Update!

So these past couple of days have been really tough. I didn’t realize the jet-lag was going to be so drastic, but it has been really hard getting adjusted to Mountain time. There is a 14 hour time difference, so I was literally on the opposite schedule. I am trying the shock treatment in order to get my body normal. Yesterday, I slept from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and I knew I had to do something. So I didn’t sleep any last night and am really tired right now. Hopefully this will work and I will just be so tired from being awake almost 30 hours that I will just fall asleep and be normal again. My stomach has been fine and I have been eating food well, so nothing abnormal there, just my sleeping habits.

I really do miss China and all my Chinese friends and friends from Arizona. It is really lonely living by myself now, after living with 30 people for 2 weeks and spending most of my time in community. But just something to get used to. The thing that I have enjoyed most about being back is e-mail people and getting replies. It just makes me smile really big.

Erin

I have e-mailed Erin the most. We have talked almost every day. I was closest to her because she was my translator. She is at home with the family and is bored. All she does is watch TV, sleep, and surf the internet. She is ready for school to start in 2 weeks but isn’t looking forward the the homework that she has to finish before the term starts. She really likes to sing and never sang for me, so next time I am in China she promises to sing to me. I look forward to that. She isn’t a believer so just pray that the conversation and relationship will just bloom and allow me the opportunity to share with her.

Isolde

I didn’t have Isolde’s e-mail address so I was rather distraught that I would never get to talk to her. She has the most amazing British accent when she speaks. She made my day today, she became my friend on Facebook. It is probably the most exciting thing that has happened since I’ve been home because she is such a special girl and from what Steve says she understands that there is a great meaning to the parables told. (I think I might have mentioned that earlier in the blog somewhere) I havn’t gotten to talk to her much, but I look forward to.

Annie

Annie is from Bazhong, so she didn’t travel back to Chengdu with us. I have e-mailed with her a couple times and she really misses us, and the reciprocal is the same. I am not sure where she stands but I heard a rumor that she was asking for an English Bible. Her and Erin were really good friends so I enjoyed Annie’s company so much.

Rebecca

This is Rebecca. She is an amazing girl. She was just baptized weeks before the English Camp and is really just on fire for God. She has beautiful eyes and a beautiful smile. Her e-mail really touched me, she mentioned one day that she wasn’t feeling good and I just talked to her and fanned her the whole way home on the bus. And just how that really meant a whole lot to her, but I was just being nice because she didn’t feel well. Just be praying for strength for Rebecca.

I hope that it helps to put some faces with people that I will be mentioning quite a bit. These are the TAs that I have been closest to and will become the closest to. I miss them so much. They are all amazing people and have great opportunities. Just be in prayer for them please.

I just wanted to update you on Steve’s foot. It looks so good. The last time I saw it was Sunday at church and the skin was back to almost skin color, so by now I imagine that it is almost all gone. So thanks for praying for that.

In Him,

Chris

Bittersweet!

Most of us have arrived back into the States late last night. Bri and Erik are continuing their China trip by visiting Beijing for some sightseeing that they missed by coming late. The rest of us made it back safe and sound after two full days of travelling: and 8 hour bus ride, a 3 hour flight, an 11 hour flight, a 6 hour layover, and finally a 2.5 hour flight to Denver. We are all pretty tired and have to adjust to the 15 hour time difference.

I will just highlight a few of the things that happened yesterday. First we left Chengdu and took the first and last full team picture (which is pictured above) This is all the members from Grace Chapel who participated.

Our plane took off an hour late from Chengdu so we had only an hour to pick up our bags in Beijing, check them, and then get onto the plane. It was exciting experience. Getting through the security and them taking away some weapons that the guys bought and then running through the Beijing airport was an experience. But we made the plane from Beijing to Seattle then about 5 minutes late it took of, so good thing: no sitting on the plane waiting for it to take off haha.

When we arrived in Seattle we had 6 hours till our plane to Denver departed so we decided to leave the airport and visit the big fish market. It was a pretty cool sight. It was incredibly busy and I got some amazing Nectarines and Peaches. They are so delicious. It was nice to be out in the sprinkling cool weather. It was the first time in more than two weeks that when I walked outside I wasn’t dripping in sweat and then feeling sticky afterwards. A great welcoming back to the United States.

