Trip Highlights

Tuesday, April 18th
My dad took me to the airport at 5:50am where I met with the rest of our team (with the exception of our leader Fran who went 2 weeks earlier). Other team members included a lady from my church (Lorraine), a worship leader (Barbara) and a lady involved in working with international students (Patricia). By 9 we were waiting in Chicago for our international flight.

Wednesday, April 19th
The flight took us very far North into the Arctic. The only movie I watched was The Family Stone which was typical and so so. We arrived in a dusty Beijing around 2pm. That evening with met with a 4 Chinese people. First, a couple and their child. Fran knew the wife from teaching a Bible study for international students and U.B. The husband does Malaria research and is often in Kenya. Later we met with a house-church member and shared encouragement.

Thursday, April 20th
The ladies visited the great wall on Thursday morning while Fran and I worked with four young house-church girls. They are on fire for God, but lack direction and teaching. We spent most of the time working through a grace/faith/works Bible study that I had recently taught at my church. They also asked questions about some difficult Bible passages (preaching to the spirits in prison and whether our sins are forgiven past, present & future). 2 of the 3 girls had quit their jobs to pursue God's will in their life. One was fasting 40 days. The rest of us enjoyed a good lunch and conversation. In the evening, we met with 4 more young Christians who had amazing testimonies. One of them (Angel) attends the 3-Self church and I've talked to her and her boyfriend via MSN throughout the past year.

Friday, April 21st
Once again, the ladies toured Beijing while Fran and I met with some young Christians. I taught about the Kingdom of God in the morning and prayer in the afternoon. It was so awesome to teach because they were eager to learn. In the early evening Fran and I visited the apartment of the couple from Wednesday. In the evening we had a dinner meeting with some non-Christian Chinese contacts. Each of our team members shared our testimonies and the Chinese asked questions individually until the night was over. Then we packed for Chengdu.

Saturday, April 22nd
Our flight to Chengdu left at 10:50am. We were met by a joyful Christian lady named Wen. We all shared dinner with her parents, husband, child & niece and once again shared testimonies. The niece translated for us and had many questions about the faith.

Sunday, April 23rd
We went to church in Chengdu Sunday morning. It was very similar to a traditional style American worship service. They sang 'Up from the Grave He Arose'. After the service there was a wedding and we had some good discussions with the congregation. Early Sunday evening we began the 5 hour drive to the small town of Da Qiao.

Monday, April 24th
In the morning Fran and I were re-united with the Chinese English teachers at Da Qiao school. I taught 2 classes in the am. The teachers had re-arranged their schedules so that all the English classes were in the morning. In the afternoon most of the teachers and part of our team went to an island school, but I stayed behind and played ping-pong with the Da Qiao students for 3 hours. My feet got really sore.

Tuesday, April 25th
Tuesday was a somewhat uneventful day. I taught 4 classes. Teaching the classes is very fun. I start by having them write down some questions for me. I correct their phrasing and then let a few students ask their question before their classmates. The Q/A time actually allows me to share Christ with the students b/c sometimes they ask about American holidays or my occupation. At the beginning of the week the questions were easy (what is your favorite sport?), but by the end of the week they were asking my opinion on the political difficulty between Taiwan and mainland China!

Wednesday, April 26th
I taught 4 classes on Wednesday. I worked with a great 31 year old teacher named Zhang Li Mei. In the afternoon I learned some new Chinese words as I built a friendship with a 24 year old teacher named He Xia. In the evening their was a program of singing & dancing. I sang the song I learned last year (Xiao Wei).

Thursday, April 27th
I taught 4 classes on Thursday as well. The students were getting more confident by this point. I designed a little skip where I was a waiter and they had to order food in English. Eventually I had students playing both roles. They really got into it and were so funny. In the afternoon I walked around the streets of Da Qiao with the 2 young female teachers He Xia and Xian Hua Li. When we returned I played basketball for 30 minutes and was wiped out. That evening we had a good time of fellowship with the 10 Chinese English teachers.

Friday, April 28th
Thursday night Fran had asked me to re-assign our team members to different teachers so on Friday and for the rest of the trip I worked with He Xia and Mr. Pu. I taught 7 classes. In the evening I visited the home of my friend Bird (another Chinese English teacher). We had a good long discussion about Christianity and girls. He is a 30 year old single guy. He said his 2 criteria for a potential girlfriend are 1) She must like the same music as me and 2) She must love Jesus. Bird is not a Christian, but he has observed that Christian girls are swell. He's funny.

Saturday, April 29th
Saturday morning I shared my testimony via a letter to He Xia. She doesn't speak enough English (and I certainly don't speak enough Chinese!) for us to have a good conversation. She was very glad to read the testimony and we continued to write back and forth throughout the week. I taught 6 classes Saturday. In the evening we shared dinner with all the English teachers and then us younger one's (He Xia, Xian Hua Li, Bird & myself) went for a walk.

Sunday, April 30th
We went to church in Da Qiao. There were about 150 in the congregation. . In the afternoon I asked He Xia to take me to the internet bar, but she took me to use the internet at Mr. Feng's (yet another teacher) apartment. I hung out with them for a while and then visited his neighbor (Zhang Li Mei) for a couple more hours. They asked some questions about the nature of the church in America. In the evening we met in an attempt to learn a Chinese song. We had a great time working on it. He Xia, Xian Hua Li and myself were being pretty goofy.

Monday, May 1st
I taught 6 classes on Monday and played basketball at 5 for about an hour and a half. In the evening we met with the teachers and taught them 5 Christian worship songs. They love learning new English songs.

Tuesday, May 2nd
Tuesday was the last day of classes before May-break. I taught 6 classes and they were great fun. I tried something new by simply speaking 10 English words and having the students write down what word they thought I was saying. They were correct about 80% of the time. In the evening I talked to a visiting college student about the Gospel for about 2 hours. Next I talked with Xian Hua Li. She's always laughing, but she really opened up to me and told me about how on the inside she's often very sad.

Wednesday, May 3rd
On this day the school celebrated its 50th anniversary. Many alumni came to support the school. We had a huge feast in the cafeteria. In the afternoon I made some gifts for the teachers. In the evening the students performed some dances, songs and skits. Us Americans sang the song we learned and I sang Xiao Wei again before 3000 people. At night I stayed out late with Bird, He Xia, Xian Hua Li and the music teacher.

Thursday, May 4th
We had breakfast and said our goodbye's. I really didn't want to leave all the teachers. Thankfully, He Xia and Xian Hua Li wanted to go to Chengdu over the holiday break so they hitched a ride with us. On the way to Chengdu the truck carrying Barb, He Xia, Xian Hua Li and myself was hit by a bus. Xian Hua Li had a minor bump on her head. Later we said goodbye to them and had dinner in the city.

Friday, May 5th
Us guys woke up a little late for our ride to the Chengdu airport, but we still made it in plenty of time b/c guys can get ready super fast. We flew from Chengdu to Beijing, met with a few more Chinese house-church Christians and then left Beijing toward Chicago. The plane was only half full so we all spread out. I actually got a couple hours of sleep I think. By 11pm I was back at my home in America.