Author: charlesinhk

In The Field, From Guest Blogger Dale

We started early again this morning with a majority of us coming to the "field" to till and turn soil to prepare it for planting / farming. A few of the group stayed behind at the center to finish up the murals and painting. The field is a small piece of land (they tell me it is about 5,000 sq ft) that the Center rents from a local church. This is the first year they have done this and the plan is to plant vegetables, peppers, and peanuts.

The youth from the Center joined us on the bus and are having a day out – which is loads of fun for them – although with 20 teenagers swinging hoes and shovels we have had to keep the center youth away from the field. I have to say, the Union U'th have done an amazing job this morning – they have almost finished tilling the field (4 hrs of good hard labor – I will send some pictures when I get back into range of a better cell signal). They are going much faster than the Center leaders expected so we might have time this afternoon back at the Center.

One last thought – during our evening meeting last night the U'th had an opportunity to share what this trip has meant to them – it was wonderful to hear the U'th share how they felt humbled by serving the lowest of society – that they felt like they were being the hands and feet of Christ – that it was hard sometimes and sometimes they failed to serve but were able to go back the next day and try again and there was joy in serving others. Some amazing sharing.

We finished up at the field by about 3:00 today and took the bus to the center to join the other team and I have to admit, I was amazed at what they had done to transform the upstairs music room. 
 
Above are a few pics from today's activities. Church that owns the property / field that we worked today – interestingly – this isn't a "registered" church but is allowed as a "worship" center – but notice – no cross outside – only a cross inside.

An English Song In Jinan

An English Song in Jinan from prayerknight1 on GodTube.

Union U’th: What Are We Eating?

The cuisine this trip has been very local Shandong… or even Jinan, food. To give you an idea of our diet, below are a few pictures. Lets just look at breakfast… about the only Western item is bread, which can only be toasted in a toaster oven that only heats things up. It doesn’t really toast. The first pic below shows Joseph wrestling with the toaster.

The remaining pictures illustrate a variety of Chinese dishes including one that looks like veggie scrambled eggs. Of course there is also old faithful fruit that is quite fresh. We learned that Shandong apples are often exported to Japan. (Yesterday we tried home grown cherry tomatoes at the centre that were incredibly fresh and sweet.)

And finally, okay okay, there is one other Western item at breakfast: Coke and ice cream. But honest, Karl is… um… the only one having Coke floats.

Put Into Practise…

Today the Union Youth brought their projects to completion albeit for
some artwork to be added to the Music Therapy Room. Amazingly, when we
walked into the room this morning, we were shocked to see the first coat
of paint dry, smooth and looking quite good. (In fact, Steven had a theory that another team of painters came in during the middle of the night to fix our work!) We insisted on applying a
second coat that will need until tomorrow to dry. We're excited to see what the finished, dry product wil bring. We will then add music
themed artwork to the walls.

Meanwhile, the Roof Team completed their white painting that was touched
up by the Art Team's finesse. We had to drag Uncle Dale and the Roof Team away from
painting the roof kicking and screaming as they drained the paint trays
down to the last drop. The Roof Team were especially helpful with
cleaning rollers and brushes for which the rest of us were extremely
grateful.

At left, the Art Team work on their wall art while selecting
scripture… Charlotte reading from a Chinese Bible and Matthew reading
from an English Bible. I walked up the stairs as the two were searching for a piece of scripture. To listen to each of them compare what they were finding between the Chinese and English translations of the Bible was extraordinary. How many "Youth" on this planet have the ability to interact in such a way? Amazing to have that diversity and talent in our
midst. (Thank you to both of them!) In the Music Therapy Room, we each wrote our favourite pieces of scripture on the walls prior to applying the second coat… and third coat… and fourth coat… uh, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't paint over the Word of God. 

We had a late lunch, again sitting together with the centre youth and
staff. The afternoon included games, drawing, face-painting with worship
music mixed alongside. (At left: two teams compete in a game while Athena offers one of the centre youth a marker during the drawing competition. Below: one of the products of the face painting.)

Tuesday U’th, From Guest Blogger Dale

We
had another great day of hard work and interaction with the youth at the
center.  We arranged to get to the center
early this morning – and you would have thought the Union U'th would have
complained – in reality most of them were excited to start early to allow them
to finish up their murals and painting. 

The
crew finished up painting the entire downstairs (light blue) and the entire
roof (white) along with some beautiful murals along the stairways and
hallways.  We worked hard until lunch and
had lunch with the youth from the center then back to work painting to finish
everything up.  The rest of the afternoon
was spent interacting with the youth doing games and face painting.  And for all of the youth and even the staff
it was the first time they have ever had their faces painted – loads of fun
that turned into a full-fledged party at the Center. 

