Some Great News from China ...

From: Erik
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 8:47 AM
Subject: Some great news!!!!!!!!!

Hi 2006 China Team,

I have some really exciting news....I met with Richard at the Hua Mei office a few days ago who told me that 40 out of the 250 junior and senior high school students that joined our English Camp in Luxian last summer are now regularly attending the Luxian Christian Church. The young pastor who leads this church told Richard that he has never had any young people come to his church; now he has 40 of them. That is what I call “instant youth group.” Anyway, Richard told me to tell you how thankful they are that we helped with this English camp. As a result of your involvement last summer, 40 young people are now investigating God and a personal relationship with Jesus. That is so awesome. Hua Mei has handed out over 100 bi-lingual Bibles we donated to them last summer. These were given to all those who indicated an interest. God is working in the lives of these precious kids; who knows, some of them might be in heaven with us some day.

Have a great day,

Erik

Three Random Pictures from Our China Trip ...

.

Where's My Son?

Have I told you lately that Ryan
has gone to college and I miss him?

(You'd miss him, too!).

.

He's coming home for an "overnighter" on Friday.
.

Very Cool!!
.

Day 15 ~ Thursday 8/10 ~ Home from China!

Dearest Loved Ones ~

Ryan and I are home from our most
AWESOME trip to China ...


I will be working to add more pictures to my journal entries below
(Yeah for high speed internet that works & more pix taken by our team members!!!)
~~ It will take a few days, so come back to visit later for updates, too ~~

Love, Joy, and Peace to YOU!
Sherrie (& Ryan, too :)

Day 1 ~ Thursday 7/27 ~ China Departure!

Well, the time has arrived ~
We are ready to take flight on the wings of God
and Go to China!

~ Here is a team picture we took at our meeting this week ~
** What a very, very, very awesome group of people **
It has been so precious to discover the unique gifts, hearts, abilities, personalities,
and experiences of each person and how together our team is blessed by the mixture.
Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Hopefully this picture will help you to visualize and pray for
All of us as we journey together in Christ's Love ...

(((((~:...THE DREAM TEAM...:~)))))
BACK ~ Sherrie, Erik, Ryan, Tyson, Megan & Brian
FRONT ~ Paul David, Melissa, Brittany & Steve

Our first trek Thursday & Friday & Saturday is travel ... as follows:
Denver to San Francisco
San Francisco to Beijing
Overnight in Beijing
Beijing to Chengdu
Van from Chengdu to Luxian
~ The time change puts us 14 hours ahead of Denver ~

Prayer Requests:
Please pray that we rest well during the 20 hours of
air & van travel and many more hours of airports and such

Please pray that we will stay healthy & strong
(we cannot drink the water in China, etc.)

Please pray for our families, friends, ministries, and businesses
Venturing on without us for two weeks.

And Throughout ...
Please pray that we cling to the Lord, love each other,
and spread His love to all whom we meet along our journey.

I'll post an update as soon as I am able!
Love, Sherrie

Day 2 ~ Friday 7/28 ~ Arrival in Beijing

Dear Friends & Family ~

We've arrived safe, sound & happy in Beijing ~ we need to stay here overnight and we leave on a shuttle at 7.30am to go back to the airport for our next flight to Chengdu (2.5 hours west) and then a 3 hour van ride south to Luxian. We had some challenges with our flights that turned into major blessings for 6 of us (who were"bumped" up to business class since our seats in economy had been given away). It was such a reminder that God is God, especially in the challenges of our lives!

On our arrival, some went to bed, some ate dinner at the hotel, and four of us walked several blocks around the hotel ~ it was such a neat experience. This city is a cross between London & New York.There are lots of parks with adult size playground equipment to exercise and we came across two open-air squares that were lit up with dancing. There are lots of people and all seem to be engaging in life but without smiles. The humidity is high but the temperature not too hot. A drumstick ice cream is about 20 cents. I'm struggling a bit already with dehydration because of my hesitancy to drink even the bottled water ... I need to get over that!

The team is awesome, the hotel is very nice this first night (our one night in nice digs with air conditioning perhaps!) We took in a 10 minute swim before the pool closed. We appear to be oddities to the Chinese who call us long noses (I understand!)... I don't think we stare at foreigners in the same way they have been staring at us.

