Visiting the Middle Kingdom

Our visit to China was packed with travel, debriefs and teaching, taking us from Nanning in south central China to Taiyuan in the north central province of Shanxi. Temperatures ranged from 90s in the southern region to high 40s in the north. We maxed out our baggage weight limit with clothes for every climate and hospitality gifts. 

In addition to speaking at an annual retreat I, Steve, got to try my hand at teaching through a Skype video conference. The students, aspiring Christian counselors, were spread out at 4 different locations in the region we were visiting. With 2 students in the room, my interpreter and I conducted two teaching sessions on Biblical counseling. We did a real time question and answer session that was especially helpful for those in the off site locations. The amazing part was that our internet connection only broke twice for a very short time during our three hours. Pray for these 10 ladies pursuing counseling training that they might counsel others as part of a community development clinic. 

You might wonder what Alberta and I do when we are not meeting with people or speaking at retreats or conferences? Often we just ask how we can help while we are there. This trip Alberta helped stain some new doors while I worked cleaning out a shop that hadn't seen a dustpan in many a month. At another location we took on the job of assembling a new commercial sewing machine. Alberta was the sewing machine expert while I helped wherever I could. 

Thank you for your prayers for the Holy Spirit's direction. We had some sensitive debriefs that went very well - God was in our midst.

Prayer Requests:    

Pray for our preparations for the Member Care Facilitator (MCF) training we and another couple are hosting here in Chiang Mai. Twelve MCFs from all over Asia will convene here for a two day training on the needs of third culture kids (TCKs) or mis. kids. 

Pray for us as we host workers that visit here in Chiang Mai. It's a great opportunity for us to build trusting relationships with workers that may need our help down the road. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta