Walking The Wall!

 

Our last full day in China was spectacular!  We walked the Great Wall!  In fact we spent five hours walking the wall.  The day was perfect.  God gave us a glimpse of His glory in crystal clear blue skies and crisp, but not cold temperatures.  After taking a team photo, we split up to investigate and enjoy this extraordinary antiquity.  There is nothing in the world to compare with the Great Wall!  Ask your team member to tell you their impressions of this truly amazing place and see some of their photos. 

 

Heading up the Great Wall

The Wall was not crowded and each of us took this totally unique opportunity to walk the Wall along the crest of mountains and view the beauty of the gorgeous landscape.  The periodic quiet solitude with the soft breeze rustling through the almost bare trees restored our souls and we praised the Creator for His blessing to have this chance to explore the Wall for ourselves.  We took hundreds of photos.  Leslie gets the prize for climbing the highest and hiking the longest distance on the Wall. 



Picnic on the Great Wall

Several hours later, we happened to meet and shared a picnic of pomelos.  What a fantastic memory to have picnicked on the Great Wall!  Linda and Barbara had gallantly lugged the big, heavy, delicious fruits in their backpacks for us.

Tonight we packed.  With some trepidation, we weighed the suitcases and were relieved that they were all under the maximum 50 pounds.  Yeah!

While we hate to leave China, we can’t wait to see you and share some of the many stories and life long memories we have made during the past 12 days.

Mary for the China Dolls

 

Sunny Sunday in Beijing

A bright, clear, sunny day greeted us this morning when we opened our window curtains.  It has turned quite chilly and a mild breeze puts a crisp bite in the air.

Services at Beijing Chongwenmen Three Self Church

At 10:00 Grace and Rebecca met the team, Dennis and Jeremy in the lobby to take us to church.  The team teased Grace about the big comfortable bus that transported us.  Could it be that the luxury vehicle was used because Dennis and Jeremy were with us?  :-)   We happily took advantage and hope Dennis and Jeremy continue to get the royal treatment this week!  While the bus was comfy, it was not as “interesting” or fun as some "creative" conveyances some teams have enjoyed in the past.

 

Dennis and Jeremy with the team

The historic Chongwenmen Three Self Church is located down an interesting hutong street.  The church was established in 1870 when it was called Asbury Church.  It was the first church constructed by the American Methodist Church in Northern China.  We were warmly greeted and escorted to a pew that had earphones for interpretation.  Almost the entire service, including the sermon, were conducted by women.  This is not particularly unusual in China where there are many more women believers than men.
 

Loraine with Lynn interpreting 

Loraine and Mary left the group outside the church because they were scheduled to teach at a friend’s house church.  The rest of the team enjoyed lunch with Grace, Dennis, and Jeremy.  After lunch, the team returned to the hotel to begin packing. 

 

 

Mary with Rebecca interpreting

Grace had invited us to dinner at a restaurant where an M from Australia performs.  She has an amazing voice!  However, the team decided to rest up at the hotel for our excursion to the Great Wall in the morning.  The restaurant visit is something we can look forward to for our next visit!

Please remember Dennis and Jeremy to our Father tomorrow and during the week as they will doing His good work.

Mary for the China Dolls

 

Amazing Grace on an Amazing Day!

Group back rub!  Great Fun!

All day Saturday we were at a house church teaching a very special group of women.  Grace was expecting about 30-35 women but there were 50+ in the morning.  During a delicious take-out lunch, some women needed to leave and others arrived. 

Linda in discussion group

After each talk, we broke up into smaller groups with each team member doing a Q&A and a discussion of the talk just presented (with interpreters). 

 

Words fail me it was such an amazing day!  It was a tremendous privilege to be used by our Father to help these beautiful women.  One of the team said, “I couldn’t believe what I was saying.”  I know the feeling.  When we are here, God uses each of us in His way to do His work with His words.  Every one of us will have many rich stories of the discussions in our small groups.  Ask us about them when we return home. 

We were told that there are seven house churches just in this building alone!  Praise God for all His work in China!

Deep Prayer

Tomorrow we will go to a Three Self Church with Grace, Dennis, and Jeremy.  Today Jeremy and Dennis went to the Great Wall.  We hope the air was more clear out at The Wall than it was in town.

Small group break out discussions

Mary for the China Dolls

Fabulous Day at Forbidden City!

Entrance to the Forbidden City

We woke this morning to a gorgeous crisp fall day.  Our driver, Mark, picked us up at 10:00 a.m. to take us to the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City has no equal.  It is unique in the world.  Besides being enormous, it is steeped in history.  Parts of the complex have been beautifully restored and they continue to work on restoration in an effort to preserve this irreplaceable piece of antiquity.

Tiananmen Square

Three hours was the time allotted, and while we saw much of the compound, we had to rush through some of the most interesting parts, including the personal living quarters of the Emperor and his family.  We did take a little time for a picnic lunch in the Emperor’s Garden.  That only seemed fitting since we are princesses, daughters of THE King.

Mark met us at the back gate and escorted us to the Emperor’s Garden across the street.  There wasn’t enough steam left in our engines to climb up to the temples at the top of the hill, but what we saw of the gardens was very beautiful, quiet, and serene … especially after the hustle and crowds in the Forbidden City.  On a future trip it would be wonderful to take an morning or an afternoon to stroll through the gardens and climb up to the temple for a spectacular overview of the Forbidden City.

Old City Gate in Tiananmen Square

We returned to the hotel via taxi to drop off our backpacks, then walked over to the brightly lit shopping street near the hotel looking for a new restaurant for dinner.  It was a surprise to run into Jeremy and Dennis having dinner with Grace and Andrew, the GPiH China staff.  Since the restaurant was crowded, after greeting everyone, we moved on to another restaurant nearby. 

It will be early to bed tonight because our alarms will ring us awake at 6:00 a.m.  All of us will be teaching tomorrow at a house “club.”  Please pr*y that our words will be His words and that He will use us to the maximum for His honor and glory.

Love and blessings,

Mary for the China Dolls

Thrilling Thursday

Beautiful ladies hungry for God's wisdom

The morning started out a little rocky with some confusion about our pick up time, but quickly smoothed out to be another fabulous day!!  Leslie and Mary taught a lovely group of women at a friend’s home.  After the teaching session we enjoyed a fabulous Chinese pot luck lunch made especially for us by our Chinese sisters.  For the first time, Leslie ate lotus root stuffed with meat (delicious!), kim chee (Korean, I know), and beautiful beet soup.  After lunch we had a Q&A session for several hours.  The Q&As are always very interesting because the questions reveal the women’s true hearts and hurts. 

After a dinner of enormous bowls hot mystery soup at our favorite noodle restaurant, Loraine and Barbara went to teach a lovely B*ble study group.  We love the small group settings for their intimacy and openness.

We continue to be amazed at how easy the Chinese people are to love.  Their genuine warmth and thoughtfulness are refreshing and so very welcome to us, so far away from home.

Tomorrow we will walk the Forbidden City!  Yeah!  No matter how many times you visit there, it is always fascinating! … unless your feet hurt.

Love and hugs,

Mary for the China Dolls

Wonderful Wednesday, some of it anyway

Leslie, Linda, Grace and Mary visited with a business group in downtown Beijing in the morning.  Linda and Leslie gave excellent talks about how “God Transforms Us” (Linda) and “Parenting with a Purpose” (Leslie).  Grace anticipated a group of about 10 people but the Father surprised us with over 20.  I love it when He does the math! 

Business Bible study group

At 2:00 we dropped Linda off at the MK group where she met Barbara, Loraine, and Rebecca.  Barbara taught, “You are not Alone,” Loraine taught, “The Lies We Believe,” and Linda spoke again.  The hostess of this group is a wonderful energetic woman who our team quickly learned to love.  The teaching finished about 6:00 then our hostess invited Barbara, Loraine, Linda, Rebecca, and a few of the women to a scrumptious dinner  where the team had the opportunity to try some mysterious delicious new foods.  When the team arrived back at the hotel, instead of being justifiably tired, they were glowing and excited about the fabulous memories they had created during the day.