While
this was going on a few of the senior youth left the center and did home visits
with 2 local (and very poor) families that have disabled children – very
touching visits – amazing what these families have to face in China –
everything from being shut out by their relatives to being disassociated by
their neighbors (due to the shame of having a mentally disabled child).  We are now out at dinner and soon head back
to the hotel for our evening debrief and discussion time.  See attached a few pictures from today's
activities. 

Do Unto Others…

The pictures attached pretty much speak for themselves. Sunday night the group was split into four work groups so that upon arriving at the centre Monday morning the teams were able to start work right away. On the main floor Team 1 was tasked with re-painting a mural at the back of the centre's stage. They also filled in cracks and holes in the walls. Team 2 worked on painting the Music Therapy Room, with paint that was very watery and quite a challenge to apply. We know that God has a plan, we're just not sure what that plan looks like. Team 3 involved decorating the stairway with various artwork. Team 4 sanded and painted the roof, which up until this point had been bare concrete. (Above: re-painting the wall mural and painting artwork on the walls.)

We had lunch with the centre's kids, mixing the Union Youth amongst them. We wanted to make every effort to bring down barriers between the two groups. This seemed to be quite a success and by after lunch their was quite a bit of mingling. In addition, after lunch the Union Youth played a walking game that the centre kids enjoy on a regular basis. (Above: painting artwork on the walls, including selecting scripture verses. Below left, many hands make light work; below right, Steven helps one of the autistic youth learn how to paint.)

Above: various team members pose in front of their first two white coats of paint on concrete; above right and below, at the start of, and during, the walking game.

Post-game time involved visitors from a Jinan Youth Christian Fellowship group. Various songs of worship were played by the Jinan Youth, Union Youth and Centre Staff… we even heard a Chinese version of Amazing Grace. The Union Youth shared stories about their lives followed by the Jinan Youth who also gave testimonies about their lives and faith. Parents will be happy to know that many of the Union Youth pushed the envelope with their mandarin skills: it was inspiring to watch and hear. A great day of service and fellowship enjoyed by all. (Above: snapping pictures of the Jinan Youth and Union Youth post-fellowship. Below: group photo before everyone departed for the day.)

Jesus Is Alive…

… those were the Chinese characters displayed at the front of the church we attended this morning for an Easter Sunday service in Jinan. The entire service was conducted in Chinese. Interpreters had been arranged to sit amongst us, but apparently they were afraid to disturb the service while speaking, therefore wrote down their translation on pieces of paper that were passed up and down our aisles to read. The hymns were also in Chinese, most of them unrecognizable except to a few members of our group. The pastor delivered a passionate service to a full house. With the exception of a few nodding heads, everyone seemed quite engaged. The older generation sat on the lower, main floor and the younger adults sat on the second floor. (Above: the choir mistress leading the congregation in worship while the pastors prepare to deliver their Easter messages; the choir joining in the singing.)

This Lutheran church, as it turns out, is 90 years old but closed down at the start of the Cultural Revolution. The China “Open Door Policy” managed to re-open the doors of the church, too. After a restoration, the church re-opened its doors on Christmas Day 1976. Today the church’s three Sunday services cater to 3,000 adults. The services are so full that Sunday School is held on Saturdays, which is why we didn’t see any children or teenagers. (Above: views of the church's main floor interior.)

Following the service, the pastor and several other church members gave us an overview of their church and answered questions about Christianity in China. We were told that more and more young Chinese are becoming Christians. I asked why and was provided with an explanation from a young physician. Eventually she said to me, “It may seem very simple, but to be honest the Theory of Darwin hurt the hearts of the Chinese.” The group then asked us questions about Union Church. Curiously, they inquired, “Can you please tell us, is everyone in Hong Kong a Christian… is everyone baptised?” They asked as if assuming we were going to say yes, and were a bit surprised to find us exclaiming, “No!” Ironically, I am sure both Mother Teresa and Jackie Pollinger would have something to say about that fact. We were treated to a Chinese lunch at the church and then made our way to the service centre for autistic children, where we’ll be helping out this week. (Above: Ryan tries to defend why there aren't more Christians in Hong Kong… "It's The Vine," he explained, "they really need to get with the program."

