Greetings; We just got back from a four day trip. Two days in Xiamen in the southern part of China (the mainland's closest contact point to Taiwan) and then Susan and I want on to Shanghai for a urban China fix.
In Xiamen with Kahla and her two youngest we stayed on the historic Gulang Island a short ferry ride from Xiamen. It is an island with no cars, just electric carts and shoe leather to get around. Gulang, in the twentieth century was the home of consulates from all over the world due to its activity as one of China's major ports. Today many of these magnificent buildings have morphed into guest homes and educational centers, both of which add charm and beauty to its tropical splendor.
A theme here and elsewhere when we have been with the kids is the way they generate attention. It is hard to walk along the street and not have people stop us and want the children to pose for pictures...this is flattering for a few minutes but then, especially when older men try to pick up the children for a picture, it gets a little aggravating. The rule is people can have a picture if the children agree and then only with the children standing or sitting... for the most part this worked out. We did select restaurants out of the beaten path and beach locations that were remote and sparsely peopled.
We saw two major churches on the island, one Catholic, the other Protestant. Our favorite moment was meeting an elderly Chinese woman (84 years old) on the street. She approached us, spoke English and informed us that she was a Christian and had learned her English in bible class. Her warm personality attracted other Chinese passersby and soon we had a cluster of about 10 people gathered around laughing, taking pictures and exchanging e-mail addresses.
In Shanghai Susan and I stayed the first night at a Hostel, a bad decision, half way through the night we woke up with throats parched, our eyes burning and our noses outraged by fumes that had backed up through a improperly vented drain system. We made it to morning but promptly walked across the street and booked a room for our second night in a Chinese three star hotel. Budget traveling is OK but $68 instead of $28 was a no brainer!
Highlights in Shanghai included participating in a classic tea ceremony and a visit to the wonderful Shanghai Art Museum. Next morning we went to central Pudong and watched our grandsons play in a big soccer tournament.
Tomorrow we celebrate our granddaughter's sixth birthday and then on to a grand slam badmitton game with granddad verses the grandsons.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday and Easter Sunday
Sat. 4/11
Had a busy day yesterday, went to soccer practice with the boys then had my hair done, ( about an hour and half procedure here with two washes and a rinse, a head and shoulder massage then the hair cut, another rinse and a final blow dry. I exited ready for my glamour shot)
Around five Eric and Kahla dropped Susan, Freya, Finley me off at the Rainbow Plaza near the lake where we played on the sculptures in the park, large bronze ones of pigs, deer and one with a baby with his pants pulled down and a dog sniffing his butt (the kids loved this one)
Near by in one of the canals we had our pictures taken on the back of a giant crock coming out of the water. Yards a huge bronze witch with fingers about fifteen inches long arched ready to snatch us and carry us away.
We ate at an expensive but poor Mexican restaurant on the water and then were lucky to see the giant water display in the harbor, a 20 minute event with rings and lines of water shooting up sixty or so feet lit by multicolored lights and laser beams dissecting the evening sky.
We got a cab home and the kids were anxious to get to bed so as not to delay the arrival of the Easter bunny.
Easter Morning: 4/12
We awoke to a sunny day and after a lovely breakfast of fruit salad and croissants, Susan and I headed off in a cab to visit Suzhou Protestant Christian St. John Church.
It is located on a busy narrow street in an older section of town. The church itself is an impressive structure, one of three exactly the same. The other two are in Japan and the United States.The church community here dates from 1881 when it was founded by a Methodist minister named Dr Pan. It was rebuilt in 1915 and became one of the largest buildings in Suzhou. The church was designed by Dr. John Moore and financially supported by the St. John’s Congregation from St. Louis Missouri.
The church was used by the First People’s Hospital from 1959 to 1995 when it was approved to return to being a church. Some people living in the building refused to move out until one day a big storm hit and made a hole in the roof – they interpreted this as a warning from God and promptly moved out allowing the church to resume is mission.