Meanwhile, Grace, Leslie, and Mary took Leslie to see a doctor about the painful flare up of hitting a nerve in her arm.  After waiting several hours, Leslie was seen by Dr. Bernstein (no kidding), who checked her arm.  They had a nice little chat and he soon released her.  All that took the balance of the afternoon, about the same time as in the US ... plus lengthy taxi rides, of course.  It was clear that your prayers were heard when Leslie woke this morning with reduced pain.  While the pain is still significant, the intensity has reduced measurably. 

While the rest of the team was with the MK group, Leslie and Mary returned to the hotel from the hospital.  They investigated the large and very interesting grocery store in the basement of the hotel building.  It was fascinating to see what a typical Chinese deli, meat department, and even unusual vegetables look like.  Then they went upstairs to check out the latest fashions and shoes in the five story mall below the hotel floors.  The price tags all read, “Look but don’t buy.”  ;-)

Please continue to remember us to the Father.  We all need His protection, His wisdom, His insight, His strength, His stamina.  May we do no harm in our ignorance of this intriguing and very different culture. 

 

Mary for the China Dolls

Monday in the Hutongs

It was another outstanding and beautiful day in Beijing!  The sky is trying to stay blue.

After a hearty breakfast at the large hotel buffet, a van picked us up for a trip to the Rear Lakes hutong area.  This large crescent shaped lake is exactly what you might think China looks like.  Almost the entire lake is surrounded by white marble railing broken up by lovely picturesque arched bridges.  Weeping willows gently sway and provide speckled shade.  It’s beautiful!  The lake was first formed during the Wei dynasty around 250 B.C. when water was brought to the area from the western suburbs as part of a conservation project.  In the 12^th century, the dynasty leaders adopted the area as their imperial playgrounds.

There is a lovely old street of charming shops in the area and there is evidence that they are building two additional shopping streets in the same ancient style.

After spending several hours enjoying the picturesque Rear Lakes, the van took us to Dashilaner Street, another interesting hutong style shopping street surrounded by fascinating hutong alleyways. 

We enjoyed dinner and a rest at McDonalds.  After “friendly” negotiations, getting in and out of taxis, we returned to the hotel tired but happy.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to spend the afternoon with five princesses pr*ying, encouraging, and Q&A.

 

Mary for the China Dolls

Extraordinary Sunday in Beijing!

It was an extraordinary day!  One of those days when everything comes together perfectly.  Our Father rained His gracious blessings on us.

 When we peaked through the window curtains this morning, the sun was bright and the sky was clear blue for the first time this trip!  The 11:30 service at the government Hainain Three Self Church was in English.  It was quite a moving experience to sing familiar hymns, including Amazing Grace, worshiping our Lord while in China.

After leaving the church, we prayed (literally) that we would find two taxis to take us to the Temple of Heaven.  Since the Temple park is HUGE and there are several entrances, we were a bit concerned that half of us would “be delivered” to one entrance and the other half would be dropped off at the opposite end of the park.  Our Father brought two taxis at the same time and they followed each other to the front entrance.    

The weather was absolutely perfect to spend the day walking through the Temple park.  It was ideal for taking photos so we took hundreds of them. ;-)  The temple complex of trees, buildings, and highly decorated corridors are very beautiful, but what was the most fun and fascinating was watching the Chinese people playing in the wonderful weather and gorgeous setting.  Groups of people were sitting on railings playing cards or selling lovely items they had made.  We saw a darling little woman all dressed up in costume singing.  Another lovely woman did a traditional fan dance to recorded music.  In the distance we heard beautiful music so we walked over to investigate.  There was a small band with a director playing while hundreds and hundreds of people gathered around and sang.  It was fabulous!  After the band finished, recorded music started and hundreds of people did line dancing.  Leslie and Linda joined the dancing to the delight of the local people.  My face still hurts from smiling so much.

Again our Father provided two taxis somewhat close together to take us back to the hotel.

Dinner was at our favorite noodle restaurant in the hotel with a little Cold Stone ice cream for dessert.

