China blog July 23, "bugs for breakfast"

Bugs for breakfast.    

 

Not just a catchy title, that was the menu.  Actually not bad!  These were the things that the local people were searching the forest for the night before.  I guess they are quite a delicacy in fancy restaurants . . .

Long day of teaching.  We complain when we sit in a padded seat in an air conditioned auditorium when the preaching goes long.  These students sit on hard seats for 2-4 hours a session, at least twice a day and soak it all in . . .  

There are two kids here that at first were very shy, but after awhile (after I showed them some iPad games) really opened up.  We actually had to lock ourselves in the room because they wouldn't leave us alone! 

Cute and mischievous!

 

 

China blog post July 23

Had a great talk this morning at breakfast with the lady who is the leader of the local congregation here. We noticed that there are many female leaders here, even as pastors of local churches.  Se shared how that in most of these churches with women pastors, they long to give the leadership of these churches to men, but there is a real shortage of godly men in their churches.  Sounds like somewhere else I know . . . 

 

It's after lunch time now and we are having rest time.  It's their habit to have about an hour of rest after lunch,  we were going to leave after lunch, but they don't like to travel with foreigners during the day light hours.  It's easy to forget about the reality that the government doesn't want us here.

I'm sad to leave our new friends here when we are just getting to know them a little bit.  There are quite a few young coupes here, Lacy & Jed, David and his wife, and a few others who are just so incredibly joyful and full of life,  and what servants!  They always are so ready to wait on us hand and foot . . .

What has been surprising about the students here is the number of older adults.  John McCall said that by far this is the oldest group he's ever had.

After lunch we got to hear the testimony of a young pastor whose mother owns the facility we are meeting at.  He shared of how he was raised by Christian parents, but walked away from God as a youth.   He later came back to Christ and now is the pastor at a local church.  The university campus ministries really seem to be doing an incredible work in bringing the Chinese to Jesus.  This pastor, named Enoch, told of a time when they were meeting in a room at the university they had rented to have Bible study and the police came and took them to the police station and even beat some of the brothers.  Thankfully, this is becoming more rare.

In talking with him about his challenges as a pastor, it was like talking with one of my pastor friends in the states:  difficulty balancing church and family, inter generational challenges in his church, and a lack of influence in the community.  Those are all problems I can identify with.  

. . . So after an interesting nearly two hour van ride we arrived at our second training center.  Beautiful mountainous country we travelled through.  As we travelled at dusk and after sunset, we noticed many people in the forest with flashlights searching the trees.  I'll show you in the next post what they were looking for.

We are hosted by Abraham, his wife Sarah, and (no joke) their son Isaac.  Most of the Chinese here have adopted English names out of consideration for us poor Westerners who simply cannot pronounce their Chinese names correctly.  Sarah said they choose these names because they were good examples to follow from the scriptures.  They certainly did exemplify the hospitality of Abraham to us!

Looking out the door at the farmland at training center #2  (we couldn't leave the center)

 

The woman who owned the training center #1 facility

China Blog Post July 22

Teaching sessions are so incredibly long . . .  Maybe that's just my American perspective.  Aka - ADD. I guess the reality is that these students are at this training center just for this purpose.  When we finish tomorrow about noon, they will all go back to where they live.  Many live within an hour of here, but some are from quite a ways away.  I've come to learn that this province (Henan) in China produces many of the Christian leaders in the whole country.   The leader of all the training centers (aka seminaries) in the area says that about 17% of all Christians in China are in this province.

So, they will get about 24 hours of Bible teaching in about 3 days.  For perspective, that's as much as an average Christian gets in going to church in about 48 weeks!  Well, not at Temple, because my sermons are slightly longer!  (Remind yourself how lucky you are hahaha)

I am amazed at the attentiveness of the students.  They are taking notes and even in the ten minute brakes we take every 1-2 hours, many will spend that time either reading their Bibles or helping to prepare the next meal or a snack of fresh watermelon.  (Grown here on the property - more on the great food in another post!)