On arrival we were ushered to the third floor where we were greeted in English by a Chinese man who had lived in United States for 25 years. Several other westerners were already there. As we entered the entire congregation was singing, practicing hymns. Promptly at 9:30 the service began. We were provided with earphones where we could hear a simultaneous translation of the service.
Afterwards we met the Minister, Rev. He and his intern, Rev. Bing who had preached the sermon. He explained that he has a three year assignment here and then will become a senior pastor himself. Rev. Bing speaks very good English and seemed up to speed on American seminaries. He mentioned positively Union in Richmond, said that Union in New York where Susan and I have a relationship is a bit “too progressive” for most Chinese, and that he, personally, would like to come to US and study at Princeton. He was impressed that my father was a graduate from there.
Everyone greeted us warmly and urged us return and if we were staying long consider teaching bible study during the week.
Had a busy day yesterday, went to soccer practice with the boys then had my hair done, ( about an hour and half procedure here with two washes and a rinse, a head and shoulder massage then the hair cut, another rinse and a final blow dry. I exited ready for my glamour shot)
Around five Eric and Kahla dropped Susan, Freya, Finley me off at the Rainbow Plaza near the lake where we played on the sculptures in the park, large bronze ones of pigs, deer and one with a baby with his pants pulled down and a dog sniffing his butt (the kids loved this one)
Near by in one of the canals we had our pictures taken on the back of a giant crock coming out of the water. Yards a huge bronze witch with fingers about fifteen inches long arched ready to snatch us and carry us away.
We ate at an expensive but poor Mexican restaurant on the water and then were lucky to see the giant water display in the harbor, a 20 minute event with rings and lines of water shooting up sixty or so feet lit by multicolored lights and laser beams dissecting the evening sky.
We got a cab home and the kids were anxious to get to bed so as not to delay the arrival of the Easter bunny.
Easter Morning: 4/12
We awoke to a sunny day and after a lovely breakfast of fruit salad and croissants, Susan and I headed off in a cab to visit Suzhou Protestant Christian St. John Church.
It is located on a busy narrow street in an older section of town. The church itself is an impressive structure, one of three exactly the same. The other two are in Japan and the United States.The church community here dates from 1881 when it was founded by a Methodist minister named Dr Pan. It was rebuilt in 1915 and became one of the largest buildings in Suzhou. The church was designed by Dr. John Moore and financially supported by the St. John’s Congregation from St. Louis Missouri.
The church was used by the First People’s Hospital from 1959 to 1995 when it was approved to return to being a church. Some people living in the building refused to move out until one day a big storm hit and made a hole in the roof – they interpreted this as a warning from God and promptly moved out allowing the church to resume is mission.
On arrival we were ushered to the third floor where we were greeted in English by a Chinese man who had lived in United States for 25 years. Several other westerners were already there. As we entered the entire congregation was singing, practicing hymns. Promptly at 9:30 the service began. We were provided with earphones where we could hear a simultaneous translation of the service.
Afterwards we met the Minister, Rev. He and his intern, Rev. Bing who had preached the sermon. He explained that he has a three year assignment here and then will become a senior pastor himself. Rev. Bing speaks very good English and seemed up to speed on American seminaries. He mentioned positively Union in Richmond, said that Union in New York where Susan and I have a relationship is a bit “too progressive” for most Chinese, and that he, personally, would like to come to US and study at Princeton. He was impressed that my father was a graduate from there.
Everyone greeted us warmly and urged us return and if we were staying long consider teaching bible study during the week.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Trip to Jiangyin to see Pastor Mary
On Tuesday (April 7) a lot of the good things lined up in the right way facilitating our trip to Jiangyin to visit with Pastor Mary. We had last seen her in Wilmington and were excited to visit her church. Ironically Jiangyin is where our son-in-law has his factory, General Cable, so we were able to hitch a ride with him and then, after he got to work, continue with his driver to the center of town were the church is located. It was really wonderful to drive into the downtown section and see the steeple and the cross, standing out among the urban landscape.
