I remember the first thing I asked about the previous LST team was "What's your typical day look like?" So I feel like we should have a post on that.
Our typical schedule for a day looks something like this:
Devotional 8:00 – 8:30
Breakfast
1st Class 10:00
2nd Class 11:00
Lunch
3rd Class 1:00
4th Class 2:00
5th Class 3:00
6th Class 4:00
7th Class 5:00
Dinner
8th Class 7:00
9th Class 8:00
10th Class 9:00
In the morning we get together and have our morning devotional to start the day. This week we have talked about the importance of daily Bible reading, the power of God’s word, and the spiritual disciplines. After our devotional we have breakfast together. Sometimes we eat oatmeal in our room and other times we go across the street to a fast food restaurant. We found the Chinese equivalent of Granola bar and oatmeals. They taste pretty good.
After breakfast we take a 15 minute walk to the shopping mall where we have our reading sessions. The mall is very modern and similar to the malls in Dallas. The mall has a food court with Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC, Dairy Queen, and of course lots of Chinese restaurants.
We have our morning reading sessions at 10:00 and 11:00. Most of the readers during this time are college students. In the evenings we study with working professionals.
After our morning reading sessions we meet for lunch. Andrew and Jaime try to join us for lunch every day. And then after lunch we run any errands that we need to run. Yesterday we went to the post office, China Post, and mailed some things to Wendy’s sister in Shenzhen and her parents in Shihezi. The day before we went to Walmart to buy some supplies for the LST party on Sunday afternoon.
The afternoon reading sessions start at 1:00 and continue until 5:00. When we have gaps in our reading sessions we stand outside the mall near the bus stop and hold English corner. When the interested people approach us we tell them that we are Christians from America and we are here to help them improve their English by reading out of the book of Luke in the Bible.
In the evening reading sessions we have the most readers. Sometimes we have to double up two readers per worker to accommodate them.
We have reading sessions on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Sunday we worship with the local church and fellowship with them. Tuesday is our day off each week. On our first day off we visited the Pearl Market and The Temple of Heaven.
The Temple of Heaven is an ancient Chinese site where emperors would make an annual animal sacrifice to ask God to bless their crops. The annual ritual included a day of fasting and abstinence before making the offering and asking for the blessing. The emperor would also write out his prayers and then burn them on the altar where the sacrifice was made.
Yesterday during my reading session I observed the vast difference between an open heart and a skeptical heart. One of my readers wants to know more and more and is attracted to the light of Jesus. Another reader is repelled by his teachings and wants to continue to living in darkness.
We are healthy and enjoying beautiful fall weather in Beijing. We give thanks to God for this! And more than that we are thankful to be serving our Lord no matter where we are in the world.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Seed Planting
Yesterday we had 18 readers (reading sessions)! Some of them were new and many of them were returning from previous sessions. Several readers brought their friends, spouses, and children along with them the second time.
One of our readers shared with us that she had failed her college entrance exams and felt lost in the world. She was raised on a peanut farm in a small village in the south. She is temporarily living in Beijing trying to find a job but is not having much success. To add to her difficulties she tells us that she has no belief in God now. But she also told us that she met a Christian lady who reached out to her on the bus in her village not long ago. She went to the local Chinese church with her afterwards. Apparently God is sending people to work in her life. Please pray for her.
One of our readers loves music, movies, parties, and dancing. The first night we met him he invited all of us to go the club with him! He is a lively young man with a passion to learn English. Two of his comments today in our reading session were "Chinese have no faith" and "we have less in life because we have no faith". Also, during the same conversation he said "in Beijing we have no time and no interest in religion". That may reflect most young people's mentality here. We feel more blessed to be able to be here to plant the seeds.
One of our readers shared with us that she had failed her college entrance exams and felt lost in the world. She was raised on a peanut farm in a small village in the south. She is temporarily living in Beijing trying to find a job but is not having much success. To add to her difficulties she tells us that she has no belief in God now. But she also told us that she met a Christian lady who reached out to her on the bus in her village not long ago. She went to the local Chinese church with her afterwards. Apparently God is sending people to work in her life. Please pray for her.