We then boarded the plane and headed to Denver, where the team members were greeted by their family members. It was a great reunion time full of hugs and smiles. I loved meeting the parents of the awesome team mates that I’ve spent the last two weeks with.

I think there are many different things that we are looking forward to on our return trip: soft beds, washing machines, low humidity, but the biggest can be summed up by the following picture:

FOOOOOOD!!!!!

Overall, this was probably the most amazing trip I’ve ever been on. Seeing God work in me and through me and just seeing His grace and love. Last night I was having bittersweet feelings, I am so glad to be home and back in the states, but there is still part of me back in China with those students and TAs that I’ve spent weeks making relationships with.

A cool thing: I’ve already received two e-mails today, one from Donald and one from Erin. These just made my heart smile. Just pray for these relationship as I continue to keep up with them.

It has been fun blogging and I’m glad people enjoyed reading it. This is not the end of it though. I will continue to update it with my feelings as I begin to process the trip more and then updates on cool things that are happening with relationships with everybody we encountered on the trip.

In Him,

Chris

Goodbyes!

Today was the hardest day on the trip so far. Today hasn’t been physically hard, but it has been an emotional roller coaster. Whoever uttered the words “Goodbyes are never easy” really hit the nail on the head. Yesterday was the last day of camp and we were only on campus for about an hour this morning listening to the closing ceremonies and then traveled to Chengdu.

There were four different speeches given: one by the director of the camp, Jim, one by a teacher, David, one by a TA, Annie, and one by a student. They were all great and just summed up the love and happiness and learning that was experienced at camp, but one line by David really touched me. He said:

No matter where we are, when you look up at the stars at the night sky, know that we will be looking up at the same stars and be thinking about you.

I know this is super cheesy and whatnot, but it really touched me because it is so true. But what is even more true is that the Creator of the stars is looking down on both of us and loves us just the same…even more than we can even imagine. I am just in awe of Him right now. His love is so amazing and universal that I can’t even begin to comprehend it…but I think I felt a tiny bit of what it is/will be like this camp.

After the speeches all the teachers came up to the front and sang the camp theme song once more, but this time I couldn’t think of the words or even look at the students. The song that we have motions and sing is “Lean on Me”. I looked down at the students while singing it and just made eye contact with some of them and just lost it. I can’t believe that the time went by so fast but yet waaaaay too fast. If I could stay another month I would in a heartbeat. I have just learned so much from these kids and seen love in a whole new light. So after the song it was time to say goodbye to our students and get ont he bus back to Chengdu, it was the time I have dreaded since I met my kids.

Seeing guys who were too tough or big to play games or speak in front of the class, crying really made me realize how much we actually impacted them; more than I can even imagine. I have so many new friends in China it makes me smile.

After many hugs and wet eyes we all boarded the silent bus. I knew this was going to be a long 8 hour bus trip, everybody was in a bad mood and just was bummed to be leaving the students that we poured our hearts and time into for the past 10 days. The tunnel out of Bazhong changed that, its about a 4-5 minute tunnel and we all tried to hold our breath through the entire thing. Nobody made it because a ‘tickle fight’ ensued but that got our minds off how sad we really were and just started the bus ride on a good foot.

We arrived in Chengdu at 6:30 after leaving the school at 10:30 and immediately checked into the hotel and went to a ‘Romantic Western-food restaurant’ to enjoy one last dinner as the entire group. The food was ok, nothing to write home about (although that is what I’m doing haha) But it was just a great time to enjoy the company of everybody. After dinner a big group of us went and walked around the shopping area of Chengdu. It reminded me of a Times Square thing but with Chinese writing and such.

It was great because it gave me one last chance to talk with Erin and Donald and just spend some quality time with them. Erin again thanked me for the Bible that I gave her and said that “WHEN” I come back next year she will give me a Chinese Bible.  (If I could I would be back here in a heartbeat next year, just not sure how that will play out with school and whatnot, but PLEASE be praying about it). So we got into a little about church and just what she was thinking. So it was just a blessing that she came along to Chengdu. I can’t wait to continue this friendship with her. And Donald is a Christian and was the activity coordinator. He is an amazing guy and I really do love him like a brother already. Just be praying for him that he will find a group of Christians here in China to keep him accountable and just help us support him as much as we can from the States.

