Sunday

I was walking to the preschool the other day and saw an older woman lying in the middle of the road. She was probably in her 70's and I'm not sure if she got hit or fell. The help that was offered her were two people helping her stand and then she climbed on a scooter to be driven to the side of the road. The elderly here are truly amazing.

Went to St John's on Sunday. Apparently it is not a 3 self, I am very confused about the status and operation of chrch's here. Of course the service was in Chinese and it was packed! I'm not sure of the denomination but, it was liturgical. They also did a skit which was very interesting. I had heard this story before, but it was very powerful watching this play in China acted by Chinese.

With all due respect to our Japanese friends...During World War 2 when China was under Japanese occupation, there was an incident that has been retold for many years. The Japanese came across a group of Christians and killed the pastor. Then a picture of Jesus was put down on the ground, and the people were told that if they denied Jesus they would live, but if they did not they would be shot. One by one the people made their choice and all denied Christ except one. Many of the people had children and other family members they were thinking about.

One young woman, perhaps a teenager, was the only one that did not deny Christ. She picked up the picture and professed her faith. The Japanese then proceeded to kill all those who had denied Christ. They said that only someone who remained faithful to a cause to the end deserved to live. The young woman was spared.

The point of their story was that if you try to save yourself you die, if you die for Christ, you live. It was very powerful and the girls were all moved to tears. It was crazy seeing the bayonets on stage and the Japanese flags. I have never seen so many guns! I am sure they were pretend, but I don't know that we would see that in the US even though guns are legal. Or are they? In China they are illegal, but apparently it was not politically incorrect to act this out. Or perhaps the Chinese don't care about being politically correct.

It was a very, very different experience from anything I have seen before. Every individual, every country has their story. I hope that we just learn to listen.