We are enjoying the way Grace has arranged our teaching schedule to be more concentrated, thereby also concentrating our free time together. 

Thank you for your continued prayers.  God’s loving hand was certainly with us during this very special day where we made wonderful life-long memories.

Love and blessings,

Mary for the China Dolls

Another Awesome Meeting!

What do you call it when five women can come together for prayer, ruminate over our talks, share scripture, lay our requests at the feet of Jesus, eat a yummy lunch and dessert, laugh and not want to end the session? ANOTHER AWESOME MEETING!

Barbara Pillsbury with gift for China

You might think that we all work for NASA because every time we see each other we say, “four months or three weeks until we leave for China.” But on Tuesday we said “two weeks and one day, do you believe it”?  Our excitement is definitely growing as the time of our departure draws near. We learned a few words in Chinese…so now we can say ‘hello – Ni Hao’, ‘yes – Shi’, ‘no – Bu shi’ and ‘thank you – Xie xie.’

One of the most important aspects of our mission, and each EFCC mission, is to always, always give thanks for our prayer partners and financial contributors. We are so grateful that our mission is almost (as of this writing) fully funded!  Thanks to you and our Lord for His guidance and grace throughout this process.  Isn’t thankfulness really the deep, contented breath of peacefulness?  If thanks are the highest form of thought – make it my first thought.  I love this quote from Max Lucado – “God has given you/us a cup of blessing; sweeten it with a heaping spoonful of gratitude.”

 

You may remember this song: “His Love has no limit; His Grace has no measure; His Power no boundary known unto men.  For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.”

 

The journey is about to begin…the travel part, that is!  Stay tuned!

Barbara Pillsbury for the Team

 

Thank You Supporters!

We are so grateful for all you prayers and blessings and for your faithful, generous support to make this mission possible! Knowing that you are our team here at home is such a comfort and encouragement for us as we begin finalizing all of our preparations to leave on October 30^th.   We are experiencing shock and awe!  Shock that the time to fly to China is so near and awe that God is sending us to do His work!

Each team meeting is so rich in information, planning and prayer that we have willing extended our meetings an extra two hours.  Last week we scheduled an extra all day meeting at Mary’s house so we could continue practicing and fine tuning our talks for the Chinese women.  Each talk is 30 minutes long which will actually be one hour with the interpreting.

Serious training efforts

One of the extraordinary aspects of being on a mission team together is being in God’s grace to learn how to lovingly and effectively communicate to each other.  As we practiced our talks last week, each speaker gave her speech and another team member acted as the interpreter and repeated the phrases in English.  The other team members were the audience. The benefit was to find out where the message needed clarification or a different approach in order to convey the intended idea.  God’s grace enabled us to share with each other where the changes could be made and these suggestions were gracefully and gratefully accepted by each speaker! 



What a wonderful learning time for each of us as we became more aware of how to change our messages to better fit the audiences we will be speaking to.  We became much more aware of how our topics will impact them as they have so many similar problems that our culture has: high divorce rates, abortion, domestic violence, loss of dreams, and financial stress.



Fun training efforts

In spite of the seriousness and intense focus of our practice sessions, God also graced us with His humor!  Every once in awhile we just had to cut loose and be silly!  Here’s a snapshot of Mary as interpreter and Leslie as speaker doing just that!

Dear Ones, please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to inspire our talks and when we stand to give our talks, He will inspire us, inspire the interpreter and open the hearts of the audience of believers and nonbelievers. 

 

Thank you!  You are truly our team here in America!

With blessings and gratitude,

Linda for the China team

Just Three Weeks Before Departure!

Time is flying!  In just three short weeks we will be leaving for Beijing, China, on our great adventure!  God has been very gracious in assembling this extraordinary group of women who have grown in their love for each other as they prepared to serve our Lord in China.  Together we have laughed, prayed, encouraged, and learned many things about each other and China.

Our team consists not just of the five women who will travel to Beijing.  There are many other team members who served on this team through sharing their time and talents making beautiful gifts for us to take to China.  These gifts will be given to the sisters and brothers who come to listen to our talks.