Below is a pic of the students during one of the outside object lessons . . .

July 21 blog post

Getting a little break now after lunch.  Our schedule at this training center is:

7 am breakfast

8 am - noon morning session (they started singing at 7:45) (they had prayer together at 5:30 & more singing then too))

12 lunch

2-6 afternoon session.  

6 dinner

7 -? evening session

In between sessions the students are busy fixing meals, cleaning tables, etc.  It's truly amazing.  They have wonderful servant hearts and are so hospitable. 

At lunch had a great time talking(through our interpreter) with Pastor Su abut his local congregation and the registered church.  He has a larger congregation of about 100 that rent an apartment.  Seems like most of their meetings are open air.

It's great to get to know another pastor who serves the same God but in a different context.  Makes me grateful for a church building with a roof over our heads.  I know one thing for sure, after teaching in this meeting room with no ac it makes me appreciate our cool Colorado air!

"The day without a sunset". July 19

Ok, so that was a shameless attempt to create a dramatic title.  But, in my experience, July 18 became July 19 without a sunset.  The sun was shining when we left Seattle, and we simply followed it west to Beijing!

I can't really say I've learned any dramatic lessons yet . . . Other than I miss my family.  In my beginning days of ministry I dreamed of being a sought after speaker.  One who could travel the country, delivering compelling messages to hundreds, if not thousands of people.  I longed for people to say of me what i would say of camp or conference speakers- "wow, that guy can really speak well!"  

I am glad that God knew better.  I still get to communicate Gods Word to people, but not just as some stranger on a stage, but as a Pastor.  Someone who knows and loves the people I speak to.  

I would absolutely hate to travel often.  My heart goes out to those who do travel often on business.

Each day I will try to tell of how an intersection with one real life person impacted my trip.  Today I guess that person is Katie, the lady I sat next to from Denver to Seattle.  She travels often for business she said and, with a sadness in her voice, has to regularly leave her 1 and 3 year olds.  

God, thanks for adjusting the vain dreams of an immature minister so at I could have the joy of coming home each night to my wonderful family!

 

Blog post July 20

all setup in the training center this morning.  Had a wonderful lunch with our brothers here.  anxious to meet the students and get to the material.

Brother Soon / pronounced "sun" who is the director of all the "seminaries"in the area met us at the hotel and drove us to the training center.   His father was the former leader of the Christians in this area, and was recently released from apprx. 20 years in prison.   The center is about 1.5 hours from the major city of Zhengzou (Jeng - joo).  The trip here was pretty nice, driving was a bit scary, which is normal for here.  Appearantly, the lines on the road don't have any actual meaning ...

 Our interpreter, Grace, has told us much about how the persecution has shifted recently in China.  She says there are so many Christians now that the government has no ability to really control them very well, so the persecution has lightened up quite a bit.  It also is very localized.  In some areas, Christians can meet openly whenever and wherever they want, and in other areas they have to be more discreet.  

In cases where the authorities do interfere, she said it's mostly just taking names and pictures, and maybe some verbal harassment.  

The accommodations here are very nice.  much nicer than I had been prepared for.  they do have beds for us (very firm) and the rooms have a sort of air conditioner that works pretty well!  John says this is much nicer than the norm.  I feel a little spoiled actually.  

will write more soon.  . .

Picture below is our meeting area (not air conditioned)

Modern watering hole

Its funny how in an airport the power plug area is like the watering hole for animals in the desert.  It shows how we are so dependent on our technology.  "What if my iPad goes dead on this flight?". Gasp! 

I'm just one of the thirsty zebras jockeying for position... so I can't really talk.  

The thought of not being able to just pick up my phone and talk with my wife over the next 3 weeks is hard.  I cant just shoot a quick txt message to say "hi" or to see what the kids are up to.

It's good in the sense that it forces me to trust those I love to the God I serve.  What does it say about my confidence in Him if can't truly leave them in His care?

Time to unplug and board the plane. . . Until next time
Ken