Teachers and students are now fully engaged. The programs this week are focused on additional pronunciation skills, diaglogue, oral reading and multimedia and fun games to help students speak English with more comfort and ease and build teamwork.

Monday
During the morning session, the students learned about Forgiveness and Honor Thy Father and Mother. Many questions were raised, including what if my parents leave us to go to another province to find work and they only see them once a year, or in one case, once in the last four years.

Festival Night
Face painting, balloon hats, tricky triangles, tantrix, rope games (tug of war), basketball, diablo, etc.

In addition to family and friends, local community was invited to attend this event. The school principal and their English teachers also joined in the fun.

Tuesday
Students learned about Pure Thinking – your inside world put right presented via Pride and Humility.

Afternoon and evening activities involved games, singing songs they learned from assembly including “This Is The Day” and was spent preparing the Concert item to be performed on Thursday evening. Each class work on the theme with a song and banner to be presented within 3 minutes.

Wednesday
Today, students learned about what being a Peacemaker is like – dealing with anger ande disunity.

Several highlights for today:
Steve and Regina met with 5 of Regina’s 2010 students at school to help celebrate one of the students’ birthday. All 5 students are top students in their class and got to repeat in the 2011 English Camp.

Praise the Lord! Ella, one student came up to me and told me she now has God in her heart and she has peace. God’s time is always perfect. On our first China Mission in 2008, Steve and I felt we failed as we did not help any students accept Christ, but we quickly realized that God use us all in different steps of a person’s faith journey. Thank you Lord, that you know our strengths and weaknesses and use them as You will.

This evening, the boys and girls were separated to attend the Boy/Girl Talk to help them with thought and action on Pure Thinking and Action. As before, a very meaningful session with lots of questions as they begin to develop boy-girl friendships. This two-hour session was presented 80% in Mandarin for the benefit of the students and 20% for the benefit of the non-Chinese speaking teachers. The dedication and love of the non-Chinese speakers teachers sitting throuogh this session is truly demonstrated. It reminds me of how the students first felt when we come in and started speaking English to them 100% of the time. Although they have the advantage of already knowing the foundation. They just need to get to the comfort level of speaking it which is why we are there.

Thursday – several more highlights on this final day of Camp.
Back at the hotel during lunch, our liaison, the Religious Head of the region brought the Chairman of the Free Cell Church of the region. She reported that there are 12 church buildings and 20 free churches in the area. Praise the Lord!

Steve and I had lunch with one of Regina’s students from 2008 Camp. This was not pre-planned by us. But God knew. She poured her heart out about her life. On the outside, she is cheerful and friendly but when we started to listen, she practised what was taught to her, Honesty in Emotions, and we heard the pain and hurt inside. We prayed for her renewal and health and encouraged her to go to the local Book Cafe for support. That evening she returned to the school to report that she did and she was comforted by the staff there and somewhere there helped her with her neck and back problem with therapy. Pray that this young lady will continue to seek the Lord.

Teachers and students had a parting party in their respective classrooms with soft drinks, fresh fruit, sweets brought by teachers and students. Departing tears are already flowing with the thought of being the last day of camp.

The school principal gave the teachers a feast of a dinner in the teachers’ lounge to show his appreciation.

Concert
Individual classes perform their skit to demonstrate their English speaking skill. What a testimony to the principal and the school’s English teachers.

Teacher appreciation by the school principal were held at the conclusion of the concert with gifts and certificates as Honorary Teachers of the school. What an honor. He also honored all the teachers age 60 and over for their special energy to come teach the students.

After all the ceremonies, we had half an hour back at the classrooms to hand out the certificate of completion to each student. More tears and huggings filled the room. At 9:00 p.m., all the students walked the teachers to the school gate and was very, very difficult to leave.

Another short term mission completed but we know many seeds have been planted. The Holy Spirit was definitely at work in this region. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Morning devotions during the two week camp was the Beatitudes from Matt. 5. We witnessed all these in every part of the camp. Devotion, love, kindness, meekness, humility and unity were seen throughout.

Love from Regina

Due to internet problem in my room, I was unable to get online until now. Here is an excerpt of events that transpired in the last few days.

We conducted regular classes as usual, from revision, new pronunciation, oral reading to Multimedia discussion.

All the students by now are no longer shy to speak English.

During lunch hour and free time, the teachers shopped for colored fabrics, paints, balloons, and other decorative supplies. It is time to start planning for the “class project”, which is a 3-minute “drama” performed by the students on Concert Night. Class rooms were decorated with their respective colors.

Movies: Lena Maria Story and Narnia. Students and some teachers watched these inspiring movies.

I had previous plan to meet up with my 2008 summer camp students (5 in total). The re-union is full of happiness and joy. Three of the students have just completed their 1st year of college (1 wants to be an Electrical Engineer, 1 a nurse, and 1 a MD); 2 students are on the waiting list to attend university somewhere by September. They will be notified which college later in the summer. We shared life’s events. One student thinks the missionary teachers are angels sent by God.!

