Tomorrow we leave for the rural area north of Johannesburg. It looks to be beautiful country in a completely different setting.

In the afternoon we drove a couple hours down the coast to a small fishing village. We parked and took a “fairy” boat across the river then walked a couple hundred meters to a grass hut on the beach where they were having Sunday school. What more can I say. Grass hut. On the beach. Wow. This is the tsunami coast. When it hit the church was somehow spared. It seems our locations are getting progressively more removed from civilization as we know it. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for South Africa…

Tomorrow we fly to Johannesburg by way of Dubai. Please pray for no luggage problems and for safety.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Love Brent & Jenn

Before we share more of our adventures, we want to thank all of your for your encouragement and prayers. We truly feel the Holy Spirit carrying us through our days. Knowing that you are thinking about us makes us feel not so far away & eases our homesickness. Thank you.

Right now we are taking in a little bit of home by sitting in Starbucks. Except Jenn is drinking an Azuki Red Bean Frappuccino (don’t think we have those in the states…but maybe). It’s nice to get a short break and sit together to write a post.

We are flying on Malaysia Airlines and all the attendant’s uniforms are traditional ethnic attire. What if airline attendants in America did that? What would they wear? Cowgirl/cowboy uniforms? Pilgrim style uniforms?

The ethnicity here in the airport and on our flight has been so diverse. Lots of Chinese, Indians and other Asian Pacific peoples. It’s interesting being the minority since we left LA. In Starbucks at least the music & walls are familiar (Feist is playing as I type).

This airport rocks. It won “Best Airport in the World” the last two years running. There’s a jungle encased in glass in the middle of the airport. The bathrooms have “clean squatters”. The public transportation rail comes right up into the middle of the main terminal. And, of course, Starbucks!

In about six hours we will be landing in Channai, India. We are so excited to meet our new friends Sudha and Monica. They will be our lifeline to the Indian culture while we are there. We’re also looking forward to meeting the children and families. Please pray that we see what God wants us to see, that everything goes smoothly and for good health.

Love,

Brent & Jenn

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