Saying goodbye to the TAs was hard also, but I know that it will be much easier to keep in contact with them through e-mails and facebook. So the relationship that were so strongly built over these past 2 weeks will continue to flourish and the church will continue to expand and people will be declaring His name in all the nations.

Please just be in prayer for safe travel. We have a long day/2 days…not really sure what it is…but A LONG time travelling. We should be back to Denver around 9:30 Saturday the 7th. Just as an update Steve’s foot is looking better today, he is still going to go to the doctor when we get back, but it looks like its on the healing process. Also just pray for our re-assimilation into the Western culture. I know there will be a culture shock we we are back, but that we will not just return and carry on our lives as they were before the trip, but that we will be genuinely impacted by the trip and people we met. And that God will be glorified in everything that we say and do.

In Him,

Chris

Last Day of Camp!

So today was the last full day of camp, I really can’t believe time just flew by but in the same way the beginning of the camp feels like so long ago. It is really amazing and I’ve loved every second that I’ve spent here. It is truly a God thing that I ended up here and just feel the way I do about China. Its been probably my favorite trip ever, and I still have lots of thinking to do and reflecting to do when I get back to the states. But more on that in the upcoming weeks.

So it being the last day of camp I am getting very good at signing my Chinese name because I signed almost 100 student’s shirts throughout the day. They love to have us write our English and Chinese names on their camp t-shirts. I allowed the students to write on mine and it really is something special that I will never wash due to the marker most likely not being waterproof. But it was awesome to see what the kids wrote, and that I really did impact them and they have a friend forever in me if they want it.

I taught my final lesson on occupations and did some review this morning; it went very well. The students were really learning how to answer the questions and I could see a slight improvement in their prononciation of certain words. I’m glad I could help them and just love on them. The afternoon lesson was a lot of games and then we had a class party tonight. We brought some food and snacks and gave certificates and little trinkets to remember us by. I gave some postcards from Colorado, an American quarter, and some animal stickers. The kids really appreciated it and I hope they will never forget me and just how much I really do love them.

Tonight was a hard night, I can only imagine what tomorrow when we really have to leave will be like. But we had a great time of eating snacks, signing t-shirts and fans, and then having an awards ceremony and making each child feel special that they completed the English camp. The girls pictured here are the ones that I am going to miss the most; they are the three that made up my small group when we broke up and discussed and practiced asking questions. They are all from the same school in Chengdu and their tutor was in class, so hopefully I will be able to keep up with them as they grow up. I think this presents an awesome opportunity to just love on children through e-mails and encourage them. One day I’d love to come back and see these children again.

Seeing God work is so awesome. Today Bruce, Jim, and Erik lead Gina to Christ. So we have another sister in Christ!!! PRAISE GOD!!! It is so exciting to know that there is another believer here. Gina’s father is the English teacher at school and so hopefully God can do some amazing things through the young girl and her friends. Just keep praying for encouragement for Gina and that her light will shine bright. Since we are leaving it will be difficult and she will need all the help He can give her.

I’ve also really enjoyed spending time with the TAs. I’ve gotten incredibly close with my TA, Erin. Tonight I gave her a postcard and an English Bible. She gave me the biggest hug and said that she would read it; then she asked how to pronounce “bible” in English. It was pretty cool to see her excited. She is not a believer, but said that she has been reading and owns 2 Bibles in Chinese. So that is just a relationship to be praying for. I have her e-mail and would love to keep continuing to pray and keep up with her. It is just so great to see how God works and allows for opportunity. I am still planning on having a more in depth discussion with her tomorrow or the next day because the TAs will be traveling back to Chengdu with us tomorrow for the final closing celebration.

Tonight was a really hard night having the party and then knowing that we will leave the kids tomorrow. The bus ride back from campus was rather bleak and filled with tears (yes…I was one of those) but I know it really wasn’t goodbye. We will see the children tomorrow, but not for long or anything. Just enough for a final hug and to really say goodbye. So tomorrow is going to be the hardest day.  But anywho…lots of people decided to go out tonight and just enjoy our last night in Bazhong. So we went to Dicos. It is a chicken place; I got french fries and some soft serve ice cream with strawberry jam, delicious! But we had a great time just enjoying the town and hanging out with almost half of the translators. I will probably miss them more than the kids…and it will be incredibly hard to say goodbye to them.

