Personalized Christmas gifts

Need a more personal Christmas gift?
We have books available that we will autograph for the giftee.  
Buy all 3 for $45 and we'll pay the shipping cost. Christmas gift to you.

Baby In A Box 
$18+ shipping.
Backing In The Front Door $15+shipping
The House
$17+shipping

 

A Heart For Freedom

From by A Heart For Freedom  by Chai Ling

Hu Yaobang, who death triggered the Tiananmen movement, wanted China to have three reforms: political, economic and spiritual. Zhao Ziyang, who was dismissed for not approving the massacre, agreed with the first two. But Deng Ziaoping, the leader who ordered the massacre, wanted only one reform - economic reform - and that is what China has had for the past 22 years.

Still, as he nation emerges on the world economic scene, the fruits of prosperity are not widely distributed. Five thousand Chinese families control much of the nation's wealth, political power and military force. There is a growing middle class - certainly more than before 1989 - and their lives may be getting better; but for the have-nots in China, the story only gets worse. An estimated 468 million Chinese live on less than $2 a day.* They are forgotten under the shadow of the wealthy few.

I know believe that transforming China into a Jesus-following nation is the key to open democracy in that country. Spiritual reform will be the foundation for the rest of the reforms.

*The number of 468 million is based on 36.3% of the 1.3 billion population of China living on less than $2 per day, as reported in Human Development Report 2009, 'Human and income poverty.'

Are you smarter than a 6-year-old

Are you smarter than a 6-year-old

Kaitlyn, Kali and Kyra on Kali's wedding day last summer

Kyra, our 6-year-old, was watching a kid's show at our house. I wasn't paying much attention to it because it was a kid's show that her mom had approved so I thought all was good.  
About 1/2 way through the show Kyra came outside. I said something akin to 'I thought you wanted to watch that show'.
She replied, 'Something bad came on so I turned it off.  There are a lot of bad commercials.'

How many of us adults have the good sense to turn away from things that we know are bad on television or the internet or as we walk down the street?

Our 6-year-old knows to turn away from evil.  We should do likewise.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.  Pro 4:23

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.   Luke 6:45

Psalms 1:1-3

BRIDES OF CHINA

BIG BUSINESS

The wedding industry in China is big business.  On our recent trip to China, we returned to Qingdao where we lived in the late 80s.  Qingdao is known as a favorite tourist location for both Chinese and foreigners. the city has beautiful architecture, nice beaches and mountains over looking the Yellow Sea.

Late one afternoon, we strolled along the beach front and were amazed to see dozens of brides, grooms, photographers, their assistants, hair and make-up staff and tourists. On the one beach, I counted about 40 couples having their wedding photos taken amidst the beautiful scenery. There are six major beaches in Qingdao so there must have been many, many more photo shoots taking place that afternoon. 

Dave Ramsey, our son, joined the fun and took photos and video of the couples and their photographers. Some seemed to be enjoying themselves and others looked like they wanted be somewhere else! 

 The sea and setting sun made a beautiful scene.

 The wedding dresses were varied and some unusual. A few of the brides' dresses did not fit properly and had cloth sections pinned in the back where the zipper would not close. Staff worked out of the back of mini-vans. The couples would actually change outfits in the van. Then they would sit on small stools by the van while their make-up and hair were fixed.

 To get dramatic settings, the couples along with their photographers venture out on the rock outcroppings. One of the poses of this couple had the groom with a small video camera taping his bride's photo shoot. 

As we left the beach, we came upon this group from a province south of Qingdao. The six of them had driven a long way in one van. LeRoy joined them for a group photo. 

30 Years In The Making

30 Years in The Making

You read recently of our student and her husband who accepted The Lord this past year and we were privileged to baptize them in the resovoir on this previous trip.

Their coming into The Kingdom was 10 years in the making. 

We are trusting and praying that we will finally see a lady who kept us alive in 1985, and her husband, come to Jesus on this upcoming trip.

I leave for Beijing and Wuhan on July 4. 

In August 1985 we pulled up stakes and moved our family to Wuhan to work as English teachers there that school year.  It was a very difficult year for our family.

We were struggling to get food to feed our family.

Chen Yanping stepped in and rescued us.  The full story is Chapter IV, entitled Walking God's Path,  in Baby In A Box. 

We have stayed friends with her and her husband Liang ever since. They came and spent a week in our home in Kunming and we always visit them when we go to Wuhan.

Chen Yanping has been to America and England. She even attended George Fox [a Christian university in Oregon] as a visiting scholar one semester. She has attended church in both countries but she has never accepted Jesus as her savior.

She has always told us 'I don't understand it all'. Who does?

