Category Archives: Beginning the Journey

The Joys of Mid-Autumn Festival

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Experiencing the holidays is one of the best parts of cultural immersion. How a people group celebrates and remembers tells so much about their beliefs, history, and culture. The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节,pinyin: zhōngqiū jié) is one such holiday that has been celebrated in China for well over a thousand years. The story of this holiday differs depending on which part of the country you are in, and who tells, it but it typically involves a warrior who shoots down nine of the ten suns in the sky, an elixir of immortality that his lover is eventually is coerced into drinking, she flies to the moon to stay near her lover, and once a year he sets out fruit and moon cakes (a very popular type of dense bread served in a large, round, disc-like shape).

Although the worship and sacrifices are rarely done, the aspect of thanksgiving for the “harvest,” unity, and family are still celebrated diligently. So, you could easily say, this is the Chinese “Thanksgiving” holiday, and it’s treated with almost as equal importance as “Thanksgiving” is treated in the US. I say “almost” due to so many students sticking around town instead of going home to be with family. Cooking takes place much of the day, and a large feast is eaten around 11:00 at night among the family.

Our partaking in such a festival is not quite as extreme as most citizens, but we did “celebrate” in some regards today with a group of Christian students. In the morning we went to the top of a local hill where we played games, sang, ate lots of fruit and moon cakes, worshiped, and even had a sermon given in Chinese on prayer. Despite my slight cold and Bethany getting a rather bad case of sunburn, the event was a very joyous occasion.

The greatest joy though came from building continued relationships with the students. Although most of these particular students are Christians, it is an honor for us to continue to support, encourage, and – hopefully – in some way strengthen them in their walk. After all, they’re going to be able to relate to other students much more effectively for Christ much better than we can.

Personally, I’ve grown attached to a young man in this group. Although his English is about as poor as my Chinese, as he’s not an English Major, we still seem to have made a kind of bond together. They say that body language is more than 80% of communication, and it’s situations and relationships like these that tell me just how true that really is. As the year goes on, I can find a way to continue to encourage him in his walk with Christ.

Bethany has kept herself quite busy as well with relationships and teaching. The Freshmen have finally started their classes just in time to be interrupted during their first week with the Mid-Autumn Festival. Her new Cultural Movie course has also started up, and will give her a chance to share many different aspect of Western Culture, and with it aspects of her Faith.

The Festival for us closes with our college’s Sports Festival on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Hopefully Bethany’s massive sunburn from today will settle down in time for her to play without any discomfort. Due to gifts from the School, teachers, and the group today, we now have tons of fruit and moon cakes to consume. I’m hoping to share this added joy with more students in the near future before they all go bad!

Here’s to the joy of friends, fun, food, and Christian family! May the thanksgiving and joy of Christ continue to shine through us!

Crawling Forward

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It’s been two and a half months. Has that much time already passed? Two and a half months… since I received that phone call. Two and a half months since….

When you go overseas or simply travel long distances, one of your greatest fears – one of your nightmares – is that something will happen to the people you love and left behind, and there will be nothing you can do about it. It’s been two and a half months since that nightmare became a reality for me.

I’ve held off writing this because I knew it would be one of the hardest things I’d ever write, but I also knew it would be the first thing that needed to be written… eventually. How do you express the pain of losing your Father? Where do you go from here? How do you make it from one day to the next? Why is there even a “next” day?

The truth is, I don’t WANT to go on! I don’t WANT to move forward! Not without my father! Not without my Daddy!

But I guess I don’t have choice, do I? We don’t get a choice in this. We simply have to accept it. And move forward.

No, that’s not right. To “move forward” implies a willingness, even reluctant willingness, to take steps in a given direction at a given pace. That’s not me. That’s not what I’m doing.

Crawling forward. That’s more fitting. A slow movement on your hands and knees as you struggle to find the strength to push on. Crawling forward. Two and half months of crawling. And weeping.

I still have nightmares reliving that call. I still remember that plane ride. The sorrow. The mourning. But there was something else there, as well, from God. I don’t want to call it “peace,” but it was definitely a sense of, “I understand your pain and am here for you.” It wasn’t “comfort,” but it was a little “comforting.”