It was a great last night in Bazhong. This is my favorite city that I have been. It is the heart and just what real China is. It has been great to experience it.

Just be in prayer for safe travels tomorrow. We have another 8 hour bus ride to Chengdu and then fly out the 7th for Beijing and Seattle. If you really want to you could pray that we get bumped either in Chengdu or Beijing so we get to spend another night there God has provided healing for all but Steve, his foot isn’t looking any worse, but it isn’t looking any better either. So not really sure what is going on, but just continue to pray for him. Thanks for all the prayers!

In Him,

Chris

New Look!

At the very beginning of the trip all the guys made a pact to not shave and then before the last day of camp shave all but our moustaches, that grew to be pretty gross so we were allowed to shave anything but our moustaches. So…guess what we did tonight. We finished the process and some have normal moustaches (Mark and Jordan) and some have handlebar moustaches (Joey and Me). I think they look disgusting, but it is something that we promised we would do. And a change of look can be exciting…I don’t think my chin has been naked in at least 2-3 years, so its quite different and funny. I def will not be keeping it once I get back to the states, but will be fun for the kids and such tomorrow to see us all. (i keep telling myself that) So for a lot of pictures I will have my handlebar moustache…oh well…It will be funny I hope :p

Everybody was so tired today, including the kids. But tomorrow is the last day of camp, and that can semi be expected. I was told today by one of the Hua Mei staff that the kids love the foreigners and would love to stay much longer, but are tired of the hotness, humidity, and mosquitos. Bazhong is very mosquito infested and in the dorms the kids don’t have A/C, they only have one fan per room. So I imagine that it is very miserable and would be cranky and wanting to not be here anymore if I didn’t sleep in a room with an air conditioner. But saying that we had a great day of teaching and enjoyable time with the kids.

Our lesson today was about food and we had a little food eating contest and they loved it. They then spent time writing us some letters so that we can remember them. It is going to be so hard to leave on Friday. These are MY kids. I’ve grown to just love them and I can’t stand to see them go, because I will most likely never see them again. But they have certainly impacted my life and hopefully the reverse is the same. They will certainly be in my prayers forever and I just pray that God will do amazing things with His precious children in China. I’d already love to come back and teach them next year, but we will see what happens. But it will be really hard and there will be tears because they are so precious…I can’t even imagine what being a father is like, if I can spend 2 weeks with these kids and find it so hard to leave them. But I know everything is going to be great and God has plans for each and every one of them.

Tonight was the talent show for the other half of the kids at camp. It was really bad, the children were out of control and there really wasn’t too much talent to be had. But I got to hang out with my kids and my translator Erin. I have gotten to know and just enjoy her company the past couple of days. I’m not sure what took me so long to warm up to her, but she is such a cute and funny girl. I really wish I would have gotten to know her much sooner. She is not a believer that I know but I brought her an English Bible that I’m going to give to her tomorrow or Friday, so I just pray that that gift can help open lines of communication and maybe just give me an opportunity to share with what I believe. So  just be praying for that conversation and wisdom for the words that come out of my mouth. Erin is just a really special person to me, she has been so helpful and had a servants heart for all things. I hope I can stay part of her life through e-mails.

Also there are many other translators that we need prayer for. There are only about 3 believers amongst all the translators. They are all amazing people and there are a few specifically that have become really close with our team and I’d just ask that you’d lift them up and just allow us to speak the right words or love them the way we need to. I know when we though about coming here it was to witness and love on the students, but its almost more effective to witness to our translators because they know pretty good English and we spend so much time with them. Here is a list of the TAs to be praying for: Erin, my TA, she is just a really awesome girl and more was mentioned above. Annie, pictured to the right, is a friend of Erin and has asked us for an English Bible in passing. We don’t think she is a believer but asking for a bible is just great. We are going to send her one. Isolde, this is Steve’s TA, there is something super sweet and genuine about her. Steve and Mitch acted out the story of the prodigal son for their class and as Isolde was translating something clicked inside her and she realized that there was something deeper in meaning in the story. At the end, Steve and Mitch embraced and Isolde was crying. So there is some more great opportunity as we have about 3 more days with them. Just be praying for them individually and for wisdom on our parts. We have gotten to know them so well…and sometimes I think I will miss their company more than the children. There are amazing people in China, and God can use them just like He can us.