We do know that Jesus paid a horrible price that we might have life everlasting and that it is a free gift offered to everyone. As far as we know she and Liang have never reached out to accept His gift of life.

Will you please join with us in believing for their salvation.  

Please set aside time for just 10 days - starting now - to pray for hearts to be softened, for ears to hear and eyes to see that all have sinned and all need a Savior; and there is no other Savior but Jesus.

Pray every day for the salvation of Chen Yanping and Liang.

Please do this for just 10 days.

LAST DAYS IN CHINA

BEIJING FUN

Illegal photo standing in front of the Forbidden City gates. We were wondering why no other bikers were riding past.

After six weeks of travel in Hong Kong and China, we ended our spring trip in Beijing. We enjoyed four days of once again visiting China's capital city and historical sights. Teresa Woodland and her two children hosted us for 4 nights. It was fun meeting her children, Kaili and Kaishang, and catching up on news as we all came to China in the 80s with ELIC.

Legal photo as I was actually biking past LeRoy to get the shot

Teri let us use two of her bikes to travel to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Wufangjing area. Security was very tight near Tiananmen but since we were on bikes, we breezed by. Our only mistake was stopping in front of Forbidden City gates to get a tourist to take our photo. Evidently we were not supposed to stop and a security guard was on us immediately, waving for us to get going. The foreign tourist already had my phone so he snapped a quick photo before we headed on. My maxim for China has always been 'life in China is not always fun but always an adventure".

Dave with Kaishang and Kaili

Teri and Kaishang on the way to school

Sally Chen, assistant to the Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Beijing
She has worked at the embassy for 10 years. She was in our group in WF when she was 16.

Sally, her husband and daughter drove us to the airport to get our flight to Seattle.
Dave was also seeing us off before flying to Kunming.

Kaitlyn came with Tim to get us in Spokane.

No telling when we will have our next adventure in Asia. We've been involved in China for 30 years and it seems like 'home' to us. We just got new 10-year passports and 10-year China visas. We have luggage and go when we next get an opportunity. We will let you know our 'future' plans!

Thanks for joining us on the journey!

QINGDAO RETURN

More Good Food and Fellowship

After five days in Weifang, we took the bullet train to Qingdao, a coastal city where we taught 27 years ago. The city has mushroomed and few places look the same except for all the German architecture from the turn of the century. The beaches have been developed with beautiful boardwalks and seaside parks.

German Castle at Beach #2

Lunch at historic restaurant with former students

Visit to international school

NORTHEAST CHINA NOW

ON TO WEIFANG

After a good visit with family and friends in Kunming, we flew to Qingdao where we were met by two friends and taken to Weifang. Our roots in Shandong Province include two years in Qingdao (1987-89) and three years in Weifang (1998-2001).

Weifang has changed extensively since we lived here but we have been able to find a few familiar places. All five of the original buildings left of the North American Presbyterian Mission that were on my "Eric Liddell Walking Tour' are still standing!

Our friends have been hosting us and filling us with the best of Shandong cuisine. I will not want to get on a scale when we return to the States.

Dave arrived in Beijing yesterday and hopes to join us in Qingdao. We will be taking a train to Qingdao Thursday.

 Memorial on the site of Weishen Civilian Prison Camp where Eric Liddell died and American paratroopers liberated the prisoners at the end of WWII

 Celebrated Mother's Day with Mark Song and David Chen at Wanda Plaza

Welcoming banquet attended by 16 people. I usually count the dishes served but was overwhelmed by the number and variety of food. 

Mark Song's mother let me watch her cook this meal. The last dish was homemade jiao zi (dumplings) that were delicious. 

Return to the Motherland

BACK TO KUNMING

When we arrived in China 30 years ago, my first impression was the country was one big construction site. It is the same now. High rises are going up all over Kunming. We arrived a week ago for a two week visit before going on to Weifang, Qingdao and Beijing.

Kevin, Emma and Ingrid met us at the 'new to us' Kunming airport.

Delicious Shandong jiaozi with former student

Jane with CI recipients from 2005

GOODBYE HONG KONG

LAST BLOG FROM HONG KONG

Our three weeks in Hong Kong just flew by! We have had wonderful visits and enjoyed working with the great staff at Bethany Ministries. The weather has been unusually mild with low humidity! Our last blog from Hong Kong includes candid photos around the territory.

Hearts & Hands Booth

Craft Sale This Weekend

Come to St. Joseph Parish this weekend for their annual fair trade event. Since I am in Hong Kong, the FTE committee members have volunteered to serve at the Hearts & Hands booth. My thanks to the ladies for making this possible. Come support many worthwhile causes that make a difference in the world.

