China Blog July 31

This morning I led the team's devotion after the campers left. Talked about the 5 challenges David Platt gives at the end of his book "Radical".  Really good stuff.  

Basically have free time the rest of the day.  The rest of the team at this camp has been running camp for 11 or 12 straight days since they arrived in country, so it is certainly well deserved rest time!  

For lunch we went to the train / subway station (huge - pictured below) that's about 4 blocks from the campus.  Lots of American food options there (KFC, MdD's, Burger King, Papa Johns, Starbucks).  I'm not actually craving American food to be honest, so I ate at "Paris Bakery" which had some really good baked goods.  

Walked through "Wu Mart" which is a little grocery store on the way back to campus, bought some chicken feet for a snack to bring back to the kiddos . . .  they'll love that I'm sure!

I've taken the rest of the afternoon to work ahead on my next two sermons.  My goal is when I get back to take a number of days off to recuperate from jet lag and make up for missed time with my family.  I know some might say "haven't you been on vacation for three weeks already?"    Ha ha ha!

I'll be spending the next few days really getting to know the team here better.  It's a pretty wide mix of people, from about 10 years old all the way to about 65, so quite a range of ages and stages of life.  All of us have this in common - a love for The Lord and a desire to use our lives to serve Him.  

Had to move rooms today so I get to bunk on the floor with a couple of the older guys.  Glad I have my air mattress!

China Blog post July 30

Last day of camp today.  I was surprised by the amount of emotion shown by the Chinese. The Americans who have been here the whole time have really done a good job of building relationships.  Time will tell what Gospel seeds were planted, but I know of a few stories of how the Gospel was shared one on one as students asked questions.

Then there's Lisa, the Chinese teacher aide who has become a new sister in Christ.  I was able to give her one of the resource CDs I brought over.  She really seems hungry to know more about The Lord, so hopefully it will be used well.  I had meant to give the few remaining CDs to our interpreter a few days ago, but I couldn't find them in my suitcase when I looked.  I guess God knew I'd need to hang on to at least one.  I have two more, I wonder who else God would have me give them to?

 

Then there's Randi, the dean of students here.  I got to have a good talk with her today about God.  She's a professing Buddhist but she admitted the only time she prays is like once or twice a year at some festival.  She seems to know a lot about Christianity but I think some of the ones she knows are "professing" much the same as with her Buddhism, so it's hard for her to see the difference.  China is more like America than I realized.

China Blog July 29 "The view out my window"

The title for this post comes as I look out my window at the school campus where we are doing the English camp.  Just in the buildings i can see from my window I would guess live more than 40,000 people!  And I would wager there are many hundreds of apartment buildings like this in Beijing!  

The mass of humanity here is mind blowing.  And then to realize there are many many cities in China with huge populations such as this.  

Sometimes here in my room I just watch people go by on their daily business.  Across the street is a little trash collection station where the bicycle-cart trash collectors come and dump their loads.   I wonder if any of these people, walking, biking, working, or living in the apartment buildings - do they even know 1 Christian?  In their daily life, do they rub shoulders with someone walking in the Way?  If not, how will they ever know that Christ died for them to free them from a life of sin and the penalty that comes with it?  

Heart breaking . . .  

China Blog July 27 & 28

Arrived this am at the NewBridge Camp location.  Really a nice facility - it's a higher end private school here in Beijing.  I'm looking forward to some sports activity with the kids, especially since I've done nothing but be in a classroom environment for the entire time here.

I was really blessed by the camp director here, Peyton.  He's only 23, but super sharp and he's been coming to China on trips like this since he was 6, so he certainly has the experience.  He blessed me by having a time of prayer with me for Jordan and his family as soon as I arrived.  Man, when the Body of Christ truly cares for one another its an amazing thing!

 

 

July 28

Great day at camp here in Beijing.  Was excited to hear of some of the teachers getting to talk with students who had questions about the Gospel.  They have been hard at work building relationships with these kids for the past ten days and it is paying off.

The evening activity here was the basketball game between Chinese and American.  Americans won!  USA, USA, USA!  It was a good game & we were lucky to have a couple of really good guys.

The camp director here, Peyton, gave a good devotion to the teachers about valuing our salvation in a constant manner, not just as some past decision or transaction.    

China Blog July 26

Our team got word late last night that one of our team members mother was found dead the night before.  We were scheduled to wrap up the teaching this morning anyways, so we just ended a bit early and headed for the airport to get him home ASAP.  A lot of our teaching has been about encouraging and edifying our brothers in Christ, so this is giving us very practical application.  Please Pray for Jordan's family.

It was kinda hard to end the teaching early.  This group is younger and they seem to really appreciate us being here.  They have never had foreign teachers before.  We asked them to pray over us as we left, and I will never forget it.  They gathered around us in a circle and sang over us with such passion, then prayed over us with such emotion, I doubt there were any dry eyes in the room.  For a group of people who couldn't even communicate with each other, it was quite a spiritual experience!

Our flight to Beijing was delayed two hours, so our brother almost missed his flight home, but from all indications he made it.  

My schedule here has shifted, and that is ok.  Flexibility is the key.  I'll get to go tomorrow and reconnect with Kimberly and Leslie from my church at the English camp.  It will be good to see what they've been up to.

One thing that has really stood out to me is the hospitality of the Chinese brothers and sisters here.  Especially the people at the last training center who hosted it in their home.  The owner of the house was sleeping on a hard wooden bench the whole time so we could stay in their room.  Their son also refused to take any money from us when he drove us to the airport - even just to cover his gas and tolls.  They waited on us hand and foot, almost to the point where it was embarrassing.  Whenever we would try to help with anything or even clean up, they would insist that we not do that and our interpreter said it was how they show hospitality.

We said goodbye to our interpreter Grace at the airport today.  She was a super hard working young lady who really has a heart for The Lord.  She gave us tons of insight into the Chinese people and culture that was really helpful.  

China Blog July 25

Got to learn about the students normal schedule last night.  At this training center the schedule is as follows:

5-7 am group prayer and bible reading

8 am breakfast

9-12 classes 

12 lunch

2:30-6:30 classes

6:30 dinner

7:30-9 ish individual study

At is e Monday-Friday schedule.  Saturday is prep time for Sunday, and on Sundays every one of them will teach in a local church (meeting points)

It shames me as to the incredible difference between their schedule and mine.

////. Power out again during teaching time.  Poor John McCall had to teach by candle light, and the sweetest thing was a girl on the front row got a fan and was fanning John the whole time.  What a great picture of a servant's heart!

 

The power has gone out at least once a day at each of the training centers we've been at . . . Doesn't seen to bother anyone here, just another thing we take for granted!

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!