As I mentioned before, the one thing you don’t see here are churches. Even in the hotel information you do not find any listings for churches or church services. And so that has been one of the harder things about being here in China on a Sunday…no church.
So this morning, before the girls were up I went on a run. As I do on some runs, I started praying. Today, since I was running through a local park where again I saw lots of folks out doing Tai Chi, playing badmitton or hacky-sack, or doing calisthenics, I prayed for this country and its people. I particularly prayed that they would, as our guide mentioned in Nanchang, have a change of heart in regards to how they view children, especially girls. And I prayed that the church here would continue to grow and thrive despite the obstacles.
Later in the day, Marti and I took Sarah to Shamian Island here in Guangzhou. It is where the White Swan hotel is located. It is also where the U.S. Consulate is located. Many hundreds, if not thousands of adoptions have been completed on this little island in the city. While strolling around, we ventured into a little shop. In this shop, we noticed they had a few Bibles for sales. Somehow, the conversation came around to the fact that we were Christians. The shop owners let us know that they were Christians as well. We spent over half an hour in the shop. They invited us to their church but unfortunately we had already missed the service.
Eventually, we bought a few items there. In turn, the shop owner gave Marti a jade cross necklace. She was so excited. The first Chinese believers we met gave her a gift. And they gave Kate a booklet written in Chinese…it was entitled, “How to Know Jesus.” We told them that we would make sure that Kate knew about Jesus as she grew up.
Even though we did not get to worship corporately while here in China, we were excited to share a few moments with some believers who were not afraid to let us know that. That may have been the best way to spend a Sunday here in China.
OH that is so lovely! If possible, would you let us know what shop it is? To be a blessing and be blessed in China! Oh I would love to go there!
We will be traveling late November/early December.
And we can't wait to go get her!
Posted by: Madeleine | October 09, 2009 at 09:22 AM