More prayers can go out for sickness. The most important is Steve’s foot. It hasn’t gotten any better and we are all pretty worried about it. A picture of it is included here to the left, but it is pretty disgusting. PLEASE be in prayer for him. If it isn’t looking any better in the morning he is going to go back to Chengdu in the morning and go to the hospital to see what they can do. There is also just random colds going around, including sore throats, runny noses, etc… So just strength to finish strong and for the healing power of God to just come and touch us all. Also be in prayer for safe travel, we will be traveling a lot soon. Again, the team thanks you for your prayers.

God is doing great things and I am excited and honored to be apart of them. You at home are just as important as us out here. I just thank you again.

In Him that brings Strength and Renewal,

Chris

Getting down to the end

So today is day 14 of the trip and including this one there are only two more days of English camp. So we are getting down to the end of things, but it is really just amazing to see God work through us. We have been focusing on building up relationships with the translators and students and now is the time when we can see the tiny bit of the payoff. (I will get to more specifics at the end)

Today the CO team was responsible to provide the assembly and morning activity. Our word was reliability, and being the reliable people we were we decided what to do on the bus ride to campus haha. But it went really well. We demonstrated reliability by having a trust fall off the cafeteria table. We asked some kids to try it out and then we caught Jordan (the biggest guy on our team) successfully to show that we are a reliable group. We were also responsible for the morning activity. Instead of any games we decided to do a fashion show. Each class was given a bag full of newspaper, cups, balls, balloons, tape, etc… and they were instructed to dress up one member of the class. The students were hesitant at first, but they just loved it once they got into it. A runway was made out of cafeteria tables so they really got to walk down a runway in front of the entire camp. It was a great morning and I think they are learning more about the biblical moral values.

I taught class this afternoon about fruits and it went pretty well. I think that they are learning because as we progress through the days their English is getting better and they are remembering and able to link concepts together from previous lessons. Something funny that happened while teaching; I had some dried blue berries that I brought from home and thought it would be fun to have them guess the fruit then give them some. The kids had no clue what a blueberry was. They’ve never seen or hear of them and certainly never tasted one. So that was exciting that I could share something completely foreign with them.

The evening activity was a class olympics. The evens consister of water balloon toss, three legged race, dodgeball tournament, peanut shot-put, and chopstick javelin. They kids loved being outside and competing. This was one of the times when I really saw my kids implementing one of the moral values that we have already talked about, Empathy. So two of my kids were competing in the three legged race and their rope broke that was holding their legs together just as they started running, but they continued to run. They finished pretty high up but then were told that they were disqualified because their rope broke. Being kids this was devastating to them, and they started crying, but then kids from my class went over to them and started talking to them and patting them on the backs. It was such a great sign of love to see these young kids showing empathy for someone. It made my heart smile.

So some other exciting things that happened were Bruce had a really good talk with Gina and her friend. He said that Gina uttered “I think I’m becoming a Christian” to him during their little lunch date. Praise God to see these young people coming to know the lord, they are on the right track, so just pray for wisdom for Bruce and that Gina and her friend’s hearts are just open.

There are some more exciting things going on, but I am out of time and don’t want to miss the bus to campus this morning. But please keep the team in your prayers, these days are getting much longer and we are all getting tired and sick, so just pray for the healing power of God and His strength to rain down on us (again more specifics will come tonight, but I’m late)

Praise God,

Chris

Long Day!