The tragedt happened in the middle of the night, Wednesday morning, China-time. My gracious uncle got us a flight for Thursday. We were in Kentucky by Thursday night EST. The Service was on Friday. WHAT A MIRACLE IT WAS FOR US TO EVEN BE THERE! How is that for being “here for you”? Praise God!

You know, one of the big problems with such a sharp transition is that it all feels surreal. When you make a big transition like that, most of the time you spend long periods of time preparing for it, anticipating it, awaiting it. But to transition so suddenly, in less than 48 hours, you don’t get that anticipation. It feels… fake.

You begin to question the recent events. “Am I really in the United States? Did I even go to China? Is this all a nightmare? Was China just a dream?” And then you do the same thing, asking the same questions, two weeks later, when you head back to where you were – to where you know God wants you to be.

But how can you head back? How can you just pick up where you left off? How do you just move on?

In some regards, you don’t pick up, and you don’t move on. Sure, time will push us forward, reluctantly, unwillingly. But we are not the same person. A piece of you is forever gone.

In some regards, you simply have to. You have to remember that God’s ways are not our ways. You have to remember that we are here for His glory, not our own. Besides, it’s what Dad would have wanted – to continue the work God called us to do.

Does that make it easier? Maybe, maybe not. But we must, somewhere, somehow, find a way to go forward. Maybe not “move” forward. Maybe “crawl” forward. If we don’t, then we’ll become like stagnant water – dirty, smelly, worthless.

After all, we are here for a greater purpose. We are here to bring glory to God. If I’m not striving to head forward in that direction, than what good am I? If I’m not trying to bring glory to God, then why am I even here?

Has it been hard? Absolutely. Does it get easier each day? Not really, I just get better at hiding it. Do I blame or hate God for it? Not really – His ways are not my ways. Am I getting through it and going forward?

One crawl at a time.

Over Winter Break

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It’s been a while since we’ve posted, but hopefully long gaps like this won’t happen again.

These last few months have been quite eventful, though! With Winter Break beginning in Mid-January, Bethany had a few months off to relax and get caught up in her lesson planning and other interests. I’ve begun working on a large web application.

But the real fun came with the celebrations! During this time frame, not only did the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year take place, but it was immediately followed by the lantern festival. One thing we’ve learned is that very few can throw a festival the way the Chinese do! During this 2 week span, many businesses shut down for the festival. Fireworks were shot off nearly continuously during these holidays, downtown hosted parades and displays, and everyone showed their red pride!

Bethany even got in on the action by launching a lantern of her own!

This “Holiday Season” (mid January through February, from a Chinese perspective) was an important reminder that it’s OK to take a break. In many ways, the school calendar forced us to take that break. When your primary outreach are students of English, it’s difficult to outreach when they are not around.

We did get to build on some friendships over the Break, and had some good conversations. We pray that these conversations will continue as things pick back up.

This past week, classes started back up at Bethany’s college. With it came the roaring up of businesses and activities around town. Obviously, this includes the return of English speaking students. We hope this semester is eventful and full of great conversations! With Lint in place, and Easter right around the corner, it’s a great opportunity to make these conversations happen!

Looking For A Role

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When we knew we would be making this move to China, one thing that was always up in the air was my role. We knew Bethany would be teaching, but what would I do? I’ve got a few web projects going right now, and that can certainly keep me busy, but it doesn’t directly affect the ministry that we are involved in. It doesn’t directly affect the impact (not matter how small that might be) we are trying to make to serve China.

But God is faithful. My job is to simply keep all options open as I wait to see where He wants me to be.

This past week, we had two guests visit with us in this little City. One of the leaders of Amity, the organization that placed Bethany as a teacher, and one of the leaders of the Missions Division of the United Methodist Church Global Ministries Board both came out to visit us on Monday. It was a real treat to visit with them as they checked in on us to get our feeling of how things were going. They also met with the School to see if there was any improvements that needed to be relayed to Bethany. Sitting down with each of these leaders one at a time was a special treat.

But what really made me excited during this time was when I heard that Amity MIGHT be seeking a web programmer to update their website! This is just what I’ve been hoping for – something to help keep me in the industry, as well as allow me to be directly involved in ministry and organizations over here!

