(no subject)
We had our first "big" church meeting today. The BYU students have arrived as well as the "missionary" English teachers. The BYU students are doing study abroad. The missionaries are all elderly couples who are here in a strictly non-proselyting role. They are professors who teach classes in the surrounding Universities. They teach their classes in English, for example one of the professors we met today is a Mechanical Engineer. He'll be teaching at the same University Chris teaches at, but a completely different program. I was surprised to see how many married couples there were. One of the wives approached us to tell us that she if free for babysitting while her hubby is in class. Bye-bye nosy Meghan :) We held our meeting in a hotel conference room. There was probably about 30 people all together and we are expecting about 10 more to arrive for next week.
I learned more about the rules and organization of the church here. As a group, the only official calling is the group leader. No one else will be set apart for their callings. Also, the group leader is not approved to take tithing. We have to save it up until we return home, or we can pay it directly into a bank account in Shanghai. Brother Yui, our group leader, talked a lot about the laws regulating the church in China. He stressed repeatedly that we are to follow the laws and never try to do any type of missionary work. If a Chinese person inquires about our beliefs, we can tell them but we are never to bring up the subject ourselves. Also, if a Chinese person is particularly interested in the church and really wants to learn more, they have to travel to Hong Kong or another place outside of China to receive teachings from the Missionaries. Also (and I found this very interesting) Chinese members cannot worship with foreign members. It turns out there is a group of Chinese members in Nanjing, but we have nothing to do with each other. They are completely separate from us and worship in group all on their own. That's so different from how things are done back home. Of course, none of this is the Church's rules, it is all the Chinese government's rules and regulations.
I forgot to mention that last Sunday we had some college kids over for dinner. They live in our building and are all recently returned missionaries. They were in the Missionary training center together and all went on Mandarin speaking missions. Three of them went to San Francisco and one went to Taiwan. When they got home, they planned to move to China together and take a semester abroad. They just up and moved to China. One of them literally got home from his mission one week before he moved here. We had them over again this Sunday for pancakes, bacon and eggs. They said that walking into our home and smelling all the good food cooking is like being at home. That makes me happy. I like having them over because the kids love it. Petey and Zack talk their ears off, telling them all about every random thing that comes to their mind. Maybe the kids don't necessarily need kids their own age to play with, they just need interaction with English speakers. I'm thinking we are going to make a habit of having people for dinner once a week. I enjoy entertaining and the kids love it. Even Chris seems to like it, mr. anti-social :) It's a nice break in the humdrum of work and homeschool. Nice to socialize.
I learned more about the rules and organization of the church here. As a group, the only official calling is the group leader. No one else will be set apart for their callings. Also, the group leader is not approved to take tithing. We have to save it up until we return home, or we can pay it directly into a bank account in Shanghai. Brother Yui, our group leader, talked a lot about the laws regulating the church in China. He stressed repeatedly that we are to follow the laws and never try to do any type of missionary work. If a Chinese person inquires about our beliefs, we can tell them but we are never to bring up the subject ourselves. Also, if a Chinese person is particularly interested in the church and really wants to learn more, they have to travel to Hong Kong or another place outside of China to receive teachings from the Missionaries. Also (and I found this very interesting) Chinese members cannot worship with foreign members. It turns out there is a group of Chinese members in Nanjing, but we have nothing to do with each other. They are completely separate from us and worship in group all on their own. That's so different from how things are done back home. Of course, none of this is the Church's rules, it is all the Chinese government's rules and regulations.
I forgot to mention that last Sunday we had some college kids over for dinner. They live in our building and are all recently returned missionaries. They were in the Missionary training center together and all went on Mandarin speaking missions. Three of them went to San Francisco and one went to Taiwan. When they got home, they planned to move to China together and take a semester abroad. They just up and moved to China. One of them literally got home from his mission one week before he moved here. We had them over again this Sunday for pancakes, bacon and eggs. They said that walking into our home and smelling all the good food cooking is like being at home. That makes me happy. I like having them over because the kids love it. Petey and Zack talk their ears off, telling them all about every random thing that comes to their mind. Maybe the kids don't necessarily need kids their own age to play with, they just need interaction with English speakers. I'm thinking we are going to make a habit of having people for dinner once a week. I enjoy entertaining and the kids love it. Even Chris seems to like it, mr. anti-social :) It's a nice break in the humdrum of work and homeschool. Nice to socialize.