Don't Miss This

Book Signing Time at International Christian Assembly in North Point

We will be at the 

this Sunday (26 April)to visit/share and sign/sell books.  Please come and join us.

We will be selling the following books, plus we plan to have a few of the latest book, The House, available.

Do drop in and let us see your smiling faces.

Smashing Centipedes, side-stepping snakes

Smashing centipedes, side-stepping snakes

It's best to remain agile while working at Bethany. You don't know what may appear in your path to Bethany.

A snake slinked across Jane's path between the Cottage and the House one afternoon.  The next night I was saying 'howdy' to a couple headed up the path as I turned into the back gate of the House. I looked back to see I'd just passed a snake. He looked a bit bewildered then crawled back under the stump from whence he'd come.
Thankfully he wasn't interested in me.  We think it may have been the same creature - a rat snake - for which we give thanks. They are harmless, other than appearing scary. We continue to pray that the bamboo vipers and cobras stay far away.

I encountered a centipede in the same location the following night. I smashed that one and he still lies crumpled along the path.  

Kunming Connections

Our Kunming, Chile, Washington Connection - Eduardo Martinez in Hong Kong.

Eduardo and Susan and their 3 daughters moved from Chile to Kunming the same time we did.  We became good friends and always enjoyed great fellowship with them.
Eduardo was passing through Hong Kong, returning to Chile after a short visit to Kunming. We were able to go into the city to visit with him briefly.

NEW RECORD- 14,000+ STEPS

VIEW ON THE TREK DOWN THE MOUNTAIN 

  WALKWAY IN CENTRAL ON HONG KONG ISLAND

Yes! On our day off yesterday, we went to Hong Kong island and Kowloon. You never realize how many steps you take when you do not have a car for transportation.

A few years ago I bought a watch that count steps, calories and distance. After we trekked down the hill and walked all over Hong Kong and Kowloon, I was over 12,000 steps before heading back up the hill to our room at Bethany Lodge. I definitely burned more calories than my watch indicated because the last 2,000 steps were on a 45 degree incline. Hopefully a few pounds will come off during our two weeks on Cheung Chau.

GOOD TO BE BACK!

LeRoy standing on the main walkway to the beach in the village

Almost feels like coming home. Two years ago we cut our trip short to return to the US for Marianne's surgery. We had just completed serving at Bethany Ministries on Cheung Chau and were planning to travel in the Mainland.

Now we are back filling in for the Pastoral Care directors for two weeks as they have holiday with their children in Thailand. All the staff at Bethany is the same so it does feel nice to slip back in our roles as relief staff.

We arrived at the end of the Easter holiday in Hong Kong and our island was packed with visitors.

All four buildings at Bethany were full, with people from Hong Kong, America, England, New Zealand and Australia.

Both of us are almost over jet lag and are thankful for sleeping longer each night.

Singing Sleepy Songs

I wonder if my grandkids have these conversations about my singing to them. Surely not.

A doting father used to sing his little children to sleep until he overheard the four-year-old tell the three-year-old, "If you pretend you're asleep, he stops."

HONG KONG ARRIVAL

After two flights, one  taxi and a train, we boarded the three-decker ferry to Cheung Chau to begin our time at Bethany Ministries. LeRoy napped on the 50-minute trip to the island.

Hong Kong Easter holiday continues to this weekend so the retreat center is packed with guests including 18 children. The past two days have been filled with good visits and reconnecting with staff members. 

We officially begin tomorrow (Friday) morning. Today we had meetings to bring us up-to-date with the new procedures. Also enjoyed a morning devotion with staff and guests.  

So good to be back!

He is Risen

Loving Others

We get lost in loving ourselves but found in loving others. - Saint Augustine

Hong Kong Opportunity

The Difference Between Religion and the Gospel

• Religion says, if I obey, God will love me. 
• Gospel says, because God loves me, I can obey.
• Religion has good people & bad people. 
• Gospel has only repentant and unrepentant people.
• Religion values a birth family. 
• Gospel values a new birth.
• Religion depends on what I do. 
• Gospel depends on what Jesus has done.
• Religion has the goal to get stuff from God. 
• Gospel has the goal to get God.
• Religion sees hardships as punishment for sin. 
• Gospel sees hardship as sanctified affliction.
• Religion is about me. 
• Gospel is about Jesus.
• Religion believes appearing as a good person is the key. 
• Gospel believes that being honest is the key.
• Religion has an uncertainty of standing before God. 
• Gospel has certainty based upon Jesus' work.
• Religion ends in pride or despair. 
• Gospel ends in humble joy.

--edited from Mark Driscoll, on the difference between Religion and the Gospel

@The Timothy Report - use this link to subscribe http://www.timothyreport.com