Dinner with Serenity

The first Christian student who ever came to our house in Shaoxing a couple of years ago was a girl named Serenity. When she recently found out that we were moving back to the US, she and some other girls from her student church group wanted to cook a farewell dinner for us. So last week they came over to our house and cooked for us. It was pretty special and unique because they bought all of the supplies, cooked everything by themselves, and washed dishes. They insisted that we just hang out and enjoy!

Through the evening we got to talk with the girls more, especially Serenity (above in white) and Zhou Zhou (above in blue). Serenity was just baptized last semester and Lisa's studied some with Zhou about baptism, but she's not quite ready yet. Serenity shared about her recent experiences with serving in the church and a change of heart she's had recently. Last semester she felt too busy serving and was planning on focusing more on her English studies this semester. But during the spring break, she felt moved to totally commit to serving in the church and being content with whatever God had in store for her. Since that decision, she's actually felt less busy serving in the church and she's also felt more joyful about it.

Serenity shared this experience with us because she really feels like God is leading her right now and working in her life. Even though she was sharing her own story, it really spoke to us about our future move back to the US and our need to contentedly accept God's plan for us. Serenity said that just like God asked Abraham to totally commit by offering Isaac, but ultimately had other plans, we should have the same attitude about our work & life back in the US. It was kind of surprising and really encouraging to get such advice from one of our students!

This sort of evening also really reflected our way of doing ministry. There was lots of hospitality, talking, and hanging out together. People had some fun, shared life together, and at some point during the evening the Bible was brought out in response to something that we talked about. We read and discussed in Philippians 2:13 about how God gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Lisa was further reminded of God's work in Serenity a few days later. Lisa was on her way to attend a student Christian meeting on Sunday morning and she met Serenity in the teaching building. Serenity had woken up early to study some before going on to her own church meeting. A few minutes later, Lisa met five or six students walking in another direction. After talking to them, Lisa discovered that they were on their way to their "part-time jobs" where they would impersonate other students and take important tests in their place. Some of the students were ashamed to admit what they were doing, but others insisted that there was nothing wrong with helping your friends and making money at the same time (even if it is obviously wrong to all the rest of us)! Within just a few minutes, Lisa had seen a stark difference between young girls like those and Serenity.

We're really proud of young Christians like Serenity and the other girls who cooked for us. We were also honored by them and reminded of why we love this ministry so much!

Dancing

One of the fun things about moving is getting to know a new area.  The other night we went to a new area that we heard was a good place to eat and shop.  We started to walk back to our apartment and we came upon a HUGE children's playground and a large square where people were dancing.

Every evening, in public squares or open areas people with gather together and dance.  Usually it is middle aged ladies that dance, but in this place there were men and younger folks too.  I will attach two different videos so you can enjoy this  Chinese phenomenon.

Girls' trip to Shanghai

I had been telling the girls that when it got warmer we would take a day trip to Shanghai.  We got up early and took the bus to the train station and took an 8:00 am train to Shanghai.

 This is a picture of us on the train.


We planned a day of shopping and eating some things we cannot get in Hangzhou.
We rode the subway several times.  Eryn liked to stand by the pole and hang around.

 She liked to spin around the pole.

 She caught me trying to take a picture!

One of our favorite treats in Shanghai is going to 7-11 and getting a Slurppee.  These slushy treats are only 5 or 6 yuan!

We spent the day shopping, eating, and just having fun together.  We went to a Western grocery store and bought some  DrPepper.  We enjoyed these drinks on our train ride back to Hangzhou.

We saw these pretty little flowers in a small garden.  I just thought they were pretty.  Hallie took this picture with my phone.

We are blessed  that we live close enough to take a quick trip to a cool place like Shanghai.

Moving

I posted here that we found a new apartment and we were moving to a new area in the city.  We actually moved April 29.  It was a holiday so many people including Jon and Frank had a few days off.  I thought it would be a good idea to move and have a couple of days to unpack before Jon had to go back to work.  

To prepare to move, we had to get lots of boxes.  We asked at a few small grocery stores and some would just give us boxes, but one charged us 1yuan a box.  We visited that store a couple of times a day for a week or so collecting boxes.  

We needed a lot of boxes.  We have been living in China now for about 5 years.  It is astonishing how much stuff we have accumulated over that period of time.  

 Eryn and Jon had fun playing with some of the boxes one evening.

 This is a little dark, but it is the living room ready for the movers to load up.

