Christmas Party 2013

We felt greatly encouraged by the Christmas party held in the Little Peace Mountain (Xiao He Shan) Church. It was fun. God was putting this party together like a jigsaw puzzle and it was a masterpiece. In China you are not really having a party unless you have a variety/talent show. There were more than 100 people Christians, family, and friends from around Hangzhou. There were more than 10 acts in the variety show. Behind each act I can remember years of ministry and friendships connecting Christian brothers and sisters in Hangzhou.

1. Sunday church family adults sang Christmas carols in English. We practiced the whole month of December.
2. Margaret’s daughter and her teacher played violin. (Margaret’s husband was at the party)
3. Sunday church family children acted out the birth of Jesus. Caleb was an angel. Joy was Mary. David & Annie’s two boys were shepherds. The two McDougle boys were Joseph and a shepherd. Lucy McDougle prepared some crafty props. It is amazing what you can do with a cardboard box stable and pillow cases for angel and shepherd’s costumes. GaoYan narrated in Chinese, so the children did not have any speaking parts. One lady from the church walked up to GaoYan after and asked to keep the script. “Sure it is all straight from the Bible.”
4. LinLi’s mom played “Amazing Grace” and “As the Deer” on the flute. LinLi’s Dad gave a short testimony about his faith in Jesus. (Just one year ago LinLi’s Mom and Dad made a big change to believe in Jesus. They brought LinLi’s grandparents. LinLi’s Dad is also teaching his mom about Jesus.)
5. Our neighborhood ladies performed a funny skit. A popular TV show in China stops ordinary people on the street to ask questions. The question for the skit, “What do you know about Christmas?” CoCo MaMa was a business woman and she had many items on sale at her shop for Christmas. TongTong MaMa was a Christmas shopping girl carrying her real Gucci, Armani, and three more parties to attend that night. Teacher Linda’s life was deeply troubled, and each Christmas seemed to mark another sad depressing time. Finally they stopped Grace on the street, a Christian who shared about the special gift of Jesus in her life. CoCo MaMa, a real life business woman, and TongTong MaMa, a real life shopper, are not Christians. We pray that acting out, performing those roles would help them realize that Jesus is the greater purpose and plan for their life.
6. Neighborhood children sang “Jesus Loves the Little Children” and other songs in Chinese.
7. JiuLian group performed “You Are Special” a children’s book by Max Lucado. There is a society of puppets called Wemmicks. Every day they go around sticking stars on each other for good things, or dots for bad mistakes and mess ups. Poor Shelly from JiuLian only had bad dots. Until she met one girl who did not have any stars or dots. The stars and dots would not even stick to the girl. She recommended to Shelly, “Each day I go and talk to Eli.” Eli was creator of all the puppets. Eli told Shelly it is not important what all the other puppets think of you. I made you. You are special and I love you. Interesting, Clear Creek church gave that book to our family for Joy’s baby shower. Many friends wrote their best wishes on the inside cover. By chance, GaoYan had two weeks earlier just read/translated the book to our neighborhood ladies and they loved it, loved it.
8. Angela and ten of her students sang Christmas carols and “Amazing Grace” accompanied by LinLi’s mom on the flute. Angela is a new English teacher in Hangzhou. She has a reading and book club each Saturday night with her students at ZUST.

Margaret was the master of ceremonies again this year. Dan ran the computer, PPT, sound. Many friends helped decorate the church. The JiuLian group came with servant hearts. They served food until everyone was served, then they ate. They stayed after until everything was cleaned up.

Watching the performances and seeing everyone working together I was thinking we are surrounded by great Christian brothers and sisters in Hangzhou.

The picture is kind of blurry but you can see what a small local church looks like. Everyone is sitting in the pews but we are eating and fellowshipping.