Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee.

Last December I had the amazing opportunity to travel half-way around the world to celebrate Christmas by serving with fellow believers in a foreign land. There were no trees, lights, carols, snow, family, presents or familiarity. But the season of celebration (and the reason of celebration) existed--and were proclaimed.

From the moment I stepped out of the car I was welcomed with open arms and with bright smiles. The people's genuine love overflowed and their care for others--a servant's attitude was very strong.

I thought later how unfortunate it is that people without knowledge of the ultimate example of Sacrifice and Love demonstrate this quality better than many who live here and believe do.

Guanshi--the word for community is very important to the people. The people around them are very important to them. Part of their culture emphasises the whole rather than the individual. What can he or she sacrifice to help those around them.

What a great example of what Christ came to do. To serve people, to love people.

(I defiantely encountered a little culture shock in the LA airport when I was immediately thrown back into the "me" centered society.)

I loved talking with the believers in that area. Their burden for their friends and family was so great that they were constantly broken hearted. The urgency in their voices when talking about sharing with their communities was overwhelming.

Where was this unbearable burden in my life? Where was the urgency?

To be in a place where people lacked physical needs and wants, emotional needs and wants and definitely spiritual needs and wants was difficult to swallow. There were a few times that I would be on a very very crowded street or bus and though surrounded by hundreds of people I felt very alone.

To live with people in the dorms who were not as fortunate as I and see their contentment and happiness was a lesson in and of itself--but to think about how I had been given Joy (see previous blog for reference) and know that I was not living Joyfully because I was putting emphasis on circumstance was a real slap in the face.

As I was thinking about how I would tell more about the experience I knew that pictures would tell a lot more than I could ever explain and that even with that, they would do the experience an injustice.

(As I was uploading I found out how technologically incompetent I can be--the pictures are in a weird order so just bare with me..there are so many more that I didn't have time to sift through..hopefully I'll revisit pictures and post another blog with more later.)

Here goes, last year's big, life-changing experience number 1:

This is Lisa and Christina (the adorable little girl in the pink). Lisa had the challenge of teaching me introductory Mandarin and shared with us some amazing stories. Christina was their one year old. . They named her Christina, hoping that she would grow up to follow Christ. Their story was amazing and chokes me up to this day.

While we were at the school we had the opportunity to experience some cultural classes. This is a Peking Opera--very neat experience. The musical instruments were unique and the tradition was rich.



This was an English corner, where students and community members gather to practice speaking in English. We had the privilege of joining them and sharing about "American culture" (aka--Christmas).

We met a man named Mr. Juan (about 83 years old) at this English Corner who told us his story. He had worked as a translator in war for American troops and had later paid the price for this association with foreigners by being taken from his family and made to work on a 'farm' for around 8 years. He was resilient and faithful to his beliefs, and his love for God and life even after so many struggles was very inspiring to me.



Some university students after the Peking Opera

These are minority children. They live in villages in the mountains without running water and electricity. They were special guests at this high school's Christmas celebration. The clothes they are wearing were handmade and traditional of the group. They were precious.

Stoped in our taxi on the way into town. People always stared at us--for most people this was the first time they had seen Americans in person.

We ate most of our meals here--this is a common area where most of the students gather to eat lunch and hang out.

Christmas morning, our English Partner Daisy read us the Christmas story in Chinese. This was the first time she had ever read or heard the story of Christ's birth. Or the story of His death for that matter. This was probably my favorite memory of the trip.

The team with some international students at one of the Christmas parties we hosted at the school.

My friend Daisy.

Men in the park playing a game of chess. I loved the sense of community among the people there.

Scenery in the park.

Marissa and Daisy. Would've been lost without them. literally. They translated for us, introduced us to many people on campus and were our tour guides. They are also our friends. They had so much joy and excitement. I learned a great deal from their passion.

This was on the way to our site. The poles are for a train track they were building that will make transportation a lot easier.

The first meal. SPICY.

Driving to our destination. After about 20 hours of plane rides. . .only 3 hours left in the car.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard , so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

We write this to make our JOY complete."

-1 John 1:1-4

and bee tea dubs, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great JOY..." -Luke 9:10