Saturday, October 27, 2007

Last weekend...

Last weekend I traveled with 10 high school students and three co-teachers to a city named Kaiping in the southern province of Guangdong. We traveled only 3 hours by bus to get there. I enjoyed the bus ride, looking out onto water-filled rice paddies and row after row of banana plants. Guangdong has many, many coal factories, and it is a wonder that growth of that kind is still possible.

We spent our time connecting with students at the local schools, as well as leading two youth worship services at the government church in Kaiping. It was very interesting to learn about the Three Self Church. I enjoyed a nice visit with a young pastor at a church in a small village outside of Kaiping. We had the chance to go to his village to enjoy meeting some of the Christians in their homes. Very neat, and despite the language barrier for some of us, I think we were able to be an encouragement to these families. I loved walking through the streets, taking pictures of the European flavored architecture amidst the very traditional Chinese environment. I peeked into open doors and saw groups of old Chinese women playing mah jeong and snapped handfuls of pictures of the sweet kids playing in the streets.

The team of students was exceptional. As the collector of the passports, I was amazed at the diversity in our group- I counted 7 different countries represented out of the 10 I collected. I was impressed with their flexibility and willingness (more so passion) to connect with those we came in contact with. The team debrief sessions at the end of the day were definite highlights. They are a moldable group of students- eager to be changed, and led by God. I was encouraged.

Here a few pictures. You can see more on my flickr site.


Peter is in the purple- he is the pastor of the village church.


Oh, the sweetness of Chinese babies.


Peter's church.


I thought this was interesting.


Some of the students in a sister's home. This is Rainbow and two of her children.


In the village.


Leading worship at the youth service.


The team!

No comments: