Yesterday was the highlight of our time here. We were invited to visit and film a house church sunday school, the same sunday school that the two boys who’s home we visited two days before attend. This was a real honor. Our guide, who has been working with Christians in China has not had the opportunity to visit such a group in the nine years she has been here.

The classroom was a small 15 x 15 foot room that is at a separate location from where the adults meet. There were large Biblical decorations on the walls, small folding children’s chairs and two small tables. Children of all ages began to file in until every seat was full. The teaching was animated and the children were completely engaged. I was amazed to see how effective the teaching was for such a wide age range. After the teaching, the children gathered around the two tables to color. This is a special activity for them as most of the children don’t have coloring pages & crayons at home and Chinese school is rigorous void of activities like coloring or playing. After coloring time they played a Bible memory game that had been adapted from the GL curriculum. When it was time to go out & play the children bursted out of the classroom an ran down the alleyway to a large cement pavilion where they began to play some games. We had purchased a soccer ball the day before to give to the church so we were excited to bring that out. The children were so excited to kick the ball around the pavilion, they really wore me out as I followed them around with the camera! After church we went to lunch with some of the leaders of the local house church community. They were very warm and gracious, wanting to hear about how the Lord was moving in our hearts. They were also very interested in having me bring a message to their church that afternoon, which I had to decline as there was still a bit of filming left to do there before our departure, not to mention I’ve never preached a sermon in my life… Then they asked if Jenn could do it (at least half of the church leadership here is women). They are very persistent with their hospitality. I’ve been told we may want to prepare something for our next two stops. That afternoon we went to a park in the center of town with a large pond and lots of fun play-things. As we walked around filming b-roll we became the center of attention. Foreigners such as us just are not very common in non-tourist areas in this part of China, so I guess we were sort of a spectacle.

That night we took the night-train back to Beijing, which was actually quite pleasant. Jenn woke up early and enjoyed catching a glimpse of the countryside through the train windows: small villages tucked away in the hills looking like a vision from a former era.

Today we enjoyed taking a tourist day which was a nice break after being so engaged in the work (and everything else) for the past couple days. We visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and did a bit of shopping at the Silk Market.

We want to thank everyone for your prayers. Jenn and I have recovered from our stomach illnesses, our anxiety over the communication breakdown has subsided and we’re looking forward to the next leg of our journey. Please pray for our time with the children and those around them and for continued guidance and vision for the project.

Love

Brent & Jenn