The church is located in an inner square and approached through a gate. It is a tall and imposing structure with a large sanctuary. The cross hangs high on the wall in the front of the church with an oval of chairs below for the choir. When we arrived we were ushered up five of six flights of stairs to the church office located on the third floor of the four story structure.
Pastor Mary arrived shortly later and nibbling on strawberries and grape tomatoes we talked about our trip and our pleasure to be able to visit the church. Two other church officials were also present, the pastor’s secretary, Fingin Huang and Ya Ping Dan who we recognized as one of the visitors to Wilmington last spring. Ya Ping is a business woman who owns a large factory in Huaxi where she has been instrumental in building a sister church.
We talked a bit about Easter and found that the choir was going to participate in a large service at a near -by church…old people were going to fill in for the choir at their church.
We asked how the search for the training school was going and found that they had a series of sites under consideration that we could visit.
The first was in a newish building with options for using the second and third floor. The space was about 75 by 60 which seemed adequate if the walls were not weight bearing and could be refigured to accommodate a training program that needed at least one room big enough to handle the anticipated 120 students. A second need was for a living area able to accommodate six people. The space was in a lovely part of town on a wide street with parking out front.
The second site was less attractive, older and more like a motel than an office building. It had narrow rooms and would need major renovation. We cast our vote for the first building and then were off to lunch.
Lunch is not the correct word, feast would be better. We went to the Times Hotel in the center of town, apparently where Ernie, Alex, Lucy and Fred were entertained on their visit here last year. The hotel had a picture menu but we yielded to our hosts to make the choices and good choices there were, with the possible exception of cold chicken feet and a smoked beef offering that looked a little like pick up sticks and required knawing on the bone to extract even a minimal morsel. 12 courses later with everyone smiling and toasting our raised glasses and headed out to the vans to visit the church in Hauxi.
Our touring was not difficult as we were transported in Ya Ping’s new Mercedes Van complete with leather upholstery and retractable roof
The Huaxi church was a complex that included a beautiful church building with a separate building next door housing a dining hall, church office, restroom facilities and Sunday school.
As we started our farewells’ Pastor Mary insisted that we make one more stop, a tower in the center of town where we could see all of Huaxi. We agreed and followed them to the Huaxi Golden Tower Hotel. The hotel is a temple like structure with twenty four floors and a tea room and observation deck on the top. From this vantage we had a birds eye view of the whole valley.
Feeling warm in spirit and pleased with the opportunity to extend yet another link in our century long partnership with the Christian Church in Jiangyin, we hugged our hosts and headed back to Suzhou.
The church is located in an inner square and approached through a gate. It is a tall and imposing structure with a large sanctuary. The cross hangs high on the wall in the front of the church with an oval of chairs below for the choir. When we arrived we were ushered up five of six flights of stairs to the church office located on the third floor of the four story structure.
Pastor Mary arrived shortly later and nibbling on strawberries and grape tomatoes we talked about our trip and our pleasure to be able to visit the church. Two other church officials were also present, the pastor’s secretary, Fingin Huang and Ya Ping Dan who we recognized as one of the visitors to Wilmington last spring. Ya Ping is a business woman who owns a large factory in Huaxi where she has been instrumental in building a sister church.
We talked a bit about Easter and found that the choir was going to participate in a large service at a near -by church…old people were going to fill in for the choir at their church.
We asked how the search for the training school was going and found that they had a series of sites under consideration that we could visit.
The first was in a newish building with options for using the second and third floor. The space was about 75 by 60 which seemed adequate if the walls were not weight bearing and could be refigured to accommodate a training program that needed at least one room big enough to handle the anticipated 120 students. A second need was for a living area able to accommodate six people. The space was in a lovely part of town on a wide street with parking out front.
The second site was less attractive, older and more like a motel than an office building. It had narrow rooms and would need major renovation. We cast our vote for the first building and then were off to lunch.