Today was one of those days…I could have slept much longer than I did and that would have made it feel soo great. I feel like I didn’t really wake up until just before lunch. For some reason I was just in a bad mood day, not sure if it was just tired or some other things, but I quickly realized that and that nothing was wrong and there was no reason to be Mr. Grumpy Pants. So the day ended much better than it started off. It really seemed like everybody was having an off day…for some odd reason. Natalie suggested that everybody read the devotional for today, and it was very much needed. It was talking about the discipline of difficulty and was basically saying that if you spend yourself out physically, you become exhausted; but if you spend yourself spiritually you get more strength. And I guess I’ve just been feeling like I’ve not spent enough time reading my bible or praying as I should because I am so physically exhausted. So just please pray that I truly do know and recognize that. Because sleep sounds so good, but even just 15 minutes will make so much difference.

Teaching went well today, we learned about vegetables in the morning and shapes in the afternoon. We are starting to combine all the things we’ve learned into conversation. So today I asked questions like “What shape is the apple?” and “How many bananas’ do you have, and what color are they?”. So it’s pretty cool to see the students learning and connecting things from the other lessons. I am making an impact.

Its pretty cool to see what God is doing. I just want to share a story that a guy from our team told us, Bruce. He is teaching the highest level English speakers, so he has a little more opportunity because they have a great skill set of English and are also older students. But there is a girl in his class that has been asking questions about God, and why Bruce believes, and just seems really interested. Her name is Gina, so just be in prayer for Bruce, Gina, and Allison (another teacher) as they just have open conversation and for God to work in her heart.

Tonight there was a concert on campus by Mark and Jared Utterback. It was pretty cool, the bus that takes us to campus was parked in the middle of the school and the words were projected onto the side of it. It was a semi-cool night so it was bearable being outside. The kids loved singing along and just being around us. Tonight was an optional event, but I realized that we are almost done here…that makes me sad…and I want every opportunity to be with the students that I can. Jared played some of the music that he has written and I bought a CD of his work and I’m listening to it as I’m typing. So there is a song entitled Psalm 42 on the CD and it has a great message. This is the same passage that was preached about this Saturday at church; I think God is trying to get something into my head

The lyrics that strike me right off the bat are:

“A prayer to the God of my life, His song is with me all through the night, Hope in God, I will praise Him, My Savior, my God”

Just a great reminder to praise and worship Him in all that I do and every second of the day. To thirst for the living God. Just pray Psalm 42 over our team, I think we could all use a refreshing thirst for God right now. We have/are seeing him work but our strength is decreasing. Thanks…

Sorry tonight is so short, I feel like not much eventful happened today, just another day and I am teaching tomorrow morning and it is late. But just keep the prayer requests mentioned about in your prayers. I can’t believe that I will be returning soonly. I am not looking forward to leaving my kids; they really do feel like my kids.

In Grace and Peace,

Chris

Talent Night!

So I was so tired last night i couldn’t even start my blog post, I just fell asleep quickly and soundly. So I woke up a little earlier so that I stil remember all the happenings from yesterday. These days are getting longer, but even more rewarding because of it. Here is a great video of the students singing and performing sign language to “I could sing of your love forever”:

Yesterday morning as the CO team we were in charge of the morning assembly and morning activities. During the morning assembly a biblical moral value is introduced and then a skit, musical, or anything is shown to represent the value. This is just one way to present the principles of Bible without going out and saying it. We presented the word Courage. Steve presented our definition of courage which was:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear

So we challenged the students to go out and challenge something and find something more important to look towards than fear itself. We also discovered, through our skit, that humor doesn’t always translate. When we finished with a pretty humours joke at the end I could here thousands of crickets and that just made me laugh even more. But it was a successful morning of assembly and leading the students in some games.

Right now I feel like I have bonded so much with my students. I am really starting to get to know them on a more personal level and just developing great love for them. Yesterday one of my students asked me a question, and it really touched me. She asked me: “When you go back to America, will you still remember me?” And my response to that question was “Of course” followed by a hug. I didn’t really know what was happening with my students, i know they enjoy playing with me and whatnot. But that single question almost made my time over here worth it, I know that I have impacted Kitty’s life. Even if I am just a white guy that came over and loved on her for two weeks. But hopefully she has seen Jesus’ love through me and one day she and they all come to know the Lord of the Universe.

