It was Sunday morning and we had just finished breakfast and Jiajing's mom and I were headed toward the ferry landing where there is a place I can add some money to my bus pass - if I didn't it would soon become just a plastic card. I fed the card and it now rest contently in my pocket and we walk to a nearby bus stop near the past gridlocked intersection to catch a bus to church.
Many of the busses over here are old like the city and seem to struggle to keep going. We move with the traffic and soon arrive at our stop, get off to walk the last short distance to church. As we walked along a little breeze would at times gently brush our faces causing Jiajing's mom to take notice and communicate about it to me through a gesture. As we walked she seemed to be thinking about something and then she said, "Breeze. Yesu, like breeze to my heart." I felt that was a significant comment in English and was touched by it.
At church I made a video of the choir number; as I do each Sunday. I learned from Loice that it was hymn 213, "Are You Washed In the Blood." In the picture below she is the second girl in and is eleven years old. Each Sunday she tells me the hymn numbers so I can follow in my English/Chinese hymnal, the Scripture references so I can follow in my English Bible, and writes up a full page summary of the sermon so I know what was taught. She is a special person assigned to me by God to make my worship experience in a Chinese church that much richer.
Six of the eight girls are clearly seen in the picture. Another girl you can't see and an older girl is helping out in Sunday school. The little boy is sitting on the dad's lap and the mother is at the piano and is pregnant with the tenth child. Loice took my phone number so they can call this week and arrange a time when I can go and visit them.
After church Jiajing's dad came and picked us up - You may ask why he was not in church with us. I feel I cannot answer that here. We made several planned stops on our way home for lunch. As they prepared lunch I transferred my photos to my laptop. After lunch I watch and listened to the choir number and they both came over to look and listen. I opened my hymnbook to the Chinese page and she sang along with the choir. That was very cool and a reminder to me of the positive influence I have had on this family.
The evening before they had friends over for supper. We ate from the food seen in the picture below. We had some leftovers with our lunch today.
It was a good day, but my calendar saddens me by showing that I have only ten more days before I will have to take the long trip back to the US. I will go from a culture of relationships to a culture of things. I will go from spending time with people to time with kitchen cabinets as I finish constructing the upstairs kitchen. Time is now spent with Jiajing's parents. In the US, it will be time with Jiajing as she comes to spend the Summer with us. This Chinese family has become an important part of my life as I have to theirs.