One of our readers loves music, movies, parties, and dancing. The first night we met him he invited all of us to go the club with him! He is a lively young man with a passion to learn English. Two of his comments today in our reading session were "Chinese have no faith" and "we have less in life because we have no faith". Also, during the same conversation he said "in Beijing we have no time and no interest in religion". That may reflect most young people's mentality here. We feel more blessed to be able to be here to plant the seeds.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Reading Session Started
Sunday a cold front blew into Beijing and the weather has cooled off significantly - fall weather is in the air!
We are so thankful to be here in Beijing working with Andrew and Jaime Hill. They have a passion for the Lord that is contagious. They have tremendous enthusiasm for the work they are called to do. We are full of joy too as we share the good news with those God is bringing to us through our outreach here. We had our first day of reading Monday. God brought 14 readers who had different life experiences to us on this day. Most of the readers have never read the Bible before and most know very little about it. The statistics of China indicate more than 1 billion people here are not Christians, and from our experience so far we certainly believe it.
Leslie and I (David) had a lot of fun holding an English corner on Monday afternoon during the time we didn't have readers. Two American guys holding up signs saying "English Corner FREE" certainly gets plenty of attention. We signed up an additional 7 readers after standing a couple of hours in front of the mall. Our schedules are filled up very quickly and our days will be very full from now on ...
Worship on Sunday morning was a spiritual feast. A Chinese brother led us through thoughts on prayer out of the sermonon the mount. Andrew Hill led us in communion thoughts out of Isaiah 44. The messages were insightful and edifying. After services most of the members stayed to share lunch together. Later that afternoon we had the new readers registration there. Attached is a picture of the restaurant where services are held.
We are so thankful to be here in Beijing working with Andrew and Jaime Hill. They have a passion for the Lord that is contagious. They have tremendous enthusiasm for the work they are called to do. We are full of joy too as we share the good news with those God is bringing to us through our outreach here. We had our first day of reading Monday. God brought 14 readers who had different life experiences to us on this day. Most of the readers have never read the Bible before and most know very little about it. The statistics of China indicate more than 1 billion people here are not Christians, and from our experience so far we certainly believe it.
Leslie and I (David) had a lot of fun holding an English corner on Monday afternoon during the time we didn't have readers. Two American guys holding up signs saying "English Corner FREE" certainly gets plenty of attention. We signed up an additional 7 readers after standing a couple of hours in front of the mall. Our schedules are filled up very quickly and our days will be very full from now on ...
Worship on Sunday morning was a spiritual feast. A Chinese brother led us through thoughts on prayer out of the sermonon the mount. Andrew Hill led us in communion thoughts out of Isaiah 44. The messages were insightful and edifying. After services most of the members stayed to share lunch together. Later that afternoon we had the new readers registration there. Attached is a picture of the restaurant where services are held.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Arrived - 1st Day
We arrived!
Yesterday all of us safely made it to Beijing with all of our bags! One new experience traveling this time was the requirement to fill out a Health Declaration Form asking if we had cough, fever,sneeze, etc. After filling out the form they guided us through a checkpoint that measured out temperaturewith an infrared camera. We all passed through!
As soon as we checked into our hotel we held an English corner in front of the shopping mall near us. We met lots of interested students and invited them to our information meeting later afterward. We have been praying for a long time about who we would meet. Please pray for all of the relationships today that we will begin forming.
Yesterday all of us safely made it to Beijing with all of our bags! One new experience traveling this time was the requirement to fill out a Health Declaration Form asking if we had cough, fever,sneeze, etc. After filling out the form they guided us through a checkpoint that measured out temperaturewith an infrared camera. We all passed through!
As soon as we checked into our hotel we held an English corner in front of the shopping mall near us. We met lots of interested students and invited them to our information meeting later afterward. We have been praying for a long time about who we would meet. Please pray for all of the relationships today that we will begin forming.
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