It’s been so amazing here! We all think it’s super cold…but it’s usually never below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s very windy here because we are so close to the ocean. I really wish it would snow. It has a couple times; but not near as often as I would like.
We finally started our Chinese lessons! One of the volunteers from the base is teaching us. She gives us conversations to learn and practice with each other. These are some of our conversations:
Person one: Hello Ni hao
Person two: Hi Ni hao
One: How are you? Ni hao ma?
Two: I am doing well. Wo hen hao.
One: See you next time. Xia ci jian.
Two: Bye. Zai jian.
Person A: How much is this? Zhe ge duo shao qian?
Person B: 30 dollars 30 (san shi) yuan
A: Too expensive Tai gui le
Can it be cheaper? Ke yi pian yi dian ma?
B: How much do you want to pay? Ni xiang hua duo shao quian?
A: 20 dollars. 20 (er shi) yuan
And my personal favorite: Ting bu dong: I don’t understand.
We met a man here in China named Tom who seems to have connections everywhere. He had been meeting with different members of our team. He was really interested in helping Chinese students travel to America to go to different summer camps. So he wanted some of us on our team who have summer camp experience to talk about summer camps to some of the interested students and parents. Kirsten and I have both attended summer camp and have been counselors at camp, so we got delegated to come. The first meeting with Tom was just a lot of basic facts about the camp. We didn’t have to speak much. Tom took us out for lunch afterword at a Hong Kong style restaurant. We had roasted duck & rice, beef & noodles, and veggies. It was so good trying other Chinese food.
Jane and I were able to meet with Daniel and his family. We rode a taxi to their house. We were not exactly sure where we were going. It was about a 20-30 minute ride. We were not too sure what to do when we got there. We went over some English vocabulary words from about 3-5 pm. Daniel is a very smart 13 year old boy…but has lots and lots of energy. It was a lot of fun but a bit tiring. After we finished our lessons Daniel showed us all these videos online about car crashes in China. It kind of made Jane and I a bit nervous riding around in the city. Driving in Dalian is crazy. I really don’t think they have traffic rules here. We had dinner at their house. Linda cooked us shrimp, chicken, Korean rice, garlic broccoli, eggs, and this rice ball sweet soup thingy. It was all so delicious. Linda drove Jane and me back to our apartment. There is hope for Chinese drivers.
All the girls on our team decided to do a mirror fast until we go to Beijing on March 11. Basically that means…no looking in the mirror. At all.
We decided as a team that we wanted walk to the Xinghai Square early one morning to pray for the city of Dalian and for all of China. It’s about a half hour walk. We woke up at 5:30 and met together at 6 to walk to the park. It was so cold outside. We had to keep moving to stay warm. We were there for about an hour praying over the city of Dalian and for China. It was such an incredible time worshipping the Lord. I am planning on bringing a blanket next time so I don’t freeze.
On Saturday morning the girls made breakfast for the boys. Yummy American (ish) omelets. We had another English corner again that night. Our topic was beauty this time. Lots of Chinese people came this week. The coffee shop we were in was almost too small for all of us there. We’ve been meeting lots of people at our English corners. We meet people there and hang out with them outside of English corner. While we get to know them more, we tell them more about ourselves. 1 Corinthians 2:2 has become my life verse while being here in China: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” How can I not talk about Jesus? He is my life. He is my everything.
Kirsten and I met again with Tom to discuss the summer camp. This time we were asked to speak in front of a small group of parents and students. We talked about what our experiences were like and why summer camp is a good thing for kids to attend. It was really funny because both the camps Kirsten and I have attended were basic Christian camps. We learned how to start fires and tie knots and swim. The camps Tom was advertising for were computer camps and really good sports camps. Our camp experiences were not anywhere near the other camps. But we managed to hide that fact and just talk about how we learned to become more confident and make connections with people while we were young. We also brought up the interesting fact that Kirsten and I had never met before coming to YWAM. But we did meet in Kona, HI at a through the YWAM program. The crazy thing is: Kirsten and I both live in Grand Rapids, MI. We were even born in the same hospital three days apart. Yet it was through YWAM that we met. God is so amazing.
Our school leader Jeff came on January 24. He visited with us and made sure we were all doing well. It was lots of fun being able to show him around our lovely city and have him meet our contacts. He was only here until the 29th. It was so sad to see him leave. We cannot wait to see him again in Kona and to tell him of all the things God has been doing since he left us.
When we were with Tom, we were able to meet a woman named Jessica. She runs an after-school program for children aging from 6-11. She heard about our English corners and wanted us to prepare a small English corner for her children. So Jane, Amanda, Clint, and I went to her program. We thought we were going to have to prepare a whole schedule, but she already had it all laid out for us. She told us and the children about Chinese New Year. Then we played some games. They were all games we had played but had different Chinese names. Jessica had tried to translate the Chinese names into English. We played: Stool Rush, Drumming to Pass, and I See You Say. Can you guess what they are? Musical Chairs, Hot Potato, and Charades. We also were able to help make dumplings. Only Amanda actually made them. Clint, Jane, and I just watched. The little kids were so adorable.
Amanda and I were able to meet with one of the people we met at English corner named Peter. We went to a coffee shop with internet so he could help me set up a Chinese QQ…which is just like MSN. It was way easier than I had been making it out to be. We started talking about different holidays. Peter explained to us about Chinese New Year and what would be happening the following week. It was so interesting to learn about the Chinese festival. He said it was a lot like Christmas. We asked him if he knew about Christmas and if he wanted to know more about it. We were able to share with him how God created the whole world and how sin had separated man from God. We explained that God loved the world so much that He sent His own son from heaven to earth to be the sacrifice for our sin so we could be together with Him again. We told him that was what Christmas was really about. We know that seed planted will not go unnoticed.
