Christmas in Shanghai...

We were there for a week. It was really fun seeing all the buildings, historic sites, and shopping til we dropped. We were having fun right up until Christmas day and then it hit us just what we were missing. We all we kinda bummed the whole day, wishing we were back in the states, if only for one day!!!

I am glad we went to Shanghai, but next year we are heading somewhere much warmer,the "Hawaii of China". I think that time on the beach and warm weather will help us to live through the hard separation at the holidays.

Above are a few pictures we did take.

The group with Santa hats is our new friend, Justin from Charlotte and his co-workers at our Christmas 101 Night, where he shared ALL about Christmas.....

Christmas in China

#1- Christmas is not even a holiday here...at all. No one is off work, kids are not out of school....nothing.
#2- Christmas is slowly infiltrating in. Decorations are more and more common. Christmas carols, even the ones with real meaning, are played in every store. People are more and more curious about what it is all about.
#3- Santa is not a g-d. We heard one national ask that question this year...if Santa was a g-d. That is how much they do not "get it", that is how much work is to be done, that is motivating and depressing all at the same time.
#4- The devil even celebrated- The people here like to wear costumes to celebrate Christmas. I guess it all stems from dressing in Bib-ical attire. But the costumes are really random...and weird. Devil horns, tails, and pitch forks are popular costumes. We saw several over the holiday, even one girl performing in the Christmas program at our apartment complex. All this relates back to #3- don't get it.
#5- Christmas here makes us realize what we are missing there. We really would have loved to have gone home for Christmas like many of our staff, but they are all single and have only one person to pay airfare for, while we have 6. Sitting in a cold hostel, eating random Chinese dishes for Christmas dinner, and being without family really made it tough. We were all fine until Christmas day and then it hit us all. Next Christmas we are going to head south to the beaches where it is warm and sunny and we can at least have that as a diversion.
All this to say, enjoy every Christmas at home with friends and family. It is truly a blessing to be able to, one that we really missed this year.

Hope you had a great Christmas, wherever you are!!!
More to come...

A good day for "Getting the WORD out"

In the past 24 hours, the WORD has really been spread here. Starting last night, at our school Christmas program, the story was told and Chinese Government officials were there for the program, local Chinese people, and families in our school that are not part of "the" family.
I wrote the script and brought the true meaning of the holiday.

Then today, we went to a Chinese wedding. The song, playing in the background, throughout the entire ceremony, was Amazing Grace. And then a choir sang it in English and Chinese. And our principal shared what guide book he uses for his marriage. It was wonderful too- to be with bro/sis from here and see their dedication in the midst of a room of others with no respect for their beliefs. They have to be strong here- non's make it really hard.

It was a good chance for us to see faith in action....glad I was here the past 24 hours...

Work with meaning...

I was so excited today. Got to share "the" story with my students- the one where a decision is necessary afterward. I just hope some seeds were planted.....please help me in remembering them in your thoughts in the coming days.
As relationships are slowly built, I hope more opportunities are presented for this to happen. It is such a high afterward- just knowing you are planting seeds, whether you are here to see the harvest or not......

Movin' onward and upward.....

We have now been here in China for 3 months. Seems like a long time when I think about missing family, seems short when I think of how busy we have been...and we are just getting started.
Now that we know day to day life and school is falling into place, we want to get on with the bigger picture, the reason we are here. the reason we gave up our comfortable lives to come here, where things are so different and quite uncomfortable to us. So we are asking Him everyday why? what? where?
One area I feel for me is the English corner here at out apartment complex. We meet once a week and they get to practice their English. We have different discussion starters and it can get very interesting. Although we are not allowed to "teach" or "mention", it always comes up by one of them. And it makes my heart happy.
As the relationships grow and become more personal, we will be able to have some over for dinner, go places with them, just hang out. Hey, I already have one guy wanting to cook for me!!! lol
Most are college age and that makes me very happy. I miss my college age students at home. I have even taken to naming, them in my mind,...like "wow, that guy sounds like Dillion" or "that girl's mannerisms really remind me of Kelsey"...lol

So that is where I am heading. Madeline is also interested in the English corner- there are a few high school age there so she is going with me in a few weeks.

Also we are all planning to get involved in a Chinese Christian private school.- can't give much in the way of info, but there is a lot to be done there with high school and college age so I am really excited about that.

There is a foriegn fellowship on the other side of the city we are planning to visit. They have a very very spirited service- lot of african expats attend- so I am excited to visit there in 2 weeks. Several "friends" attend there and we will go with them.

There is so much going on help...sharing just the tip of the iceberg. Please remember us daily as we seek to do what He would have us do here in a land of many, many people in need.

Being to communicate...a little...ting bu bong....