Saturday: No classes. We went on excursion/visitation. Regina and I went to AnLan village where is a primary school is being built (replace the old school house that has collapsed). Students commutes on foot through very rough terrain of hills and valleys 2 to 4 hours daily. In co-operation with the local government, missionaries will raise funds to build a hostel to house the students. WCPres has donated USD500 toward the cause. Thanks to all those who supported the STCM.

About 100 student were on hand to welcome us. As soon as they see our mini-vans parked on a dirt road above the valley where the school is, they began to chant. A chant that lasted 10 minutes. Offical welcome and ceremony followed. Exchanged handshakes. We gave out candies, cookies and other food items to the kids. That was a glorious day!

Due to a stretch of 15km of the road is all rock, one van had a flat tire on the way there. On van’s transmission was broken on the way back. Delayed!

We also visited an orphanage 80 km away from the school. It was clean and well organized. The kids were active and healthy looking. Praised the Lord that these children have a “home” and an education. They are allowed to be brought up in Christian values.

Sunday cultural service was held in school. This resembles our Sunday worship, but with much more drama/play/songs. Many students understand that Jesus died on the cross so that we can be saved!

The rest of Sunday, we were allowed to go out with the class. Some classes went to lunch, or afternoon tea, or dinner. Some also visited the “Book-Café” or tour the local sights. It was a very exciting day and very tiring at the same time.

All is well with the WCPres team. Please continue your prayers!

Greetings  from China .  It’s been an eventful week for the China team. We broke the record for the youngest team member:  11 months old!   Due to a comm. party meeting, we were delayed for a day. But a representative from the party came and gave a formal apology. This is a first for them and only our highest leader can make this happen.

After arriving we were greeted by past students and we shed many tears of joy to be able to see them. Some even arrived at the hotel to tell us that they were in university and that they were becoming a follower.  

The students are excited to be in English camp with us. We are able to spread our love to them but our teachers received much more back from the students. Last night we shared the movie Lena Marie about a lady born without arms and through him was able to overcome the challenges. Today, Pam Taylor was talking with a student about last night and expressed that a person here with that handicap will not have the opportunity to live and was moved by the story. She told Pam that she is an Angel sent by God to give them hope and good news.

Last night the US team get together one of our member report to us that during our visit to one of the remote village a lady with a Cain came for the church service. She walked 3 hours from the mountain each way every Sunday to the service. After talking it was find out that this lady was the one that we pray for 6 years ago at her village in the mountain for having a spine problem and need healing. We pray for her and she was healed.  Because of our prayer she became a believer.  She will be receiving addition training and she want to tell all the villager about the good news.

Exciting things continue to happen please continue to think of our team and we do have one member that been sick.

Despite having lost almost 1 day from the schedule due to “forced” late arrival. We made up almost all of our planned schedule. Today, we jammed in two (2) sessions of Multimedia (the Series of Living the Life of Eight).
To ensure the students learn the vowels properly, we have 30-minute daily drills. Games and activities are incorporated to re-enforce learning retention.
Tonight, a DVD movie was shown. It was about the Life of “J”. Students loved it. To most of them, this is the first time they ever heard of our savior “J”.
Internet access has been down for me since arrival to Du’an until this morning. I am posting this at 5:00am.
Please continue to pray for this mission team for health and getting used to the weather.

Stephen

After a delicious lunch, the entire team was transported by 3 buses to “camp” city at 1:30 pm. The journey took about 2 hours. We quickly checked into the hotel and immediately left by tuk-tuk (a motorized bicycle with a backseat for two and a canopy to protect the passengers from the elements) for the schools. When we arrived at the school, 400 students were eagerly awaiting for us. With thunderous applause they welcomed the teachers.

Formal introductions were made of the national provincial government official, the religious head of Du’An and all the English teachers of the high school. Then the international teachers were introduced by country groups as the students applauded. Other formalities followed with the welcoming ceremony concluded with a scrumptious array of food in the teacher’s lounge for all of us.

Finally, at 7:00 pm, we were escorted by each class monitor to our respective classes to meet our students. It was a great time to had with self-introductions and assisting students to choose English names to make it easier for us to address them.

The highlight of the day for Stephen and Regina was that they each got to see five of their students from 2010 and a few of them are returning for the 2011 camp and we were both excited to see them.

Our daily schedule from Tuesday on: Start the day at 6:45am, and end by 8:30pm. From 12 noon to 4pm are “free time” to prepare for classes and activities; or catch up on sleep; or send laundry out.

Stephen & Regina

After breakfast, the international team gathered together to worship in a conference room of the hotel. Songs and music filled the room. An Australian team and a Canadian team each performed a drama respectively. The former: look to Jesus for solutions. The latter: look to the cross for salvation. Sometime during the worship, Luke, an 11-month-old Aussie declared his identity of being the youngest MP. His proclamation was made in a form of a baby-cry! (NOTE: I am still struggling with the blog’s add-media function, as this post remains photo-less. Grrrrh).