One of the volunteers at the base, Minerva, had a friend that needed to create an advertisement for English classes. So all of our non-Asian team members went to help her out. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into. J We went out for lunch first to a seafood restaurant. We had so much food I wouldn’t know where to start to describe. We then went to the English school office. She told us she wanted to make a recording movie of us. Great thing to announce to a team full of people who haven’t looked in the mirror for a week. J We had to pretend we were English teachers or were in classes. It was a lot of fun but super crazy. J It took us about an hour and a half to film everything because we were always laughing so hard. After Minerva and I went out for dinner at a Western style restaurant. It was so amazing to eat spaghetti once again.
We had another English corner on that Saturday. Since it was so close to the Chinese New Year we decided to make our topic on Holidays. It was such a good opportunity to learn more about the Chinese culture and also talk about our holidays…such as Christmas. And Christmas means Jesus. One of the girls I met at the children’s program was able to come to our English corner. She also brought her friend. Brandon and I arranged to hang out with them the next day. We had to ride the bus an hour to meet with the one girl. Then we rode the bus together for a half hour. We walked for about ten minutes and rode another bus for a half hour until we finally got McDonalds where the other girl worked. It is a Chinese custom to give guests gifts. So our friends bought us soooo much food. We felt so stuffed. We were able to talk more about God with them. It was so funny. They kept telling us that we were not like the other Americans they had met and read about in the newspapers. And I kept telling them that was because we were Christians. It didn’t seem to quite sink in all the way. Before we left them, we gave them note cards that we had written them with different Bible verses on them and encouragement. We told them we would be praying for them.
And now…CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!!!! (Feb. 2) There were fireworks literally going off all day. At least from 7am to way past midnight. It was crazy intense. Sometimes we honestly felt like we were in a war scene in some movie or something. I learned how to play Majong…a Chinese game. So much fun. I like to think I’m getting pretty good at it. J We woke up the next day…and there were still fireworks. And the next day. So crazy and so amazing.
Brandon, Faith, and I were able to meet up with Daniel and his family again to teach more English to him. We googled SAT prep questions and had him look up the words he didn’t know. I think we all learned new words. J Linda and Jerry made Chinese dumplings for dinner. They let us help make them as well. Both Brandon and Faith are from Chinese decent. Brandon is Chinese Canadian, and Faith is Chinese Singapore(ian?). And I am not Chinese at all. They were pretty good at making the dumplings. First you roll the dough into small circles. My circles looked like squares. I don’t understand how that happened. Then you spoon the dumping mix (meet and veggies) into the middle of the circle and pinch the sides with your finger and thumb. Dumplings are supposed to be short and fat. Mine were long and skinny. Linda and Jerry both laughed when I finally gave up making Chinese dumplings and started making American dumplings…most commonly known as donuts. J After dinner we rode the bus to Xinghai Square, but the city was so packed with people going to the square to watch the firework show. Our bus stopped 20 minutes away from the park, so we had to watch. We were able to see some of the fireworks above the buildings, but we missed the show. Jonathan recorded the entire show on his i-pod.
Our next English corner was about family. Not a lot of people showed up because many people were out of town for New Years. My friend from last week came again and took three friends with her. She also brought her Bible with her and told me she had been reading the card I gave her and reading the verses in the Bible. We told her to write down any questions she had while reading so she could ask us later when we hang out again. I know God is working in her heart and drawing her closer and closer to Him.
These are the stories. They sound fun and cute. And they are. But we are not here for cute little stories. We are here because this is where the Father has been calling us.
My first couple weeks here really discouraged me because it seemed we were not able to really share with people about God. I really questioned why I was here because I didn’t feel like I wasn’t being used by God. The more I asked God why, the more I felt like He wasn’t answering. I became very confused and disconnected from what was happening here.
And then the Lord brought me to read 1 Peter. He writes about a fire that purifies gold. When impure gold is put in a hot fire, all the pure gold sinks to the bottom while the impurities rise to the top to be scooped out. This process is repeated and the fire heated higher until all that is left is pure gold. Peter writes that the fire that tests our faith is hotter than the fire that purifies gold. God is going to put us in place that are hot and hard to see if we will cling to Him through it all. And this is what He was doing in my life.
It’s been hard here some days. But I’ve learned through everything to cling to the Father and what He wants for me. For too long I’ve done whatever I wanted to do. And I want to be like Jesus. I want to walk like Jesus. And to do that, I must listen exactly to what the Father tells me to do. Jesus only did what the Father told Him.
What is the Father doing? Do you know? Have you asked Him? My first couple weeks here, I thought I knew what God was doing. I just kinda did what “felt right,” but nothing seemed to be really happening. It was so frustrating. I felt so discouraged. But when I started to ask God what He wanted me to do, and did what He wanted, it was then that things started to happen. He has opened my eyes to what He is doing here in Dalian and in China. I dare you to ask Him what He wants you to do where you are. It will completely change your life.
I am not sure when I will be able to update this next. We are leaving Dalian next week and heading to Dandong and Yanji. From there five members of our team will be heading into North Korea for a week. The other ten of us will remain in China to pray and fast for what God will be doing in NK. I wanted to go in so badly, but God told me to stay in China. John 14:30-31. The world must know that I love the Father and must do exactly what He commands.
God is at work here in China. We are ready and eager to help rake in this harvest.
Thank you always for your prayers and support.
You can email me at: juliannelanning@fastmail.fm
Let me know if there is anything I can pray for you.
Grace and Peace
Julianne
No comments:
Post a Comment