I have reached a milestone in China!! Finally, I can now get in a cab say hello, tell where I live, ask how much, understand the answer, and make it safely home!!! Halelujah!!!!

According to most expat families, now is the time for culture shock to set in- and of course it is right before the holidays. So we really need everyone to please "think" of us often in the coming weeks. When school is in, we do a lot better with homesickness- when we are around our friends and school "family". But being here at Christmas without our family will be extremely hard under ideal circumstances, much less with not many staff here for the holidays. We are going on a trip to Shanghai for Chistmas week so we are not sitting here, feeling sorry for ourselves. We are not doing anyone any good doing that.....

So, that is where we are right now- learning the language that is keeping us from being able to do what we feel called to do....but we are getting there.....

Touched by.....well you decide.....

September 19th, 2009
Well the day started off kinda rough. We had hard a pretty hard week and just wanted to get out and go somewhere fun. The plan was to go to New World Center and eat fried rice and shop at the really good international store there. But when we left the apartment, things went bad pretty quickly.
All we wanted was to get a bread loaf cab (really small van the shape of, well, a bread loaf). We went across the highway to where we knew there would be several to choose from. As we tried to decide, we felt that we were kinda being made fun of by a group of drivers- kinda taken advantage of our ignorance of how much a cab should be to that area of town. So we walked away from the first set of drivers. Walked on down a bit and found another driver who had a sweet face, so we asked him. He gave a better rate and didn’t laugh. But when we got to where we were going, it was not where we were going…in other words, we were lost. He took us to the New World Tower, not New World Center.
Now it is very hard to get a cab for six in the busier city area- you pretty much have to take 2 car cabs once we get to the Hanku district. So we were really worried about getting into 2 cabs and be taken to two different places. So we wandered down the road to a large hotel, hoping for help there. Walking across the highway, I reminded G-D we were going to need some help. So glad my boys heard me saying that. As we walked into the hotel, the stares began. It is a constant thing, but more noticeable in some places. So we went up to the desk and asked for someone who spoke English. They must not have had one, so I call my teacher assistant, Julia, to translate. She talked to them about getting us to where we were trying to go. After an 8 minute conversation between Julia and the desk clerk, I was back on the phone with Julia. She assured me the desk lady was going to help us get a cab. Once again, I had an outloud conversation with the L-D. We stood there for another 10 minutes while different bell hops came up, listened to the desk clerks story, kinda chuckled, and looked like they had never heard of the place we were trying to go.
Well right then I remember thinking, why is it they all laugh at us? Chinese people are not very compassionate. This is so frustrating. Then all of a sudden, this young girl, maybe 20 years old, and a guy about her age appear. They look at the directions in our cab book and talk to the clerk for a minute. They didn’t work for the hotel, looked to be college kids, and seemed to really want to help. Then she turned to me and said in English, “This is where you are wanting to go?” We were so excited. She continued, “I will help you get a cab.” So we all paraded outside- weird white people with too many kids, and the young Chinese couple.
We crossed the highway again and stood at the corner to flag down 2 cabs. When the first one stopped, Bob and the boys piled in. And then, surprise, she got in too. Ok, that was kinda strange, but this is China. Then we get a cab and the guy gets in with us. He speaks no English, so very limited conversation.
I called Bob on the cell to see if he found this strange that they were going with us. He was like yeah, but couldn’t say too much with her right there in the seat behind him.
We get to the plaza and walked to the store to find Bob, the boys, and the girl. As we walk along through the plaza, I see her up ahead waving for us. We follow her into the store to the very back where there is a small café. Bob is sitting at a table with the boys, having been served nice glasses of cold water. I thought “UhOh what is going on”. But the couple made sure we all had water, took none for themselves, and started kinda backing away. Bob turned to offer the girl money for their time, trouble, and cab ride back. She refused it, looked at the guy, and they practically ran to the front door. Now the door was a good 25 feet from where we were, but in a wink, they were out it and gone. It was like I looked at Bob and said, “ Did you invite them to dinner?” He said, “ I didn’t get a chance”. We turned to see if we could catch them, and they were completely gone. We went outside then to see if we saw them. No sight of them in either direction. And we could see in both directions about 200 feet at least.
As we were standing out there, my phone rang. It was Julia again. She was checking on us and when I told her what happened, she told me, “As soon as we hung up, I began to pray for you. I asked G-d to send someone to help you.”
Yeah. Pretty amazing huh. Much better ending to our day than beginning. Angels? In one way or another yes, for us they were. In the Chinese culture, people do not help strangers like they may in the states. It is all about saving face. If you need help it is an embarrassment to you. So people generally do not offer. So either way, humans or angels, we thank G-d for them. And the way He can turn a bad day around into something truly special.


**** Please pray for my TA. She is a sister and her family gives her much grief about it….strength for her and the HS to work on their hearts.