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.