Fresh Faces

Fresh Faces that we had over for dinner recently - Andrew, Matt, Mae, Kate, Anna. Four from FSU, so everyone got very enthusiastic about football talk.

 Guys' Night December 2014

Because David from New Zealand and Bob from Kansas are here, our monthly Guys' Night benefited from their wisdom and experience. Tonight's topic was Preparing for a Godly Marriage.

And she said (Round Two) -----

Miracles never cease. 

We rejoice with our son James and his beautiful now fiancee, Amy. Congratulations you two!!

Request for a couple

Please remember & think about a couple here. Do a Google search on a Canadian couple in China to find the latest news. This couple has been detained for four months, much longer than I hear is normal. They need G's help.

Ok, I confess . . .

Ok, I confess…I am a bibliophile. I love books; rather I love to read books. So when Tim brought us a stack of coffee the other week, he also brought us a stack of books. In preparation for Tim’s flight to BJ, Mark had asked our GBC secretary to send some book titles that we might use to begin a book table at BBC so she sent 1-2 copies of a variety of books and booklets with him. What a joy to see some new young people that we had over for dinner last Friday get excited about good, theologically rich books. We sold about 3 of them that night. 

The next day as I converted the USD to CNY, I got distracted by one particular book, called Parenting in the Pew by Robbie Castleman, an EXCELLENT book.  I ended up reading half the book then & there and skimming most of the latter half. I decided in this international culture that has so many different perspectives, this book is an excellent source of applying what it means to worship.  The first half of the book could really apply to all people, not just children or families with children. I almost would like to write the author and encourage her to rework the first five chapters for an adult audience and entitle it something like “How to train ourselves to worship God.” As I read, I created a short summary of each chapter.

Chapter 1 – Why even go to church? It is just a habit (albeit a good one)? Does it make us feel good? Does it start our week out right? No – we go to church to worship God, the awesome, good, & righteous God of Heaven.

Chapter 2 – What is worship? Worship is for God. It takes participation, practice, and patience. How do we as adults come to worship?

Chapter 3 – How do children worship? Children of all ages, tots to teens, have substantial capacity to worship God. In fact, in one example in the book, a teen who began to pay attention to the worship and listen attentively to the sermons, stated something like “I never knew a sermon could be so interesting.”

Chapter 4 – How do we prepare for worship? Start the night before. Have an expectant attitude. The book gives so many useful ideas for adults and families to prepare for worship.

Chapter 5 – How do we worship? How do we train our children, or ourselves, to worship? Practical ideas to encounter God.

Chapters 6 to the end of the book– How to use specific elements in the worship service to teach us how to worship. The following chapters give specific applications and examples of how to use music, praying, tithing, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, etc, to teach children how to participate in the worship of God. Admittedly, I skimmed this section but noticed that it contained lots of practical help in these areas. Then I loaned the book out before I finished.

Because the author is Presbyterian, some of the ideas and suggestions involve what some might call “high church” elements, but the book contains such a variety of ideas and suggestions that anyone can learn from them. In fact, it gave me ideas to use in an international, hotel setting in a country that doesn’t have resources.

So I highly recommend this book, such that I believe each family unit should own a copy. Maybe in my second life, I should be a book reviewer and get paid for reading. Now that sounds good.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

David's Song of Thanks

from 1 Chronicles 16

8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
    make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
    tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
    seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
    his miracles and the judgments he uttered,
13 O offspring of Israel his servant,
    children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

14 He is the Lord our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.
15 Remember his covenant forever,
    the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
16 the covenant that he made with Abraham,
    his sworn promise to Isaac,
17 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
18 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,
    as your portion for an inheritance.”

19 When you were few in number,
    of little account, and sojourners in it,
20 wandering from nation to nation,
    from one kingdom to another people,
21 he allowed no one to oppress them;
    he rebuked kings on their account,
22 saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
    do my prophets no harm!”

23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
    Tell of his salvation from day to day.
24 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples!
25 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and he is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
27 Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and joy are in his place.

28 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come before him!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;[b]
30     tremble before him, all the earth;
    yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice,
    and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
32 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
    let the field exult, and everything in it!
33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy
    before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever!

35 Say also:

“Save us, O God of our salvation,
    and gather and deliver us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
    and glory in your praise.
36 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!”

Coffee Anyone??????

The Lord has given us friends in high places. Our new friend, Tim, is a pilot for United Airlines so whenever he comes to BJ, we get to catch up with him. This past Sunday he came to church and spent the day with us, having coffee at Rupert's home, then dinner at our home with friends from downstairs. Mark asked the girls to buy some decaf coffee and send by way of Tim. Well, Mark got his coffee!!

Tim, Mark & Coffee

Hatfield Hotel

We never have a dull moment here. Several people have commented that they enjoy reading our blog so I tried to think of what I could write about recently. Maybe the title should be “Hatfield Hotel open for business.” This past week an elderly couple, Jim & Esther, stayed with us after returning to the city. They are now staying on the other side of town while looking for their own apartment. 