Barbara and Marina making gifts

Loretta Miller one of wonderful EFCC knitters

Other non-traveling team members have generously donated to the expanses of the team traveling to China.
 

The detailed China visa applications have been submitted and airline tickets have been purchased.  There is still important training to accomplish and then … packing … which can be a challenge!

 

Practicing our talks will be an important priority in the coming weeks.  Some of our topics include:  Parenting with a Purpose, You are Not Alone, Finding Balance in Our Busy Lives, Submission, and God is With Us.

 

Please join us in praying:

·      Tune our hearts to hear God’s leading

·      May each of us fully depend on God

·      Focus to efficiently complete the many mission details

·      God to provide the remaining needed funds

·      May we adapt well to changes in schedules, foods, and time zones

Thank you for your interest and support of our mission.  May you be richly blessed!

Mary Waring for the Team

 

Long Meetings filled with Fun!

Gorgeous gifts for our Chinese sisters made by EFCC women

 Each of us is getting so excited about serving the Lord and our wonderful Chinese friends that our meetings keep stretching into the dinner hour J … the time passes so quickly. There is so much to share/learn/pray in anticipation of our trip that we stopped for a devotion of thanksgiving for answered prayers…thus far. We mentioned each of our requests by way of a catalog of faithfulness of our Lord. In brief; physical healings, focus and patience, direction in preparing our talks, job seeking, safety in travel, helping others in need, hand-made gifts for us to share (see some of them in pictures below.) Our Lord is answering every prayer we place before Him…I prayed to The Lord, and He answered me, freeing me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4

More beautiful gifts from our hands to our Chinese sisters

 We continue to be thankful to our prayer partners and financial supporters. You are such an important component of our team. We are so encouraged to know that you are now and will be praying for us throughout this mission. May God richly bless you.

Barbara Pillsbury

Barbara Pillsbury for the team.

Training Update

Our team met today for our 5^th training session and we had a BIG praise report!  Our support contributions are enough to go ahead and purchase our airline tickets and apply for our visas!  Both of these have been a concern as the airline tickets have been steadily gaining in cost and, we need to get our visas back before we leave.  Thank you dear friends and supporters for your contributions to make this mission possible!  You will be receiving thank you notes and prayer cards in the very near future.  We are overjoyed and so grateful for your faith in us and your support for this mission to our Chinese sisters and brothers.

In today’s training, we learned about the history preceding the Cultural Revolution and how certain events laid the groundwork for the Cultural Revolution to actually take place.  The cult of Mao and the extreme actions of the Red Guards were brought to life by reading portions from a book, Wild Swans by Jung Chang.  In chilling detail, she recorded her experiences as a young girl at the beginning of the Revolution1965 through 1976. Understanding this history will give us greater insight to the general cultural and a better understanding of the background the Chinese women come from.

Loraine and Leslie practicing talks

Leslie practiced her talk on Parenthood with Loraine acting as interpreter.  We all learned a lot about how we need to pace our talks so the Chinese interpreter will have time to interpret.  Also, we are getting more discernment about our choice of vocabulary and concepts so the interpreter will be able to accurately interpret the points we will be talking about.

Only eight weeks before we go!  We are so happy to be serving God on this mission and we are delighted to share our experiences with you.  Our prayers cover you with Thanksgiving and praise God for His goodness and bountiful blessings! 

In Jesus Love, Linda for the Team

Religion in China

There’s so much to learn and understand about the Chinese culture!  We’re learning about the religious aspects of China this week.  Did you know that approximately 80% of Chinese have no religion at all?!   Religion was banned completely as recently as 1976, and is still closely, and suspiciously, monitored by the government.  The remaining 20% are split between Buddhism, Muslim, Hinduism, and Christianity, with the vast majority of young believers in their 20s and 30s following Christianity. 

There are 3 major types of Christian churches in China.  First, the approved, government-registered church is the 3 Self church (which stands for self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation).  It started as a way for the government to control the protestant religions.  Second, is the unregistered, underground house churches.  They meet in secret and are in danger of harassment and imprisonment.  Third, is the Urban Professionals, who sometimes register with the government, but meet in smaller, house churches.   It is mostly made up of young, successful business professionals who have permission to work with foreign business partners.  This third group is largely who we will be working with.