Lunch is not the correct word, feast would be better. We went to the Times Hotel in the center of town, apparently where Ernie, Alex, Lucy and Fred were entertained on their visit here last year. The hotel had a picture menu but we yielded to our hosts to make the choices and good choices there were, with the possible exception of cold chicken feet and a smoked beef offering that looked a little like pick up sticks and required knawing on the bone to extract even a minimal morsel. 12 courses later with everyone smiling and toasting our raised glasses and headed out to the vans to visit the church in Hauxi.
Our touring was not difficult as we were transported in Ya Ping’s new Mercedes Van complete with leather upholstery and retractable roof
The Huaxi church was a complex that included a beautiful church building with a separate building next door housing a dining hall, church office, restroom facilities and Sunday school.
As we started our farewells’ Pastor Mary insisted that we make one more stop, a tower in the center of town where we could see all of Huaxi. We agreed and followed them to the Huaxi Golden Tower Hotel. The hotel is a temple like structure with twenty four floors and a tea room and observation deck on the top. From this vantage we had a birds eye view of the whole valley.
Feeling warm in spirit and pleased with the opportunity to extend yet another link in our century long partnership with the Christian Church in Jiangyin, we hugged our hosts and headed back to Suzhou.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday Service in Sozhou
Dear all:
Sunday in Suzhou, China was a flurry of activity. Getting four grandchildren ready for church was a task in itself. Add to that the grandparents and a car not quite big enough for us all and what started out as an outing transitioned into more of an event!
None the less we arrived in one piece and on time at a huge downtown skyscraper and passing through the revolving door and past the security guard we headed up to the third floor to a large auditorium where the Suzhou International Fellowship (SIF)holds its services. As we entered the international congregation was assembling. A small musical group consisting of a cello, keyboard, and three guitars stood in ready to the side of a large drop down movie screen with rotating messages. The one that let you know you were definitely in China was the one stating that in accordance with the law, this service was only for passport bearing non Chinese. At the bottom right hand corner of the screen was the biblical passage “Be still and know that I am God.”
The service opened with the congregation standing to sing a series of four hymns. There were no hymnals and one joined in by following the words printed in giant letters on the screen. I didn’t know most of the songs so had to try to figure out the melody as we sang along. The service was a special one with a special offering in recognition of the retirement next Sunday of its founding pastor, Phil Kellerman, who at eighty was heading back to the USA. The fellowship is ecumenical and embraces most, if not all Christian traditions. Neighbors of our daughter from Brazil who we guessed were Catholic attend regularly.
Being Palm Sunday the scripture and sermon reviewed Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem and the promise and the sacrifice of the week that followed. Pastor Phil was a commanding figure with a rich voice, well toned delivery and obvious deep spiritual center.
Climaxing the service was the entrance of the children from the Sunday school waving palm branches. They convened on the stage in front of the giant screen and recited Romans 8:38. "I am convinced that nothing can stop me from the love of God, not death or life, neither angels nor demons, nothing can separate us from the love of God."
They then sang a lovely song and the pastor came forward for a prayer and benediction.
I was amazed by the number of children, swarms of them mostly from other Asian countries with a third or so from the west.
During the service an announcement about an all church retreat the weekend after Easter was made. It would take place at a large local hotel to welcome and get to know the new pastor.
Today, Monday we are going to try to get in touch with Pastor Mary for a visit to her church in Jiangyin. It’s a public holiday today so schools are closed. We will probably stay close to home to avoid the crowds.
We’ll keep you informed.
Sunday in Suzhou, China was a flurry of activity. Getting four grandchildren ready for church was a task in itself. Add to that the grandparents and a car not quite big enough for us all and what started out as an outing transitioned into more of an event!