At the centre we met the staff and heard their testimonies about working with autistic children. Every single one of them either was a Christian when they started working at the centre, or became a Christian along the way. It was very clear that each staff member had a huge heart for children with profound special needs and is very present to God’s grace through their interaction with these children. On Monday we will begin painting and repairing the facility, and spending our own time interacting with the kids. My camera had a mishap this evening but I managed to salvage the above pictures from the memory card. It’s late so I will now make a hasty retreat but be assured the Youth Group are in good hands and ready to start changing the world tomorrow, one brush stroke at a time. Stay tuned for more details. (Above: Percy sits between the Youth Group on the left and centre staff on the right, to assist with translation as the two groups shared questions and thoughts on special needs and the centre. Some of the Youth Group were able to converse in Chinese and/or assist with translation. Prior to leaving we took a quick group picture.)

Long day… many of us were quite tired by dinner…

From guest blogger, Dale…

Happy Easter!  He has Risen!  We were all up early this morning (6:30 wake up calls) for devotions and breakfast (7:00)on the bus at 8:00 for a quick ride across town to attend a Chinese Church (see pic) for Easter Sunday.  The church is 90 years old and full to the brim for Easter Sunday. 
 
We arrived at 8:20 and praise and worship was already going when we arrived. The sermon started at 9:00 and he was still going strong an hour and a half later – Greg would have been impressed :-).
 
With praise and worship and the sermon all in Chinese it was difficult for some of our youth but it was definitely a cross cultural experience. Nothing like starting our Missions Trip worshiping with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lunch with the members of the congregation and the youth gave us a chance to practice their Chinese and share their testimonies.

After lunch we drove to the center (see attached pic), where we will be spending the next 3 days working – painting, cleaning, and building. The center is a home for 20 or so autistic children who (due to prejudice in China) are not part of the local school system.
 
The center is a lifeline for families with autistic / mentally disabled children – they provide in-home support/coaching, classes, etc. We spent the first hour or so hearing testimonies of the staff, who all expressed that they experience God's love thru working with the children – something we (as leaders) are praying for as our teens work and serve the same kids this week.
 
After touring the center and planning out our work for the next 3 days we got back on the bus for a quick tour of downtown Jinan. We went to a beautiful park and let the kids hang out for a while. Some of the boys played "Ninja" – standing in a circle – I think they had a crowd of 30 people or more watching the foreign teens play around.  It is nice and cool – around 10C – wonderful dry weather. 

I must decrease, He must increase ~ John 3:30

We landed late into Jinan by about 45 minutes to an hour. Other than turbulence we had an easy flight. It seemed as though every ten minutes a recording asked us to fasten our seatbelts and not go to the toilet. If we were in the toilet, we were instructed to hold onto the handle. At one point I thought to myself, “I have heard that recording so much I wonder if they’ve forgotten to turn it off?” Meanwhile, Immigration, Customs, the bus into the city and hotel was smooth as silk. Our bus was made in China and oh my gosh it was monstrous. I think it was the aircraft carrier of buses – a helicopter could have easily landed on top.

After checking in we had dinner at the hotel – a Chinese buffet with a combination of Japanese, wanna-be western and Chinese dishes. The food was quite good and the Peking duck excellent. And honest, this was the only Coke anyone had all day. One thing for sure, we will not starve on this trip and the hotel is far better than anyone expected. Everyone was excited to be together for dinner and we welcomed Terry who had just zipped down from Beijing on a million mile per hour maglev train.

After dinner we had a team meeting. We opened in prayer, with the eldest of the youth and the youngest of the youth praying. Ryan delivered a message in relation to why we’re here this week: to serve, not play video games, or use technology, or text on our phones, or even think about video games. A devotional booklet was handed out for us to use during the week. We tossed around various mantras such as “I will not complain” when we get tired or hungry. One of the youth reminded us of the scripture, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40.

Truly I tell you, it was inspiring. We concluded with everyone saying a one or two sentence prayer that started with the second eldest youth and concluded with the second youngest youth. We wrapped up around 9 PM, sending everyone off to bed for 10 PM lights out. Tomorrow morning breakfast is at 7 AM for an 8 AM departure so we’re wondering the halls enforcing the curfew. Which reminds me, I gotta go…

All systems go for Youth Group to Jinan

The Union Church Youth Group is on their way to Jinan. Pictured here before boarding the Airport Express, all kids are accounted for and ready to roll. We had a reasonable start, meeting in Central at 9 AM, and now at noon are about to lift-off on China Eastern Airlines.

We’ve had an uneventful morning with the usual fiascos, such as the airline insisting that no where in the world would they undertake a group check-in. This was after Dale dutifully collected all the passports, and then subsequently handed them back out. I’ve learned that our host, Percy, lived a swallows flight from my childhood home in Toronto years ago. Percy and his wife, Connie, are leading the charge for us this week as we venture into exciting corners of Jinan, China. Karl reports, “all systems are stable and a go.” Stay tuned for more details.