Teaching was fine yesterday morning, I taught about body parts and then realized there are a lot of body parts, so we had to cut down on them. They sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and just loved that. So all week we in our class we have been talking about the talent show that was happening on Sunday night. We presented the idea to our class and immediately there was much response with talent they had. So we spent the second teaching block practicing and getting costumes ready for the show. In the end we had 4 talent acts:

1. Then entire class singing “Old Mcdonald had a farm” but we changed it to “In Bazhong School they had a farm”, this one went over really well and got the show started off on a great foot
2. Little 8 year old Apple Performing a Latin Dance to Nobody by the wonder girls, this might have been the most cheered for act of the entire act…she was GOOD!!
3. Jimmy, Ada, Cissy, Tom, Alice, and Kitty singing and me playing the guitar for Country Road by John Denver. They sang this in English, pretty cool moment.
4. David performing a flute solo. Also very good.

Also seeing all the other classes performing was really cool. It was a really fun night and the kids love performing in from of all the people.

Another awesome thing happened yesterday. I got a Chinese Name!!! So at the beginning of the camp I asked my translator to give me a chinese name and she said that would be fun. So finally yesterday she came up to me after class and said she chose a name for me. My new Chinese name is “Jian Xi”. Jian means simple or easy and Xi means clean. But when you put them together it means “Pure”. It was also touching to me and I pray that this will allow me to open spiritual conversation with her by just asking her why she chose this name for me. Then bring Jesus into the picture. Just be praying for whenever I have that conversation. But here is a picture of me writing my Chinese name, I’m pretty happy with it.

In Him,

Chris

Church on a Saturday?!?

Today there was no teaching, it was a day of spiritual renewal and rest. The normal teaching day resumes tomorrow.

This morning was a very special morning for me. There were only 10 of us that got to attend church because of all the restrictions that are being imposed, and since people in the town talk it wouldn’t look good for 30 new foreigners to attend a church the same week foreigners are in town for an English camp. But I persuaded Mark and Steve to let me be one of the ones to go, and I am soooooo happy to have been chosen and given the opportunity to experience what the church service looks like in China. The rest of the group went to Jim’s house and had worship, a devotional time a also some sharing what God is doing time.

Church was an incredibly cool experience. When the van pulled up I was shocked but also found it rather awe inspiring to find a building with a bold proclamation of Christ on the front in the middle of Bazhong. When I think of China I do not think of Christianity or church, but the church is alive and well with recognized churches by the government being allowed.

When we first arrived the service already started and very full (around 100 people I’d say) and of course they saved us seats right in the front. While walking to our seats I noticed a familiar hymn that they were singing, it was “washed in the blood of the Lamb” but they were singing in Chinese.  It was comforting to hear a song that I knew and sang while growing up right here in a Chinese church while walking towards our seats. After we got to our seats an English speaking guy named Peter prayed and then the choir came up for some special music. It was just so amazing to hear him pray in Chinese and then speak the same thing in English. Peter then stepped down and sat between me and another guy.

Pastor Wu then began speaking. She was speaking on Psalm 42:1-2:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God?

As she begun speaking Peter began translating the phrases that he could into English and sharing it with Lane and me. This was where the language barrier was most noticeable, because with hymns I could hum or sing along because I knew it but listening to the message all I could do was read the passage to myself. But because of Peter I could get a sense of what pastor Wu was talking about. Since Peter couldn’t translate everything he just summarized what he could, but there were common phrases that he repeated over and over, which I think really summarize maybe what the church is about:

• “God is our power”
• “Thirst for the living God”
• “We are weak, but God’s grace is tremendous”
• “Invite people to come to our living God”
• “Jesus Christ is steadfast love”

She also mentioned that just because we looked different, had different skin color and were from different places we are still the same. We love the same God and will end up in Heaven praising God as one. This is such a powerful message and made come to a more complete understanding of the universality of Christ and his love for all people.

To end the service we all spent some time individually with God, then took Communion as an entire church of believers, and then spent time is a corporate prayer. The taking of communion provided the link that we needed to become friends, Christ. After the service we got to mingle with the members of the church, well…it was more I would shake their hand and then just listen to them talk a lot and just smile back; even though I couldn’t understand I could feel through looking into their eyes just how much they loved Jesus and that they were happy to see us and have that instantaneous bond.