None the less we arrived in one piece and on time at a huge downtown skyscraper and passing through the revolving door and past the security guard we headed up to the third floor to a large auditorium where the Suzhou International Fellowship (SIF)holds its services. As we entered the international congregation was assembling. A small musical group consisting of a cello, keyboard, and three guitars stood in ready to the side of a large drop down movie screen with rotating messages. The one that let you know you were definitely in China was the one stating that in accordance with the law, this service was only for passport bearing non Chinese. At the bottom right hand corner of the screen was the biblical passage “Be still and know that I am God.”
The service opened with the congregation standing to sing a series of four hymns. There were no hymnals and one joined in by following the words printed in giant letters on the screen. I didn’t know most of the songs so had to try to figure out the melody as we sang along. The service was a special one with a special offering in recognition of the retirement next Sunday of its founding pastor, Phil Kellerman, who at eighty was heading back to the USA. The fellowship is ecumenical and embraces most, if not all Christian traditions. Neighbors of our daughter from Brazil who we guessed were Catholic attend regularly.
Being Palm Sunday the scripture and sermon reviewed Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem and the promise and the sacrifice of the week that followed. Pastor Phil was a commanding figure with a rich voice, well toned delivery and obvious deep spiritual center.
Climaxing the service was the entrance of the children from the Sunday school waving palm branches. They convened on the stage in front of the giant screen and recited Romans 8:38. "I am convinced that nothing can stop me from the love of God, not death or life, neither angels nor demons, nothing can separate us from the love of God."
They then sang a lovely song and the pastor came forward for a prayer and benediction.
I was amazed by the number of children, swarms of them mostly from other Asian countries with a third or so from the west.
During the service an announcement about an all church retreat the weekend after Easter was made. It would take place at a large local hotel to welcome and get to know the new pastor.
Today, Monday we are going to try to get in touch with Pastor Mary for a visit to her church in Jiangyin. It’s a public holiday today so schools are closed. We will probably stay close to home to avoid the crowds.
We’ll keep you informed.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Arrival in China
Dear All:
Susan and I arrived in China on schedule after a long but pleasant flight out of Atlanta on Delta. Eric, our son-in-law was there to greet us. He was on a business trip to the Philippines and so we bid him farewell and then with his driver returned to Suzhou. It is amazing how China has changed in just the four years we have been coming to Suzhou to visit our daughter and her family.
On our first trip here the highway from Shanghai to Suzhou included long stretches of rural areas and equally long stretches of open land. This time it was difficult to determine when you left Shanghai and entered some other town or city….both sides of the road are now built up with new factories and huge areas of new housing.
We arrived about 5PM which was about 24 hours after we left Wilmington. We managed to stay up to 10 PM or so China time and had a good long night’s sleep, our first phase of getting over jet lag.
Yesterday with the grandchildren on Spring break we headed out on a field trip to the big Arboretum…a huge park- like area complete with lakes, pathways and fun play areas for the kids. One with a series of three wooden forts, two story structures suitable for climbing into and around on; another section had rock climbing structures shooting up a safe six feet or so over padded flooring. Swings, slides and balance beams in other areas provided lots of opportunities for burning off energy for the kids and fun observation for the adults. One of my favorite areas was a series of three dry stone cone shaped volcano structures in the middle of a wide pathway complete with wafts of steam pouring out from between the rocks. As you walked around them the moist steam tickled you cheeks. When we visited the Arboretum last year it was adjacent to a large open field. This year the field is the home of a huge new, architecturally amazing, science museum equal in size to three or more Fort Fisher Aquariums. It is amazing how fast things change here.
For lunch we went to another brand new complex called Times Square. It too was built in the last year. It is about the same size of all of Mayfair with ground level open canals between buildings and scattered play areas for kids. On the upper level one can move from space to space in glass -sided elevated tunnels. Up -scale Japanese and Chinese based businesses were everywhere along with the more recognizable standards such as Toys-R-us, Mount Blanc and Bally. As one might expect the Americans were represented, perhaps not in our best light with Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, Burger King and fortunately for me Starbucks, Susan and I snuck away from the Western offerings and had a lovely lunch of mapo dofu, Chinese greens and chicken in red bean sauce at a small café off one of the second floor passageways (Total: $10 US ). Food here, Chinese style, is very affordable.