I have been pondering what it would be like if a Chinese person who spoke no English came to America to tell me about their God ... and the only way that I could consider entertaining such a discussion would be if they had been developing a relationship with me andsomething about them was keenly special. Our camp is designed to be just that ~ two English classes in the morning, lunch together, afternoon activities together (there are five activity groups -sports, board games, drama, singing, and line dancing ... Ryan is on sports and I'm on board games), then dinner together.

And our team seems to have the kind of "wonder" that is winsome ... the love, joy and peace of Christ is throughout our hearts and interactions ~ and for that we are greatly blessed :~)

Thank you for your love and support!

Love to you all, Sherrie

Day 3 ~ Saturday 7/29 ~ Travel to Chengdu then Luxian

One "knows" the world is soooooooo big, but can you really "know" it without seeing it? Without walking it? Without sweating in it?! Hello from the very hot, very muggy city of Luxian ~ after a day where the county was without electricity. Whew! Hot, Hot, Hot.

Since I've last written, it seems like a month has been lived. Just yesterday we flew from Beijing to Chengdu on a beautiful Air China plane.

The fleet is so new and so nice and the food was delightful ~ the spicy dishes which the Sechaun province is famous. I shared with a member of our team that it was sad for me to see few, if any, smiles from the Chinese.

As we deplaned, fetched our luggage, and headed out of the airport, we were greeted by several people from Hua Mei including our teaching assistants / translators. There were smiles! And handshakes and hugs. Excitement and anticipation. Their joy that we would come to teach English.

At Hua Mei's offices, we met many of the other teachers who had come from California, Toronto, and Singapore. And we boarded a large tour bus for the 4 hour adventure onto Luxian.

Somehow in this transfer though, we lost Megan's nebulizer which she had so carefully packed with doctor's sign in sheet, medicine, etc. for her asthma. In a step of faith, she chose to continue on ... not wanting to miss the camp and work we were here to do. Please pray for Melissa's lungs!

Taking it all in ~ new people, new culture, new languages, new reponsibilities, new everything.

The realization that we were no longer in Kansas anymore hit me square between the eyes when ... ... ... ...

We had all heard of asian toilets, but the hearing did nothing to prepare us for the reality of squatting... About an hour before our arrival, we stopped at a rest area (think truckstop) along the way to use the bathroom and buy more water bottles. And there, it was right there, that the big over ceramic holes (hard aiming for women!) Even though they flushed ... well, we'll leave it at that. None of the women on our team talked as they came out. No one wants to complain. No one will. So it was simply quiet. A funny kind of quiet between each of us and our God. Good Lord, this is so different, and we are SOOO here! In this foreign land, with a foreign people, squatting over holes. Okay then! (And we are told that the asians find the western toilets to be dirty and disgusting ~ is that just too humorous, or what!)

We are so blessed to have the western style toilets in our hotel!! And speaking of hotels, the LongCheng Hotel even had a welcome banner out for our whole stay:

We had a great welcome banquet in private rooms in their restaurant upon our arrival ~ the Chinese food is here is EXCEPTIONAL. And the love and attention showered upon us by our Hua Mei hosts has been so awesome.

And after a long day, I found so much comfort in the quiet, low light of my room after Megan went to bed, to just unpack, restack, organize, and such. It soothed me to bring a little bit of a sense of control and order to my life by stacking my shoes, putting away those things not needed until we fly again, and put my power cords in neat rows. Funny how most of us (right?) have a need for feeling of control ~ when in fact we have such little control at all in our lives.

Day 4 ~ Sunday 7/30 ~ Church, Dennis & Bill

Breakfast bright and early at 7am with a van ride at 7.30 to church services at a local, registered Christian church. Here are more smiling Chinese! The joy of the Lord ~ celebration, praise, singing, prayer, and the message. As a group, we "sang back" to the congregation, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ... It was such an awesome time. Many from the church greeted us at the street with great fanfare and music, openly celebrating their faith in China ...

The church service was all in Chinese, but participating built our faith even without words!

The Chinese walked us back to the bus to say goodbye. I would love to worship with them again :~)

Then we took a bus back to our hotel ... This is Melissa and I on the bus, so happy to find joy in China!Our team walked around the hotel area ... the power in Luxian had gone out so the streets were "cool" (okay, that was quite a stretch!) and we stopped at a government building with a large courtyard and shaded marble steps to rest. Here are some pix of us, trying to take everything in, still unsure of ourselves, a bit concerned about no power and heat, wanting to find home in the midst of everything... and yes, there is a picture below of Megan and Brittany turning cartwheels in the middle of China!

