose to focus on God showing again how He will always provide. Our church family is one way God is providing His love to these new permanent members.

New Meeting Places

God was faithful to answer our prayer for a Sunday meeting place. We were eating dinner with ChongChong’s family. GaoYan mentioned that our Sunday group is looking for a new place to worship. Jane spoke up, “You can use my husband’s office space.” And her husband thought, “That would probably be ok.” Jane was baptized about a year ago in Elaine’s home. Jane’s husband, in the past, donated a lot for building a new church in his mom’s hometown, which happens to be Tongling, GaoYan’s hometown.
We met in the new office space for the first time Sunday. There is a carpet and lots of soft couches where we circle up for worship. Extra rooms are available if we are able to get a children’s Bible class started. The office is not too far from the Hardin’s apartment complex. Some people were out of town for the October holiday, but the new place feels exciting filled with possibility. Our church family volunteered many different ways to serve in our new meeting place. We are really amazed to see how God answers our prayers.

Also for our neighborhood ladies and children study we were praying for a more suitable place to meet. We had been meeting in Grace’s home. Every time Grace went out of town or her little boy got sick we had to cancel or reschedule.
Caleb has taken some art classes at the Happy Fish after school center. GaoYan talked with the Happy Fish owner about renting her space for 600 yuan/month to month basis on Saturday nights. It is really great. There is a room for the ladies to study. There is a big room for the children to have a Bible story and play. The Happy Fish owner is a friend and neighbor to most of the group, so we were grateful to encourage her business.
The first meeting Grace led a Bible study with Linda, XiLe MaMa, XiaoChuan MaMa, and CoCo MaMa. GaoYan and I taught XiLe, XiaoChuan, Caleb, and Joy the days of creation.

prayer for our meeting

Tomorrow is Sunday and this could be our last time meeting for worship in our apt.  This year one of our goals was to move the Sunday meeting out of our apartment.  We feel this would help them become more independent from us foreigners.  The goal was to meeting somewhere else by the end of the calender year.  So far we are ahead of schedule.

Friends of our group have offered to let us use their office space for our meeting on Sunday.  We are excited about this.  Of course as with any type of change, anything could happen.  Please pray for our group and this transition.  Pray that it will be exciting and a chance to grow even more.  

This week is a holiday weekend, so we expect that attendance will be way down because many people are traveling or having family get togethers.


Next week should be the first Sunday in the new meeting place.  I am sure someone will blog about this first meeting in the next few weeks.

Touching

A common complaint among mothers-to-be (aka pregnant ladies) is that once they start showing, their belly seems to be public property.  I have heard many stories of total strangers laying hands on their bellies.  I don’t guess I ever had that problem, or else I have blocked it from my memory.  And before anyone asks, no I am not pregnant.

But I do wonder what it is about my children that makes people here think it is ok to touch them.  

Sometimes we walk down the street and random people try to stop the kids and they grab at their arms.  And they often touch their faces and hair.  Some days it can be hard to deal with. For the kids and parents!

It is hard to know what to do.  I don't want the kids to be rude, and I don't to be rude, but what do you do when a total stranger touches your face?

I understand that I am dealing with a  very  different culture, and that my kids look very  different than most kids around here but it still seems very rude to me.  

I don't mean to be negative.  Most of the time, things are fine when we go out.  We just run into some "touchy" people every once in a while.  And they are always friendly and usually are unaware, that their actions are strange to us.

It is just one of those things that we deal with living as an outsider in this culture.

Two new swimmers.

Shelly told us that one of her roommates (Shu Xiu)  and her boy friend (Zhang Yan Xing) wanted to get baptized.  We were really excited.  Shelly has been studying with her roommate for a while and I assume that Shu Xiu shared the Good News with her boyfriend.  Jon met him once, but then he moved to Shanghai to work.  I am so excited for them and what this could mean in their lives!

Jon and Hallie went to witness their baptism.

Sui from Singapore helped.  Hallie took pictures (she did not quite have the timing down).  Please pray for Shu Xiu and Zhang Yan Xing as they begin their Christian walk.

Answered Prayers

During the past few months several of you asked for names of people to pray for in our ministry and we told you stories about some of them in our newsletter. We're happy to tell you that God has already been answering some of those prayers!

Shirley was just baptized at the end of last semester. We talked about her at Clear Creek and asked for special prayers as she deals with resistance from her parents. Well, during the summer Shirley and her parents had lots of conversations about her faith (which was a great chance for her to share and grow her faith!), but her parents kept up the pressure. In the end, they agreed that she can do whatever she wants to at school, but she can't "bring her faith home". That's obviously not the ideal long-term solution, but it's a great start and shows a thawing of their hearts. Also, Shirley is building closer relationships with some of the other Christians that we meet with. She went to the Salt & Light student group last Sunday and loved it. Then this last Thursday, she caught a bike ride to our weekly meeting with a sister from another group. We're thankful to see her growing!

We have also mentioned the girl Sunday many times in the past. Sunday has lots of emotional and interpersonal issues, but she's pretty open to Jesus and his story. We've prayed a lot for her and tried to love her, but we were never too sure of how things were going. Then just this last week Sunday told Lisa that she had gone to a different local Christian group with one of her classmates who is a Christian. We were super happy and surprised to hear the news! Even more, we were thankful to see God drawing Sunday to himself without us being the ones pushing her or telling her to go to meetings. It's great to see people respond positively when we encourage them to do something, but it's even better to see God work in people's hearts totally independently of our work!

Join us in thanking God for these answered prayers and thank you all for praying!

Vineyard Talk

On a beautiful Sunday morning in September, we went with our friends Maggie and Jason, their baby Yangyang, and Maggie's father to a nearby vineyard to pick grapes. Strange place for Christians to be on a Sunday morning, huh? Yes, but our meeting isn't until the afternoon these days, and while in the vineyard our Jason had a chance, which we had prayed for, to explain to Maggie the significance for Christians of the vine and the branches. The vine is Jesus, he explained, and Christians are the branches, and the grapes are the fruit that God Himself produces in our lives. Maggie listened, and we were thankful for the opportunity. The grapes were the best we had ever tasted, but that one sacred moment was the real reason for going to the vineyard that day. Remember Maggie and her family in your prayers.