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!