Leslie Campos and Linda Martin

We are also learning about safety.  Most likely our rooms and cabs will be bugged and we may be monitored and followed.  We are not in a great amount of danger, but we could put those to whom we are ministering in danger.  We need to be on guard with what we do and say at all times.  Please pray that the Lord would set a guard on our tongues when we are there and that all we do would glorify Him!

We’re close to having enough support to secure our airline tickets, and, hopefully soon, our visas.  We leave in 8 weeks!  Yikes!! 

By His Grace, Leslie for the Team

Team Talks are Finished!

How time is quickly passing! All of the team’s talks are finished and this week our team will be meeting for the fifth time. We will begin practicing our talks by giving them in front of the team. This will help us sharpen our skills and refine our talks as we practice giving them to the group.
 

Last Friday the team meet at Mary's for a time of yummy food and fellowship followed by watching and discussing a traveling security video.  

Loraine Doud making gifts for China

Please keep the team in your prayers as we prepare for our time of departure in October.  Specifically please pray:

·       God will be pleased with our efforts

·       The hard working China team who guide us

·       All our preparation details be completed efficiently

·       Team unity will continue as beautifully as it started

Loraine for the team

 

 

Quickly Moving Forward!

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this:  He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn.”  Psalm 37:5-6

Our training is going along quickly and well.  The team is working beautifully together.    There is quite a bit of reading to do during this training and, fortunately, it is all very interesting and informative.  While we would not presume to completely understand the Chinese culture, we have some excellent materials that will help us to connect better with our Chinese sisters and brothers.

 

The talks are progressing and they promise to be excellent and helpful.  Some of the topics include “Parenting with a Purpose,” “The Lies We Believe,” “You Are Not Alone,” and “God Transforms Us Through Loss and Grief.”  Several other talks are being planned.

 

The team is busy raising funds for this mission.  The funding has been slow coming in but we are confident that our Lord will provide all that we need! 

 

Our beautiful prayer cards are ready to be dispersed.  The Chinese bookmarks and Scripture Blessings pamphlet are ready to pack to take to our friends in China.  EFCC’s Bill Fredrick has designed gorgeous materials for the Connecting with China ministry!

God has been faithful and close as we courageously step forward to serve Him in Beijing.  It is always a joy to see how God transforms each team member from the beginning of training and through the end of the mission. 

 

Serving our Lord in China is a life changing experience!

Mary Waring

  

Mary for the Team

 

 

 

 

Prayer and Scripture are Essential Training Tools!

“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:13 NLT

A couple of surprising aspects of being on a short term mission is there is no lag time in team preparation and unexpected lessons are learned!  For example, once the team is formed, the calendar is set for meetings and deadlines are set for topics, study preparations, personal preparations, team building, support letters and travel.  The next four months are packed with responsibilities, studies, writing, team building and prayer, prayer, prayer!

After our second meeting, I calendared my commitments for blogging, teaching on One World Two Minds, the Cultural Revolution and my talk for the Chinese Women.  The next morning I woke up at 4am with great anxiety about not being adequate for the tasks ahead and desperate feelings of being overwhelmed.  God revealed to me that this was not from Him and I was under attack by Satan to slow me down and prevent me from doing effective work for Him.  He then reminded me of Philippians 4:13 and my true responsibility was to rely on Him for the infilling of all that I am committed to teach and write about!  Whew! This was an intense lesson which God turned into a rich blessing.  Now, when a whisper of inadequacy comes, I turn in prayer to Philippians 4:13 as my truth and am able to dismiss the lie.  Praise God!

Another lesson I am learning is about the blessings involved in asking and receiving support for our mission.  I am gaining a deeper understanding that there are many of you who care about the Chinese women and since you can’t go in person, you truly want to support us in prayer and when possible with financial support.  You want to be a blessing by being our team “on the ground” here at home.  You are important in making this mission a reality that glorifies God!  Thank you and it is my joy and the team’s joy to be able to share our mission with you.

God bless you richly,

Linda for the team