Church was the most exciting and memorable part of the day. There was supposed to be a concert by Jared and our own Mark Siefert, but an amazing thunderstorm blew in and it got cancelled. So some more time was spent walking around downtown, getting greeting by all the local or anybody who knows the word “hello”, and then more time as a team planning stuff for tomorrow’s camp activities.

Tomorrow will return to normal and we only have 4 more days of teaching including tomorrow, time is just flying back. Just be in prayer for the Bazhong church and their ministries, they are building a new church because they have outgrown their current one (that is soooo exciting) and for opportunities to share no matter how minute they might be.

In Him,

Chris

Refreshing Day!

So today was a pretty great day. Teaching is getting much better now that a routine is being developed and we are learning the kids, their tendencies, and just how best to accomodate the different level of English speakers in my class. I have been having them ask each other questions and letting the other students answer their question. I think it is important to let them talk with each other because I will not always be here to help and talk so the sooner they start speaking English in their group of friends or even every once in awhile it will help them tremendously. The picture to the left is of my small group of girls who I meet with every day and teach. They are Candy, Ada, and Cissy. Their English is about the medium in my class, so they know enough to speak and repeat and (hopefully) understand what I am trying to teach them.

Today they learned about animals in the morning, including the sounds that they make, and then sports in the afternoon. We have got them singing “Old McDonald has a farm” in order to have some fun and just practice the animals. It was so great to hear them singing it, also the pig sounds completely different in Chinese. We say the pig goes ‘oink’ but in Chinese it goes something like ‘gruump’, a very throaty disgusting sound. Just something interesting I’d though I’d share. So teaching was good and then the real fun and refreshing day really begun after we got done teaching.

Tonight was our first of two open nights as a CO team while we are here. We decided to make the most of it and see some of the city, experience Chinese-Western food and then take advantage of the local services provided at a greatly reduced cost. An off night is something that we all REALLY needed. We were beginning to get very tired, sick, and just needed some time away to spend discussing our experiences and just fellowshipping as a small team. I will get to that part later, but first just about the food. We went to the only restaurant in town that serves pizza because we thought it would be fun to experience something completely different and then see how it compared to our real food. So we went and had our own little private room with a Majong table, two couches, a table, and a couple chairs. It was a nice cozy room where we would spend the next 5 hours eating and talking. We got a mix of pizza, hamburgers, sandwitches, and ‘United States fries hot’. These were all good but probably my favorite thing that I got was the Chocolate Milkshake…YUM!! (pictured on the left) It was nothing like a real milkshake, basically it was some kind of soy milk mixed with something chocolate that was relatively cold. But it was delicious because they don’t have chocolate here that I have seen. It hit the sweet part of my brain and was just so good, even though my description made it sound pretty disgusting.

After a great dinner we sat around and just talked about how everything was going for the first time. It really is great to see that God is working and opening opportunities to share even with these restricted guidelines imposed. Some classes used the story of the prodigal son yesterday to teach and it seemed to get the kids actively involved and interested so there was some opportunity to explain to them more. Some kids have even read the story before, not really sure if it was in a Bible or somewhere else, but all these are allowing openings to start conversations. Another example is Andy’s class, they decided their team name was going to be ‘Soul’ so this will hopefully allow conversations to begin about what they think the soul is and why then we can offer to explain what we think and why. God is definitely working here at this camp.

After dinner and the team meeting we went and walked around the downtown of Bazhong. It is such a cool city and the Chinese culture is so focused on the group that all the time people just hang out in the streets and are always walking around. It is one thing that I’ve really begun to notice how much time I and just our American culture like to be hidden away and spend so much time alone; when having relationships is so much more important. It is truly a cultural difference that I want to adopt and really appreciate. So saying that, there were tons of people walking around selling things and just out and about. Here is the same temple place that was pictures in the day in one of my earlier posts:

This night off was well needed and hearing about what God is doing with the teaching teams and children is just fantastic. Keep all of us in your prayers and just keep praying for opportunities to arrise where we can open conversations and share what we believe.

I am so excited about tomorrow, a few of us get to go experience a church service in one of the registered churches here in Bazhong. I will def be describing my experiences tomorrow. I can’t wait!

In Him,

Chris