Returning to our home from 1997-1999:
Kunming, China
The weather was beautifully cool and comfortable.
Old friends were warm and welcoming.
Every desire "To do," "To see," or "To eat" while in China, was happily checked off the list.
In addition to old favourites, we also have some new friends, new experiences, and new things to love about our old city.
Our kids love China, too. Its a place where young boys can be BOYS (read: less civilized than what we work on in other places!). They got really dirty, ate sloppily, played rowdily and noisily, and ran around in public to the approval of the onlooking adults! Again They both got so much astonished affirmation for their Chinese language ability. We pray that this will buoy them through their Chinese studies in Singapore.
Jim had great meetings with in-country workers, good follow-up to the meetings he'd coordinated this fall.
There are growing signs of Plastic Christmas. Big blow up Santas. Little stuffed Santas. Tape-on-the-wall Santas. Gaudy tinsel garlands. Fake Christmas trees. Tacky ornaments, and "Merry Christmas" banners hung, sprayed or painted on lots of store windows. Commercial Christmas is catching on in a big way. And yet there was NO public sign of the star of Bethlehem, shepherds, wise men, or a baby in a manger.
For 3 weeks I'd carried in my purse some pretty little pages with the "Story of Christmas" in Mandarin Chinese. But in the entire time there I hadn't found any appropriate opportunity to give even one away.
Our last night we attended the 7th annual Christmas program for the International School (Primary through High School). This year it was held in a large hall at the Yunnan Arts Institute. The place was packed by the time we arrived, and I could only find seats at the back of the standing-room-only large auditorium. In the last row, I struck up a conversation with a number Chinese girls seated behind me. They were dance majors and had seen me the day before when I visited their campus. Behind them were 30 or more students from the Arts Institute who had also heard about the free program. The concert was lovely, and with the kindergarteners acting out the traditional Pageant, it very clearly told the Christmas story...in English. The students behind me were amazed at seeing a stage full of foreign kids singing, and portraying, and believing, this ancient story. When at the end, the audience of a few hundred, lifted the roof with harmonized Carols proclaiming the birth of Christ I knew it was mystifying to these young observers. Yet they didn't understand the words. "We don't know this story, but our English is too poor." They said to me. I reached in my bag and handed them the tracts. "I've got the story in Chinese here if you want it. You can give the rest to your friends in the back." They were so suprised, and thankful; and I passed them back with a prayer that continues for those little seeds planted.