Like last year, we have had week-long guests each month – Pam & Frank from SC in September, Steve & Dahlas from MA in October, Jim & Esther from OH in November and David from New Zealand is coming in December. We just heard from Jim & Marge that they will visit family in April and would like to visit us too. These are in addition to unplanned stays by other friends.

We enjoyed getting to know this godly couple. They have served overseas for most of their marriage - Outer Mongolia, The Gambia, and 30 years in the Philippines. As Esther introduced us to her friends when they reconnected, we watched her teach and guide young sisters and brothers. So encouraging to see their fruitfulness in their later years. Such a picture of Psalm 92:12-15:

The righteous flourish like the palm tree

    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the Lord is upright;
    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Esther & Jim with Barnabas

Dreaming in Chinese

Recently, I started reading a book called Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows. As I read it, it seems I have read it before. Maybe I read it last spring, but it’s still enjoyable the second time around. The first time is good but the second time is even better. The second time around I understand more. Kind of like learning Chinese. In the case of the book, I identify with the author more. She lived in Beijing and Shanghai, first in the later 1980’s then almost 20 years later when her husband was a foreign reporter and researcher. Deborah trained as a linguist so her perspective on living in Beijing comes from looking at life through the lenses of language learning.

Reading the book again makes me think of learning Mandarin. I listen to the text CDs, go to class, try to communicate in class, but it doesn’t seem to stick. On Thursdays we meet with a tutor. During that time, Mark brings last year’s books and goes over concepts, grammar, words that we have already studied. Poor tutor. I’m sure she wonders if we even learned anything the first time. I think: we have been over this so many times before. However, repetition is key to early learning. We try to use those words in multiple combinations, adding more words here and there, rearranging the word order, adding descriptive words.  Anything to make them stick.  Anything to master Mandarin, even if it’s bit by bit.

From the Amazon.com website: Deborah Fallows has spent a lot of her life learning languages and traveling around the world. But nothing prepared her for the surprises of learning Mandarin, China's most common language, or the intensity of living in Shanghai and Beijing. Over time, she realized that her struggles and triumphs in studying learning the language of her adopted home provided small clues to deciphering behavior and habits of its people, and its culture's conundrums. As her skill with Mandarin increased, bits of the language - a word, a phrase, an oddity of grammar - became windows into understanding romance, humor, protocol, relationships, and the overflowing humanity of modern China.

...Dreaming in Chinese is the story of what Deborah Fallows discovered about the Chinese language, and how that helped her make sense of what had at first seemed like the chaos and contradiction of everyday life in China.

Oh, those tones!

Last Thursday with our time with our Chinese tutor, Mark worked on an introductory ‘paragraph’ that he can use to talk to people around town. So I thought I would use it to practice my hanzi.

我叫马克。我的英文名字是MARK。这是我的老婆。她的英文名子是CHERYL。 去年八月我们来北京了。所以我们在这人住了一年零两个月了。我们有四个孩子：两个奴儿和连个儿子。他们都住在美国。我们的大奴儿是老师。我们的小奴儿是护士(too difficult to explain PTA)，(最近她毕业了）。这个星期她开始工作了。我们的儿子都是大学生。我们的大儿子有中国奴朋友。我们觉得日后他们会结婚。下个月我们回美国去,然后明年一月我们中国来。我老婆是汉语学生。每星期一，三，五每天学习三个小时。每星期下午我们跟 L.老师在五道口见面。她教我们汉语。我们也一起聊天人。我是国际教堂的牧师。

Here I inserted a bit of fun with our tutor. I have noticed that some people don’t understand the word ‘mushi’ when Mark tells them what he does for work. So I looked it up on Pleco and discovered the problem. When I showed our tutor the translation of what Mark had been saying, we both cracked up. Tones are everything in Chinese. By the tones Mark used, he was saying he was a wood louse or a lioness. Pastor has different tones!

 I noticed interesting reactions, too, when Mark said 请问。Said one way it means, “Please, may I ask.…” Said with different tones it means, “Please, may I kiss you.” No wonder people ignored him!

Rice Paddy Park

Mark & I have enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening by ourselves. After spending all afternoon on Chinese homework, we took advantage of the BEAUTIFUL, clear skies and brisk weather to walk in the local park. I call it the Rice Paddy Park. Last week we walked there with Leslie and talked with a Chinese guy who said the rice stalks would be cut down in a week. I wanted to get back before then to take pictures of it. 

I guess you could say he is now the Paddy Pastor.