At the other extreme was our visit to a store named Nature Living. a home furnishing store similar to an upscale combination of Pottery Barn and Williams and Sonoma. The amazing thing was the scale of it. Rows and rows of mixers and grinders, glassware and dishes, vases and linens and that was just the second floor, the ground floor was electronics for wall to wall. The staff, visible everywhere and anxious to help, since it was slow, seemed to be spending most of their time dusting and cleaning….China , at least the new, upscale China has to be the cleanest in the world. No surface tolerates smudges or spots. During our lunch three of the staff were busy polishing the mirrors…mirrors that seemed already to be shimmering clean and bright. When we concluded our meal three waitresses came to clear and wipe down the table before pouring us another cup of complimentary tea. At Nature Living two of the staff talked to us in English. We explained we were only site seeing which they accepted graciously and then moved on to talk about the new buildings, what part of China they had migrated from and how well they spoke English. They each confessed that they loved the opportunity to practice their English on us. Susan brought out her new Cannon G10 and confessed that she wasn’t sure exactly how to use it. Larry in the electronics depart told her he had one just like it and would be delighted to teach her. Susan vowed to take him up on it. .
Afterwards we joined our daughter in a huge basement Fresh Market like grocery, all organic, with sample stations everywhere. The presentation was pristine and food looked fresh and lovely…and expensive.
Today we will be planning our itinerary and determining when and where we will be making contact with our Christian partners here. Likely first stop will be with Pastor Mary who many of you remember from her visit with us last spring. Her parish is in Jaingyin where my son-in-law’s factory is located so we will hop a ride next week with him and do a day trip.
Our best to you all from China , Clancy and Susan.
Susan and I arrived in China on schedule after a long but pleasant flight out of Atlanta on Delta. Eric, our son-in-law was there to greet us. He was on a business trip to the Philippines and so we bid him farewell and then with his driver returned to Suzhou. It is amazing how China has changed in just the four years we have been coming to Suzhou to visit our daughter and her family.
On our first trip here the highway from Shanghai to Suzhou included long stretches of rural areas and equally long stretches of open land. This time it was difficult to determine when you left Shanghai and entered some other town or city….both sides of the road are now built up with new factories and huge areas of new housing.
We arrived about 5PM which was about 24 hours after we left Wilmington. We managed to stay up to 10 PM or so China time and had a good long night’s sleep, our first phase of getting over jet lag.
Yesterday with the grandchildren on Spring break we headed out on a field trip to the big Arboretum…a huge park- like area complete with lakes, pathways and fun play areas for the kids. One with a series of three wooden forts, two story structures suitable for climbing into and around on; another section had rock climbing structures shooting up a safe six feet or so over padded flooring. Swings, slides and balance beams in other areas provided lots of opportunities for burning off energy for the kids and fun observation for the adults. One of my favorite areas was a series of three dry stone cone shaped volcano structures in the middle of a wide pathway complete with wafts of steam pouring out from between the rocks. As you walked around them the moist steam tickled you cheeks. When we visited the Arboretum last year it was adjacent to a large open field. This year the field is the home of a huge new, architecturally amazing, science museum equal in size to three or more Fort Fisher Aquariums. It is amazing how fast things change here.
For lunch we went to another brand new complex called Times Square. It too was built in the last year. It is about the same size of all of Mayfair with ground level open canals between buildings and scattered play areas for kids. On the upper level one can move from space to space in glass -sided elevated tunnels. Up -scale Japanese and Chinese based businesses were everywhere along with the more recognizable standards such as Toys-R-us, Mount Blanc and Bally. As one might expect the Americans were represented, perhaps not in our best light with Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, Burger King and fortunately for me Starbucks, Susan and I snuck away from the Western offerings and had a lovely lunch of mapo dofu, Chinese greens and chicken in red bean sauce at a small café off one of the second floor passageways (Total: $10 US ). Food here, Chinese style, is very affordable.
