CHINA KAT

Happy Thanksgiving from Beijing!! I know this is a few days past the actual day…but every day is a day to be thankful, right?

I hope you were all reminded and remembered to be thankful for all of the blessings in your life, and especially for the great love, grace, mercy and sacrifice of our awesome Father and His Son! Actually, I hope you are reminded and remember that every day, as every day is a chance to live for Him!!

I was very blessed with my first Thanksgiving in China and the first one away from my family.  Even though nothing can replace being with family, it is awesome how God brings us all together in HIS family!! We were blessed on Thursday to be invited to the home of one of our sweet sisters and have a Chinese Thanksgiving! She cooked an amazing feast and we felt so special to be invited!! The Chinese do not celebrate our Thanksgiving, but I received many text messages during the day from friends wishing me Happy Thanksgiving with messages of thanks-because they knew it was special to us.  I treasure each one!!

Then, on Friday our mission team gathered for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  I was in charge of the stuffing, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes.  I have never cooked stuffing before and was unsure if I could find everything needed or if I would turn out well! Also, they don’t have ovens in most of these apartments, so you have to cook everything in a toaster oven…which with the help of my good friends, the Cooper’s…was purchased on Wednesday I will have to say that everything turned out great, and we had more food than we knew what to do with!! We ate, watched the Macy’s day parade that I had previously recorded, played the Wii, and laughed at Chuck Norris jokes (I have no idea how that even came about!) I am thankful for our team who is serving the people here in China, and the great time we have when we are together.  It makes it easier to be far from home!

I got this idea from someone else, but I loved it…so I think I can use it, too.  Since we cannot all sit around a physical table together and since we are spread out all over the world…we can pull up a chair here…at the table I have set on my blog.  I want to know what you are thankful for!! I’ll start.  I am thankful for…

A mighty Father who loves me unconditionally and forgives my sins as far as the east is from the west…

Wonderful family & friends who stretch across the miles and oceans.

The opportunity to live, serve & build relationships with the awesome people of China…friendships that are blossoming, hearts that are open and seeds that are being planted.

Online venues which have allowed to “meet” and be blessed by amazing people which I probably have never known otherwise.

A mission team who has the heart for people, a passion for seeing Jesus’ name spread, & who I have the privilege to serve with.

Those who are financially supporting our efforts, those who are praying for our work, and those who encourage my soul with their uplifting words.

A roof over my head,  food in my cabinets, clothes on my back,  shoes on my feet & clean, accessible water.  I know there are many around the world who don’t have these things which we often take for granted.

So, grab another helping of mashed potatoes and some pumpkin pie-and please tell us what you are thankful for!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. ~Phil. 4:6

I hope this blog has not been having withdrawals from my recent lack of posts!

Greetings from chilly Beijing!! I am sorry that I have not posted as much as I would like-we have been very busy!! There is a lot that has happened over the last month or so, and hopefully those who are reading this have received my e-mail updates that I try to send out weekly (sometimes bi-weekly!) If you are not…Why not?! Let me know if you are interested, and I will add you to my e-mail list!!

Hmmm…where to begin? Well, we just finished up our first language book and are on to our second one! Did I understand or comprehend all that was encompassed in the first book? Ha, no…but I do feel like I am learning more each day…which is good! I do feel a bit behind, though in the vocabulary and understanding…so if you could please pray about our continuing language studies…that would be awesome!!

We have a lot of great things going on that God has blessed us with. Currently, we have 2 seeker’s studies going-one is on Monday night at the Cooper’s and one is on Saturday night at my place. The Monday night one has been going for a little over a month, and this Saturday will bring about our third Saturday night study. We usually average about 8-12 people a week, and they are REALLY seeking. They ask some incredible questions about creation, good and evil, praying, God’s plans, etc. They really keep us on our toes and challenge us to think deeper about our faith and who God is. Many of these who are coming are previous LST readers, while others are those we have met at English Corner, on the street, or in this apartment!

One particular lady I have been blessed to get to know…I actually met coming out of the elevator of our building one day. I was headed to the school for Chinese class with my book in hand, and she asked about it. I learned that she spoke great English as she worked for an American company, and we exchanged numbers. She came to church with me the following week, and then stayed for lunch and a party we were having afterwards. I have continued to keep in touch with her and run into her in the building occassionally. She came to our study last week and then we had dinner at a Korean restaurant on Sunday evening. I am excited about the relationship that is forming! I pray that it continues to grow and that seeds will be planted. I truly don’t believe there are coincidences here-God has really shown that He is arranging what is happening here. He continues to open doors and allows us to constantly meet new people. We are so blessed to be able to walk this faith journey with them, and are humbled by the opportunity!

At the beginning of October, we had a great group retreat that involved our sister churches in Bejing (in Jinsong and Haidian). We were able to go to this beautiful location located just outside of Beijing in the mountains, which was actually near part of the great wall. We were able to do this because of the National holiday they have where everyone gets a week off from work and school. As I have mentioned before, this was the 60th year anniversary of the PRC, so they went all out with decorations and a huge parade at Tiannamen square, which we watched on TV while on the retreat. Gary did a great job with his lessons on Moses, Abraham, David, Isaiah, and Jesus (which were translated into both English and Chinese-so we actually knew what was going on!) Susan and I also were able to help with some of the children’s classes; and we had a small discussion group with some of the other missionaries on our team and a great Russian family that lives here. We we were also able to enjoy time getting to know our brothers and sisters better, and explore a little of the nearby surroundings and village.

(Thanks to Marcus Riley for this great group picture!)

We have also been blessed with 3 more baptisms this month: Ting Ting, Michael, and Judy! They have all gotten involved with the church over the last month, and I have been blessed with getting to know all of them better.  Michael even comes to our studies sometimes, and has helped tutor us in Chinese along with an older member of the church.  We are so thankful for their help! We now know the stroke orders, can write some Chinese characters and recognize many more…as you can imagine, this is very helpful when living in China!

After a LONG search, God blessed me with an awesome apartment last week! It was quite a stressful search, but I am ever so grateful for God’s provisions! It is a great apartment and will be perfect for hosting our Bible studies and for having lots of people over.  I am excited about the opportunities and making it feel like home. Thank you to all those who were praying! Pictures will follow soon…

There is more to write about…like the early snow we had last Sunday, sitting at the head of a conference room table teaching the Bible to several women who have never heard it before, eating a scorpion, a trip to the zoo, an early Thanksgiving dinner, God’s timing, and some other thoughts I have had…stay tuned for the adventures from China! I promise to do a better job of not allowing this blog to become lonely!! I would love to hear from you so that I don’t feel lonely!

Thank you for the continued prayers, love, and encouragement-please pray that God will continue to use us to help further His Kingdom.  It is humbling to be able to have these opportunities and I pray that we will remember to embrace them all.  We are constantly reminded that the harvest is ripe and seeds continue to be planted as many seek Him…what a privilege it is to walk with them on their journeys of faith!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)