Two boys rode up on a single bicycle ... "Hi, my name is Dennis, I go to Luxian High School #2 and will be taking English Summer Camp this week."

"We're the teachers!" we replied with big smiles.

"I know."

"But how?" (we're thinking, are we that obvious and foreign?)

"I recognized you from your pictures in the newspaper."

Infamous before our time!! Dennis and Bill spoke with us for a half an hour ... their English is very good. Dennis' father teaches science and Dennis loves physics. Bill has many dreams, but could not put them in words. It was such a delightful exchange and such a gift from our Lord of comfort to our hearts about our upcoming teaching duties. (Here's our team with Dennis & Bill ... and this day was a great foreshadowing of the special week to come with them ... Bill is in the white t-shirt and Dennis is wearing the darker color)

We had lunch and orientation at the high school ~ it was a great and hot afternoon of preparing for our camp. Here is a quick pic from our orientation meeting at the school ~ you can see the back of Hilary's head (A british women in her 2nd year of living in Chengdu with husband, and my co-teacher, Carey ... the two men standing are Richard and Bill from Hua Mei headquarters, both of whom live in Chengdu as well):

And as we took our van back to the hotel, we were excited to see fans on in the shops giving us hope for air conditioning ~ yes! And, the tech came and got our internet working. And it is cool in the rooms and the internet works.

And it is about time for dinner ... so away we will go for the next step on this path of faith.

Love and hugs and holy kisses,
Sherrie

Day 5 ~ Monday 7/31 ~ Opening Ceremony & Placement Testing

We're back in our rooms for a very short break ... this morning was the opening ceremony at the high school which was awesome! As we got settled in and waited for the start, I spied some very good looking Americans with their Hua Mei fans:

There were many welcomes from many people involved ... Hua Mei, Luxian #2 School officials, Chinese government officials .... here was a picture from one set of those introductions and welcomes:


Then "The Band" who is with us blessed us with some Christian rock ~ the DC Talk version of Lean on Me, The Reason, and the teachers joined them as we sang God of Wonders to the students ... definitely a highlight moment of the whole trip. The communication through music seemed more special than all the talk that proceeded it!

In the back left is Matt on drums, the left forefront has Maurice running powerpoint, Dean the leader has the guitar, Kevin is playing the bongos, and Nate is on keyboard:


In just 1/2 hour, we will conduct a brief placement test of all 300 students and organize them by abilities for our 12 classes ... 1 being the newest learners and 12 being the most experienced. Ryan is teaching in 9 and I'm teaching class 10.

My co-teachers are Carey from the UK and Beryl from Canada. Carey and his wife Hilary have been in Chengdu for 2 years learning Chinese and teaching English at a University. Beryl attends a Chinise Chirstian Church in Toronto (their whole team of 17 are Chinese who live in Tornonto). We also have 6 teachers from Singapore, 4 from Los Angeles, and 1 from Switzerland.

After the placement tests, we jump into Lessons 1 and 2 ~ "My name is" ... Please pray for all the teams to work cooperatively and effectively and for the students to let go of their stress of getting everything perfect. We so want them to have fun while they are learning and practicing.

This next picture is of Hermann, the leader of the students / school, talking to the students after their placement tests and announcing how the next morning will start off. Hermann is very loved by all the students, speaks wonderful English, and is a fine, fine leader in many ways:

After another wonderful dinner at the hotel, Brian led our devotion ...

As part of the devotion he lead, Brian shared several scriptures, and also read the following: "While attending a university in London years ago, one young man became interested in the Christian faith. Upon his graduation, he was almost convinced but was still seeking evidence that this faith was practical and true. He accepted employment in East Africa and for seven months lived in the home of a Christian family. As soon as he discovered they were followers of Christ, he decided their home would be the ideal testing ground for the evidence he sought. Unfortunately, as the months passed, he saw nothing that attracted him. The family was apathetic toward him and their faith. They didn't reach out to him or to others, and they were casual about their commitments in general. In fact, they complained about any sacrifices they had to make on behalf of others. They never connected with him. Consequently, this student's interest in God turned to disappointment. He left his pursuit of Christ and went a different direction, moving back home to India. He eventually led a revolution. This young man's name was Mahatma Gandhi."

Hmmmm ... is our faith "real" ~ does our love of God translate into a love of people and a desire to connect with them in meaningful and supportive ways? Our lives are our message... the love of the Lord that overflows and is shared with all around ...

All is awesome ~ love from the team!
Sherrie