Bibles for Everyone!

As mentioned earlier, I (Jason) have been blessed this semester to be assigned by the school to teach a class about the Bible -- which in and of itself is amazing and blog-worthy.

Of course, the school didn't provide actual Bibles for the students to read. That was left up to me! And well, since I have well over 200 students (mostly freshmen English majors) and since Bibles are pretty expensive and difficult to obtain (especially in bulk), I was somewhat unsure how to proceed.

Long-story-short, it took some time, plenty of research and communication, plus quite a heap of money (nearly $1800 USD / 11,000 RMB), but -- thanks to the generosity of those at Clear Creek -- each of my students now have their own Bible: a nice, complete, bilingual edition, to have and to keep -- at no cost to them!
 All of the students were very thankful and excited just to see and touch a real Bible -- and now they actually own a Bible!

Some background:
Bibles are printed in China by the thousands (more Bibles are printed in Nanjing than in any other place on earth) but they are largely unseen and therefore "unavailable" to the average person. Bibles are not sold in regular bookstores -- only inside registered public churches -- so most folks simply never run across one and have little idea exactly where or how to buy one should they ever desire to do so. Again, the Bible is available online these days (yes, even in China), but most folks would never think to look it up, so even though it's technically there, they aren't really aware of it.

Our study is well under way, having now covered the major stories of Genesis and Exodus (creation, the fall, Noah, Abraham, Moses) and moving this week into the Gospels of Jesus.

Lives are being, and will continue to be, touched by this special opportunity -- given by God as a sort of "going away" gift, it seems.

Thank you, once again, for your generosity and support of this mission. God bless you. 

Here's the stack shortly after its arrival. Those boxes are heavy, let me tell you! It was quite a project to purchase, receive, and then distribute them -- but well worth the effort!