 This used to be Eryn's room.  Jon took apart the bunk beds to make moving them easier.

It took one more truck load than it pictured, but these two trucks carried our stuff to our new apartment about an hour away. We are thankful that it did not rain.

We were very blessed to have lots of help this day.  Our ayi came by and helped finish packing, as did Shelly (Shao Li) and Jane ( Gu Wen).  When we arrived in Binjiang with the trucks, Heather and 3 other American couples helped unload the truck and carry boxes to our new home.

We are nearly totally unpacked now.  I hope to have a video of the apartment to upload the the blog by next weekend.

Now Jon has to commute a lot further to his job at the University.  Please keep him in your prayers as he tries to finish the semester and commute about 11/2 - 2 hours (one way) 3 days a week.

We are excited about the possibilities for the Lord's work here in this area and we are very thankful to be a part of it.

Some pictures from Easter

Jon and Elaine

It was a beautiful day!

Shane and Josh telling the story.

The kids started lining up to go look for eggs

off they go

Can you find the egg? The egg hiders had as much fun as the egg hunters.

Remembering Easter

On Friday nights the Hardin family hosts a movie night. They stuffed over 400 eggs for the Easter egg hunt. For our Friday night ladies/children study we stuffed over 100 eggs. We divided the egg hunting areas for children under 4 years old and over 4 years old. The older kids used some serious tree climbing skills and X-ray vision to find the eggs under leaves and bushes.

I estimated about 100 people but it is hard to say because another group had set up tents and picnic just next to us. Maybe they found some of the eggs that were written inside.
Jesus is risen! 耶稣复活了！

We borrowed a better speaker this year. Shane and I did a short talk to convince friends and passers-by why we were remembering and celebrating in the park today.

His body was not in the tomb.
他的身体并不在坟墓里
Jesus risen from the dead!
耶稣真从死里复活了！
Jesus appeared to the apostles, and said “Peace be with you.”
耶稣向门徒显现，说“愿你们平安”
“Put your finger here; see my hands. Stop doubting and believe.”
“把你的指头放在这里；看看我的手
不要怀疑，要相信”
Jesus resurrection proves that He is the Son of God.

LinLi’s parents invited five of their friends. ChongChong GuoGuo’s family (that open their office to us Sundays) brought five other families. Bill Gates, YoYo, Brook, Jane, Shane, Hailong and girlfriend, David Annie James Oliver, Elaine brought Margaret’s daughter Elisha because Margaret was still out of town. The JiuLian group brought their guest Eric Tan and wife from Singapore. Shelly, Frank, Andrew, GeWen, Lucy, Chuck. QianQian is the mother of Joshua, Caleb, and baby Luke. Lark. Chris of England. XiLe and Grace’s family. Another QianQian that moved away to Shanghai, their whole family and one uncle drove to Hangzhou just for the Easter party. Linda’s friend, the Zhejiang University choir teacher sang Amazing Grace.

The Hardin family and us invited our friends and they invited lots of their friends. Again many Christians were able to mix with non-Christian friends and family. Different Christian groups from around the city were able to meet one another.

Bill Gates and Gerald Baptized

Bill Gates and Candy are two friends brought to us by Shaquille O’Neal. Three years ago Bill Gates was my student in English class. Then Shaquille O’Neal invited Bill to our student Bible study more than a year ago. Bill is great at seeing a job that needs to be done and jumping into help. After our Sunday worship we need to clean the bathrooms in the office and Bill is always the first to jump up and do the job. Also Bill is good at inviting his friend YoYo to join in our Sunday worship. Bill is a senior student and turns out has been practice working for the same company that Shane works for. Bill thinks he will stay in Hangzhou several more years.

Gerald was introduced to our student study by Patrick one year ago. Gerald is a math major and currently studying for the graduate student exam. Gerald surprised me one day he said I have committed to read the Bible one hour every day. He is still plugging along half way through Exodus. Gerald has invited a long list of friends and classmates to take part in our student study: Rosey, Bella, Kelly, Joseph, Forrest, Johnson, Sun,… We don’t know where Gerald will end up for graduate school.

Praise God for answering our prayers. Praise God Bill Gates and Gerald decided to obey the Gospel and get baptized, and give her life to our Lord Jesus. We are grateful that Jane, YoYo, Hailong, Margaret, and Elaine, GaoYan’s father, Caleb and Joy could witness their baptism. Thank you to the Hardin family for opening their apartment to us for the baptism.