CHINA (Tuesday)

TUESDAY, NOV. 5

 The alarm rang early again this morning. The pastor’s wife had brought over fruit last night; apples, grapes, and pears. Had one of the juicy pears – good! The apple the night before had also been juicy and tasty. Managed to get in a few Skype calls and by 7:40, it was time to walk to the church, a fifteen minute walk past a group of four or five police (who made me nervous because Jason said that foreigners are never in TC walking along the street). Well, no problem.

We arrived at the church and were ushered down near the kitchen where women were cleaning white radish outside on the cement and women were inside cooking. The head cook was making noodles for us for breakfast. The noodles were not homemade (unlike the Muslim kind), but nevertheless good, mixed in with a pork sausage broth.

Then upstairs where the people were gathering for singing. They keep the sound system at “MAX” here so that the singing of the man and woman made the pews vibrate (and feedback is also frequent). A prayer following the singing and Jason and I were on.

I did a thorough job of the Divine Plan (maybe too much because the first woman simply read her notes). The man, however, did a fine job (I also said that he could not use notes so he told the story directly off of the power point. The group of 125 was not quite as enthusiastic as Bible training center last March. And maybe it was because these people are just regular church pew people, not as fired up as those who come to the training center. But they still did a great job.

Break time. The pastor’s wife came to me with her phone showing me pictures of their 14 year old son, two inches taller than his father. She is obviously proud of her son. Showed more pictures and tried with her Russian accent to share a few English words. I greatly appreciated her efforts because that is the only English I get other than from Jason.

Lunch today was SPICY (good thing that I took my zantac this morning). Not just one dish, but several had green and/or red peppers making the whole dish hot. My mouth burned. I did my best to enjoy the food, but I had to intersperse the very hot/spicy dishes with pieces of deep fried pig fat. And if you don’t know that dish, it’s worth trying although Jason said that one should only eat one or two pieces of fat. Unhealthy!

Rest time was until 2:00 when the group gathered for singing. During the break, back at the hotel, I watched with interest as they mixed the hard, old fashioned way (see video). On our way back to the church, we stopped to see if we could find some chocolate – to no avail. My presentation on the Emmaus Disciples began at 2:30 (presentation went well).

The pastor’s wife brought fruit the first night we were here; pears, apples, and grapes. Today she brought additional fruit; tangerines, cumquats and fresh dates. And it is never just one or two pieces of fruit. We have plenty to share with other.

Following the session, 13 of us went to a restaurant for dinner. A couple from the church purchased the meal for us – and a good one it really was. He works as the city department head of transportation. 

Tomorrow will share the story of Zacchaeus and talk about the colors as a witness tool.

Both men on the top shoveled constantly; one shovel of gravel, two shovels of sand. The concrete man brought bags of cement as needed. When the cement on top was right, he opened a chute to fill the containers below. The cart below was pushed by one man (very heavy) to the area where he was to dump it. That done, the other man shoveled it to the appropriate spot. The woman looked to be like a supervisor - she only placed stakes and fixed the electric cord.

Preparing white radish (greens and roots) for the day's cooking.

The broth was made, and the final step was the noodles. The noodle soup was made with a ground pork base - and was good. Little woks for small jobs; big wood fired woks for larger meals.

Sharing the Divine Plan.

Grandmas love their grandbabies.

This grandmother would not even let me hold her grandson.

This boy's mother traveled 1 1/2 hours to come to the church just for prayer. Her son is unable to walk due to some problem with both of the legs. Jason said that medical care was probably out of the question because they are from the country. I was asked to give this boy an English name and then we prayed for him. I gave him the name Paul.