I’m still keeping my options open. I have not been given this position with Amity, although I am actively seeking it. I still need to get all my information organized for them. But I have been in contact with the officials in charge of making this decision. This decision won’t come quickly. I have been praying about this possibility, and I hope that it is something that God allows to take place. Bethany and I have grown to love this organization and the work that they do in China and for China. It would be an honor to work for them.

In the mean time, we’re still working to get our residence cards. For me, this meant going to get a pretty thorough physical midway through the week. It was quite humorous for me to hear that the nurse thinks I should eat less and exercise more. If you know anything about me, then you know that I’m not what you would consider to be “overweight.” But these are China Standards, not US Standards. And by China Standards, I might just be a little overweight. Climbing several flights of stairs everyday should change that rather quickly though. As time goes on, we’ll see how much exercising really needs to take place.

So now I’m preparing to give a presentation to several classes this week. The topic – “American Culture”. I’ll be able to share several different aspects of the American Culture – from family, education, to college life, to work. It should be fun. I’m actually looking forward to it. The more exposure I get before the students, the more comfortable they can get with me, the more likely I’ll be able to get to know them, learn from them, work with them, and build relationships with them. I do want to be involved in the campus with Bethany. These small presentations will hopefully all that to continue to happen.

And that’s where I’m at with my role: Keep my programming skills sharp, seek opportunities more involved in the ministry we’re doing here, and stay involved with the campus. I might even say the last two are more important than the first.

After all, relationships are key. And we’ve been able to build a few relationships thus far. I pray that we can keep these relationships going and be able to build more. As time goes on, these will become more clear, as will my role over here. One day at a time.

Arriving, Riding, and Adjusting

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So I’ve been in China now for almost a week! In this time, I’ve reunited with Bethany, explored Beijing, rode in a Chinese train, subway, bus, and taxi on multiple occasions, and spoken in several classes! I’ve seen several of the JiNing marketplaces, eaten at many of the restaurants, and even tried a couple bakeries! Sometimes I think to myself, “What have we gotten ourselves into!” But in the end, I can do nothing but smile, knowing that this is where God has placed us.

Out of all the differences between China and America, the one that stands out to me the most is the roadways. In China, the drivers are very aggressive. Swerving in and out of lanes is simply part of driving. If you aren’t honking your horn for people, bikes and other cars to get out of your way, then you are part of the problem and need to get out of someone else’s way! The traffic lights are strictly observed, but the painted lines on the road are optional at best. Traffic police are there to simply make sure traffic keeps flowing, so you can forget about enforcing anything.

Obviously, this kind of driving would cause many accidents in America. Yet, somehow, it works very well in China! I have yet to see a single accident in my time in the country! To be honest, it is very impressive!

As I’ve attended classes with Bethany, I’ve learned how grateful the University is to have native English speakers around. I’ve spoken in all of Bethany’s classes this week, made plans to speak in another teacher’s class, and also dropped into a third teacher’s classroom today and tomorrow! Not only does this give me quite a bit of exposure to the students, but also to the teachers as well. I personally think this is going to be crucial in developing relationships with the people here.

Assisting Bethany in class this week has been fun. I taken on my traditional role as the ridiculous, silly “Měiguó de” (American). As Bethany is teaching about different aspects of Halloween this week, I’ve been her sound box, making all the necessary sound effects as we come across the appropriate vocabulary words – howling, shrieking, cackling…. It’s been a lot of fun. We even played charades with the Halloween vocabulary. I went first with my werewolf impression to start the game off. If it can make me seem more lighthearted and approachable, it will be well worth it.

Living here certainly will have it’s challenges. Right now, we are limited to restaurants with pictures on their menus. Bethany discovered what bus will take us to the market, not by reading the Chinese bus schedule, but by walking there and seeing what buses pass by. Holding up fingers to represent quantities is crucial. Adapting to the Chinese standard of appliances and comfort is certainly shaping me. Learning the language is slow at best – if not stagnant at times. But all of these can be overcome. It’s just a matter of time.

So the goal right now is to get settled in and into a rhythm – a much needed part of my personality. This rhythm will help with building relationships, allow us to plan things out, and give me mental consistency. As for now, as I seek out the basic patterns for the needed rhythm, I’m simply enjoying the ride, even if that ride might be swerving through traffic.