China: Day 5

Today our schedule included visiting an orphanage, the Forbidden City and an acrobat show.

The kids at the orphanage were great. This is a place that takes kids with major health issue and then gets them the medical help they need and then works to get them adopted into a home. These kids would not live very long in a regular orphanage, but thanks to these people, they have a chance for a normal healthy life. The little guy on the right has had surgery on his back and he moves along pretty quickly with that walker.

From here we headed to the Forbidden City and then took in the acrobat show. Although this trip was mostly informational, my prayer is that God will use these expereinces in the teams lives to go back home and make a difference in missions in our local community. We have learned a lot about prayer and spiritual warfare and have seen the needs up close and personal. Anytime we step out of our normal comfort zone and expereince someone else's world we are changed. The next step is to do something with that change that will impact the world around us.

China: Day 4

Today we had the chance to visit Beijing University and meet some of the students. It was very interesting to see that college students are the same everywhere. Many of those we met had a number of questions for us. We walked the campus asking God to raise up this next generation of Chinese young people to know and serve Him. The future of China is there studying on that campus and God has a plan for them. We need to make sure that we are interceeding for them on a regular basis.

After our time there we took a trip down to Wa Fung Jing street to sample some local treats like snake, silk worm larva and a number of other things you don't want me to mention. Here are a few photos...

Apparently you can get most things on a stick in downtown Beijing. I think there were a few heart and kidney kabobs, something that looked like a tiny little lung kabob as well as the very popular lambs testical kabobs. By the time we had finished walking through there I was not the least bit hungry...in fact I wasn't sure if I would eat again...and then we saw McDonalds and of course...I was hungry.

China...Day 3

Today we visited the Temple of Heaven. To me, this was one of the most interesting places that we visited. Our friend was telling us the history of this place and of the many similairites it had to the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem. The Temple of Heaven was the place where once a year the emperor would come to make sacrifices to the God of Heaven and Earth for the sins of the Chinese people.



The Chinese culture was built on the foundation that the God of Heaven and Earth was in control of everything and just like the nation of Israel, they would atone for their sins once a year with the sin sacrifice of unblemished animals.



The picture below is of the Circular Mound Altar where the sacrifices would have been made. Around the outer edge of this altar the courtyard would have been filled with musicians who would play worship to the God of Heaven and Earth.



Over the years the Chinese culture has turned more toward ancestor worship as well as other things, but it was interesting to see that back in the early foundation of this culture, there was an understanding of the one true God who ruled both heaven and earth and that they chose to worship and sacrifice to Him.

As we walked in this place, we prayed for the people and the nation of China. We asked that God would open their eyes to the truth that is already a part of their own culture. The roots of Christianity are growing there in their own history if they choose to see it.

There is an excellent book that does a great job explaining the roots of Christianity in the Chinese culture called "Faith of Our Fathers: God in Ancient China" If you are interested in finding out more about this topic that would be a great book to pick up.

China: Day 2

Today we went to the Great Wall. We took the gondola to the top of the wall and walked for about an hour across to a toboggan slide that you rode to the bottom of the mountain. It was pretty cool. Everyone did pretty good walking on the wall. We ate at a Jaozi (pronounced jout-za) restaurant, which is a dumpling type of dish that is filled with different things like meats and vegetables.

We brought with us to the wall two Chinese nationals. Both of them are believers and they shared with us their story of life in China as a Christian. I was humbled as they shared of the persecution that they face and yet the boldness with which they choose to talk to others about Christ. The lady was telling us of how around 20 people had come to the Lord during a long trip she had recently taken on either a bus or a train...I don't remember which. She shared how house church leaders were being persecuted, but that things seemed to be getting better and tolerance of these groups was coming. Throughout the day with them, they did everything they could to serve us. We came to serve them and they ended up serving us.

A few funny things...the team had it's first chance to barter at the markets and that seemed to overwhelm some of them. When we shop we are not use to having people grab us and pull us into their store, but they is the norm here. Speaking of being grabbed...many of us have been pulled into pictures today with the Chinese people who are visiting the wall. I guess it is a big deal for them to take home pictures with Westerners. Many of the people we saw would not have had much interaction with people like us so it was a big deal to them. We found it funny!

In the coming highlights you will notice that I have not included photos of any Chinese nationals with us. That is to protect them.

China: Day 1

The Summer Palace

Here are some highlights from each of the days we were in China...



Sunday...we have been traveling for two days and have had a decent nights sleep. We are heading to church this morning to celebrate Easter with people from around the world at the International Christian Fellowship. This is a church where you have to show your passport to enter because Chinese nationals are not allowed to attend. There were people from over 70 different countries worshiping there together.



Today as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ I was reminded of a quote that impacted me and left me thinking.



"Resurrection means that the worst thing won't be the last thing."



After church we went to the Summer Palace and did a bit of sight seeing. In the evening we went to dinner and met with a Chinese man who shared with us about the church in China. He lost his job for being too outspoken about Christ and it was amazing to hear his story. He is very upbeat and excited about all that is happening and was not at all defeated by his change of position. He saw each day as an opportunity to tell others about Christ.



At the end of the day we were all exhausted and feel asleep quite early as the next day we were heading to the Great Wall.

Hey...What Happened to the Updates????

Well if you have been checking the blog for updates on China, you have probably been wondering why I haven't written. Well here is the answer...

Blogger has this really great feature that lets you blog in a bunch of different languages...Chinese being one of them. So when I got on to the computer at the Internet Cafe the site came up in Chinese, which would make sense since I was accessing it from China. The problem comes in the fact that I don't read Chinese and the layout is a bit different than our US site. I couldn't figure out how to log onto my blog. And even if I could have, it would have been in Chinese. My friend that I was visting said that happens to him sometimes. Sites just don't come up in English and unless you can read enough to figure out how to change the language you are stuck. So I was stuck!

That is the main reason the blog was not updated...the alternate reason is that even if I could have logged on, I would not have had much freedom to write as everything on my blog was subject to being read by the authorities. After realizing that my blog mentions that I am a mission director, it didn't seem prudent to take that risk, even if I could have. My friend in China said that a number of those serving in China have recently been kicked out of the country and I didn't want to risk endangering anyone there.

So in the next few days I will be posting a day by day recap of the trip, along with some pictures and some of the things that we have learned while traveling. Thanks for praying for us. We had a good trip and have gained a new appreciation for all that those serving in China face on a daily basis.