At the other extreme was our visit to a store named Nature Living. a home furnishing store similar to an upscale combination of Pottery Barn and Williams and Sonoma. The amazing thing was the scale of it. Rows and rows of mixers and grinders, glassware and dishes, vases and linens and that was just the second floor, the ground floor was electronics for wall to wall. The staff, visible everywhere and anxious to help, since it was slow, seemed to be spending most of their time dusting and cleaning….China , at least the new, upscale China has to be the cleanest in the world. No surface tolerates smudges or spots. During our lunch three of the staff were busy polishing the mirrors…mirrors that seemed already to be shimmering clean and bright. When we concluded our meal three waitresses came to clear and wipe down the table before pouring us another cup of complimentary tea. At Nature Living two of the staff talked to us in English. We explained we were only site seeing which they accepted graciously and then moved on to talk about the new buildings, what part of China they had migrated from and how well they spoke English. They each confessed that they loved the opportunity to practice their English on us. Susan brought out her new Cannon G10 and confessed that she wasn’t sure exactly how to use it. Larry in the electronics depart told her he had one just like it and would be delighted to teach her. Susan vowed to take him up on it. .
Afterwards we joined our daughter in a huge basement Fresh Market like grocery, all organic, with sample stations everywhere. The presentation was pristine and food looked fresh and lovely…and expensive.
Today we will be planning our itinerary and determining when and where we will be making contact with our Christian partners here. Likely first stop will be with Pastor Mary who many of you remember from her visit with us last spring. Her parish is in Jaingyin where my son-in-law’s factory is located so we will hop a ride next week with him and do a day trip.
Our best to you all from China , Clancy and Susan.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Preparing for the trip to China
Dear Friends:
Today we hosted the China Mission Team with special guest Rev. Jeff Ritchie with the Presbyterian Outreach Foundation. It was wonderful that 12 members of our church took the time at 9:00 on Saturday morning to gain understanding of the exciting opportunities and challenges of our partnership with the Chinese Christian Church in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province where our congregation has had a relationship for well over a hundred years.
In three days Susan and I will be flying to this very region and we look forward to visiting several of the congregations both in Suzhou where we will be staying with our daughter and her family, but also in Wuxi and Nainjing.
A special additional opportunity emerged just several minutes ago in a conversation with Susan's aunt, Anne Hale Johnson, who is former Chairman of the Board and graduate of Union Theological Seminary in NYC. Ann visited Nainjing 13 years ago and spent time with Bishop Ting who is in the Seminary there. In 1994 he was given the Distinguished Alumni Award by Union.
Ann wants us to look him up and bring him her greetings.
Susan and I will keep you informed during our journey as we meet and further our partnership with Christians in China. We ask for your prayers and collective insight as we continue this exciting global partnership.
Susan and Clancy Thompson
Today we hosted the China Mission Team with special guest Rev. Jeff Ritchie with the Presbyterian Outreach Foundation. It was wonderful that 12 members of our church took the time at 9:00 on Saturday morning to gain understanding of the exciting opportunities and challenges of our partnership with the Chinese Christian Church in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province where our congregation has had a relationship for well over a hundred years.
In three days Susan and I will be flying to this very region and we look forward to visiting several of the congregations both in Suzhou where we will be staying with our daughter and her family, but also in Wuxi and Nainjing.
A special additional opportunity emerged just several minutes ago in a conversation with Susan's aunt, Anne Hale Johnson, who is former Chairman of the Board and graduate of Union Theological Seminary in NYC. Ann visited Nainjing 13 years ago and spent time with Bishop Ting who is in the Seminary there. In 1994 he was given the Distinguished Alumni Award by Union.
Ann wants us to look him up and bring him her greetings.
Susan and I will keep you informed during our journey as we meet and further our partnership with Christians in China. We ask for your prayers and collective insight as we continue this exciting global partnership.
Susan and Clancy Thompson
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