The message of the day was about “How to overcome the Giants”. It was very appropriate for this mission team as we are facing so many “giants”, one of which I mentioned in my last post.

In prior years, Sunday noon would have been the time we board the bus for “camp” city. Of course we are now in Plan “B” mode. We stay in Nanning until Monday afternoon. We had the rest of the day free to do whatever deemed necessary. Lunch and dinner were on our own (each received a 50RMB rebate, about USD7; Regina & I donated the rebate toward the AnLan school project, as with other team members).

Most of us went out to shop for school supplies and tried out different places to eat. In search for materials (some of which we couldn’t find in the Super Walmart) for class projects, Regina and I, with John and Susanna Yee of Pennsylvania, ventured into a “Hotung” (old-town, if you will) section of the city. On the way to a stationery store, we found a small church. We shot some photos. A woman came by and told us there is another church few blocks away. By this time, priority for school supplies dropped a notch or two. We followed her to a much bigger church (a Catholic church with 2 services daily).

This evening ended with a delicious Chinese dinner near the hotel. A shower and a bed sounded pretty good after that.

Stephen

As hinted in yesterday’s post, the provincial government is holding a communist party meeting this weekend (including most of Monday) in “camp” city. In short notice, 600 officials attending the meeting need all the hotel rooms and meeting places in the entire town (and still not be enough). Four days ago, we were asked to give up our rooms for 3 days. Long story short, after intense negotiations, we were allowed to come into to “camp” city on Monday, no earlier than 4 pm. Normally, we would have been conducting classes that very day.

The Lord is protecting us and He has a plan “B”.
Plan “B” as it is unfolding: We are staying in Nanning 1 extra day. We are blessed to be able to have everyone’s stay extended in the same hotel! Changing plan and doing things on the fly is no stranger to missionaries. Extra time in Nanning will help some of us to get over jet-lag and acclimate to the weather (HOT+HUMIDITY). Additional bonuses include time to meet-up with some former summer camp students who are now attending university here in Nanning. These students and many like them, are the beneficiaries of this short term mission. These students are on their way to “breaking” the poverty cycle of life in the farms.
More on Plan “B” later.

On Saturday afternoon, we had a group meeting to go over Do’s and Don’ts; how to prepare and deal with the new reality; recovery and transition to the revised schedule, etc. At the beginning of this meeting, 2 members of the communist party were present. One delivered an official apology for the inconvenience that they have caused. Applause and “kow-tows” were exchanged. They also agreed to cover the cost of excess hotel fees for staying longer in Nanning, the arrival city. At the end, our Lord triumphs as He always does!

Please pray for smooth transition and logistics on this new twist, as well as continued health and safety protection. Some team members are struggling with jet-lag and weather condition, along with hardships of family members left at home.

Stephen

PS: having problem posting photos with blog. sorry. will figure a way to do so. stay tuned.

More to come later.

Stephen

The China Mission trip is from July 11 through 22 with a team of 6 members from WCPC.

The China Mission BLOG will be updated as internet access is feasible.  Please follow our progress here for reports from China and become a partner in this mission by praying for us with the following prayer requests.  In the meantime, you can also check out our 2010 camp activities.

We look forward to sharing “what happened in China?” with you after our return.  We will keep you posted as to time and place.

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message,
so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.”  Col 4:3

Please pray for . . .

• Travel safety both going there and returning.
• Protection for health from food, illness, insects, heat and fatigue.
• Team unity and synergistic relationships among both WCPC and other teams.
• Wisdom as we teach and build relationships with students inside and outside of class.
• The Holy Spirit to prepare the students’ hearts to be open to the love of Jesus.
• That the Chinese will clearly see the love of Christ through us and be drawn to Him.
• No problems with the government security officers or disruption of our activities.
• The “divine appointments” that God has already scheduled for us.
• For the team in any way and for anything that the Lord places on your heart and mind.

Together in His Service,
The 2011 China Short Term Mission Team – Phil Chan, Ariel Chan, Steve Lau, Regina Lau, Pam Taylor, Carol Yuke

Team of 6

The team is grateful for the prayers and support received from not only members of our church, but also friends and relatives outside.

We will be joining the international team (116 including staff) in Nanning (Capital city), Guangxi Province of China. To get there, it takes about 24 hours by air with at least one connection either in Hong Kong or elsewhere in China; and a distance of about 7,400 air miles. Members of the interational team come from the USA, Australia, Hong Kong and Canada.

The organizer of this mission is Partners International, an Australia-based missionary organization. More about

We will be filing into Nanning 08 July, 2011, where the pre-camp preparation will be begin over the weekend. More on that later from Nanning (internet access permitting).

Meanwhile, please keep us in your prayer for:
· Safety in travel
· Good health
· Opportunity to share the love of Jesus with the students and locals.

Every effort will be made to post a daily blog report despite long days. So please visit the Blog frequently. Do bear in mind that internet connection is shaky sometimes, and it is a challenge trying to post pictures. Fortunately, with the help of the Holy One, nothing is impossible!

Submitted by a humble servant,
Stephen