Turning over a New Wheel

Grace and peace to you all from China!

Another week has gone by with its own unique events and situations. I now have had by far my most Chinese experience here in China. David and I met with a friend named Liang Jun last weekend. (He does not have an English name.) He made acquaintance with David by simply insisting he speak English with him. As it turns out, Liang Jun really needs to practice English; its very hard for us to understand him because his English is very poor. Last Saturday, we were planning to go out for supper with him, and we had said we would go get some Kung Pao chicken. We know a place that sells it just down the street for cheap, so we thought we would be eating a cheap meal, and we would be home in an hour. Liang Jun, as it turns out, had other plans. We got in a taxi and went in the other direction. He took us to an upper class restaurant/hotel with a massive chandalier haning down in the entry hall. We had to change our shoes for flip-flops, which didn't seem all that unusual to me because we don't wear shoes indoors at people's homes, here; we do, however, still wear them at restaurants, but  I didn't think much of it. Next we went to a locker room, where I was given a locker, and I took off my jacket thinking that this must be an upscale restaurant, and maybe I would be required to wear their jacket. The next thing I remember is turning around and seeing Liang Jun completely unclothed. He told David and me that we would need to bathe, so I figured when in Rome...I took a shower, but when I got out, David and Liang Jun were nowhere to be seen, so I went back to my locker where I toweled off, but still could not find David or Liang Jun. Some of the attendants at this place, who, of course, were all men in the men's locker room, pointed me in the direction of a place where I could put some clothing on. They provided me with what seemed like underwear; it was paper thin. Then Liang Jun found me and brought me to the sauna, where I suppose he and David had been. We sat and sweated for a bit, and then we went to cool off in the pool It was very shallow and full of naked men, so David and I felt a little uncomfortable. After we had sit in there for as long as we could bear (maybe 15 minutes or so), David got out, and Liang Jun and I followed suit. We went back and put on the paper-thin underwear with a similar top; together they made what seemed like pajamas. We continued on upstairs to the dining hall in our pajamas, where we saw many other people (including women, now). Everyone seemed to be wearing similar pajamas, so that made it a little less awkward, although I'm still not sure that the ones I had were "tailored" to fit a man as large as myself. Either way, we ate well there. It was buffet style, and there were some very nice dishes. We had beef, shrimp (which I don't particularly care for), fried bananas, fried noodles, fried rice, and many other dishes. We even had ice cream, although it tasted different from the ice cream we were used to in the U.S. After supper, we went to the game room where David and Liang Jun played ping pong, and we all played pool afterwards. We then proceded to the resting area, where we each had a couch to recline. Liang Jun called for a massage for each of us, which was rather awkward for David and me because we were still in our paper-thin pajamas, and the masseuses here are not afraid to massage uncomfortable areas (such as the upper thighs, hands, hindquarters, etc.). But after we finished our massages David and I convinced Liang Jun that we had to go home, so we got away after that (maybe three and a half hours after we had left).

I also would like to talk about the work we are doing here in Wuhan. At school last week, I got to explain the story of John 4 to one of my students who was asking me about the Book. Another student told me that she is Chr*stian, but she doesn't believe in G0d. Our Tuesday and Wednesday studies are growing, though. We had a new friend join us at song study on Tuesday, and she returned for our Romans study on Wednesday. We had another new friend at Romans study, where many of our friends told us they had learned a lot during our study of Romans 6. Next week, we hope to go through Romans 8.

Other than that, I have a couple personal stories to share. Earlier today, David and I went with Liang Jun (who seems in the habit of inviting us to extravagant events) to a wedding. We didn't know the bride and groom, and Liang Jun's English is very poor. That made it somewhat uncomfortable, compounded by the fact that the people we sat with didn't speak English, so David and I could only really communicate with each other. We were treated as honored guests, however. We tried many traditional Chinese dishes, or so we were told, and the bride and groom came over to our table for a mini-toast. The groom even shook my hand (and he didn't shake those of other members of the table) to thank us for attending their wedding, I think. This all took place at some sort of fancy hotel/restaurant, where an emcee may have performed the marriage, but I'm just not really sure. It may just have been a wedding banquet.

Finally, I have been riding my bike to school this week. It's about 35 minutes or so by bike, so it's far away, but I would also say that the ride is very exhilarating. The problem was that, on my way the first day, I discovered that my tire was flat, and I was going extraordinarily slow. Fortunately, my co-teacher was riding to school with me, so we stopped at a bike repair shop and had it fixed up. The real problem came in that night, when I discovered that my tire was flat again and the inner tube tire was off the track. I was alone this time. I had to be back home by a certain time, and I was supposed to ride my bike again to school the next day with my co-teacher (and it wouldn't be safe to leave it there overnight), so I walked my bike for about half an hour or so until the tire was back on its track. Then I rode it home the rest of the way, probably to the detriment of my tire. Needless to say, the next day I had to buy a new tire for my bike, and I rode to school without problems. That night, however, my other tire was flat, so I had to get a new inner tire for that. Fortunately, this time my co-teacher had waited around to ride back with me, so she helped me find another repair shop and with the Chinese again. Hopefully, that will resolve my bike problems for a while.

That's the last two weeks in review! Hopefully next time I'll have some new stories to share. Until then, you are in my thoughts and pr@yers. Please pr@y also for us here, that He would prosper our work.

Peace be with you all.