Mexican week

We had a bit of a Mexican week this week. Not only with Leslie but also with another Mexican family and another Mexican au pair. Tuesday while at Temple of Heaven with Leslie, we ran into a family as we walked along the east wall of the park. Naturally we stopped to talk for several minutes; we exchanged cards and made plans to take them out for Beijing Roast Duck at Hua’s. So Thursday we met up and went to Hua’s. Leslie brought along a friend with whom she had spent the day. Mark & I shared dinner with  Rolando, Lupita, and Daniela from Yucatan, Tamara from Mexico City, and Leslie from Juarez. We laughed a lot and shared stories of our families. Then we walked along Ghost Street and Dongzhimen Dajie looking for a Starbucks to purchase a Beijing mug. By the time we figured out where the Starbucks was, it had already closed. The gals chatted along in Spanish most of the time while Mark & Rolando hit it off well.  

L-R; Tamara, Daniela, Lupita, Cheryl, Leslie, Rolando

Back in Greenville -------

As I prepared to write a post about the events of this week, Mark checked the local news in Greenville and discovered the following pictures on the WYFF website. Wait - what is today? I thought it was November 1st. Did the weather flip too many pages on its calendar?? Ok, I know you folks in Greenville already knew about this, but I couldn't believe it really snowed on November 1st!

Sara & Leslie

Mark & Cheryl with Sara and Leslie

Why are we here?

So why are we here? One day in language class, we used a Chinese phrase “it is said.” I tried to think of ways to use the phrase. I thought of all kinds of references but finally settled on “it is said, Beijing has lots of foreigners.” I opened up myself to questions. The teacher has asked me “then why are you here?” My Chinese language doesn’t progress as quickly as some in the class because I go home and speak English to everyone. My Chinese only helps me stumble around. I can shop and travel but not hold a conversation. Our teacher thought I hung around Americans all the time therefore my Chinese didn’t progress. I tried to explain that actually we hang around Australians or South Africans, etc. However, now I do have a specific situation to explain why we are here.

About a month ago we met 22-year-old Mexican Leslie at Tiananmen. (See a previous post.) For a few weeks, we had been texting to find a time to reconnect. It turned out the the only time she had available was Sunday so we invited her to join us for worship then lunch afterwards. She expressed a great willingness to do so and came to BBC then lunch this past Sunday. Then Sunday night she called us in distress. 

She had come to Beijing as an au pair for a Chinese family. However, basically that Chinese family tossed her out of their home Sunday evening. According to Leslie, the host mom has been very difficult to work with lately, virtually treating her as a slave. Leslie has tried to accommodate the host mom’s wishes but finally that host mom just didn’t want to make the situation work. The host mom had the family driver take Leslie to a hotel, but apparently it wasn’t a very good situation and Leslie didn’t feel safe so she called us. She came to us to spend a few days until she can get another placement with her au pair agency. Here we have an opportunity to show Chr-like love and serve a needy person. Leslie is sweet, kind, gracious,helpful, etc. Yet when I asked what led her to come to China, she admitted she was looking to fill a void in her life. May G fill that void. 

I missed both language classes Monday while we hung out together, went grocery shopping, made lunch, took a walk when Mark came home, and had a friend Sara over for dinner. We had already scheduled Sara to come for dinner so I texted her to let her know we had an additional guest.

It was great catching up with Sara, whom we met last spring. Sara spent several years in the US and in April was having a difficult time adjusting back to China. She shared about her summer and the difficulties she went through yet testified of G’s faithfulness to her throughout the challenges. We talked about all kinds of subjects – relationships, work, family, church. Leslie listened intently as she shared her heart and her trust in the L.

In addition, Thursday night we join a Mexican family that we met at Temple of Heaven to eat Beijing Duck together at Hua's Restaurant. That family came to Beijing with the dad's work and since the work is finished, they are sightseeing together.

I believe the Lord has us here for such a time as this. (Esther 4:14) To reach out to ex-pats in this big city. They could be tourists passing through. They could be 22-year-old young ladies like our own daughters. Our times and our friendships are in G’s hands.

Remember times such as these.   

Guys' Night of Dinner & Discipleship

Once a month we have a group of single guys over for dinner and discipleship. I make Western food (I figure Chinese make better Chinese food than I do), and after dinner I disappear while the guys discuss a topic. Last night's topic was godly friendships - what are they, what do they look like, how can they develop? Remember these guys as they grow in Chr and develop godly friendships. 

Mark with Daniel (USA), Rudy (France & Cameroon), Simon (UK),
Harry (Philippines), Barnabas (Hungary)

Sunday afternoon group

Sunday afternoon community group -
Sasha, Harry, Josiah, Andre, Ricky with Zoe, Yem, Lyn, Chard, Lacey, Derek

Ghost Street evening with guests

Sunday evening on Ghost Street with "The Flying Dutchmen"
Hendrik & 'Wayne' and Steve & Dahlas

BBC Picnic

BBC Picnic

Several weeks ago we scheduled a BBC picnic at one of the local parks. Three days before our date, the air turned bad and stayed that way for the weekend so we decided to have an inside picnic. We still had a great time of fellowship with about 30 adults in one of our friends' apartment. Next time we may try for an earlier week as we had beautiful blue skies the week before.