Fast and Testimony Meeting 9-5-11

Yesterday we had a wonderful fast and testimony meeting. I’m so glad the government watcher up in the one-way window got to hear it, too! He/they are the only mainland Chinese citizens who get to come to our church meetings. There are guards at the door making sure no mainland Chinese citizens come in. The testimonies were so good I took notes. I’m sure listening blessed his life, too!

One young wife bore her testimony. Her husband teaches at the college here, and is also a cage fighter. Last week at a fight she prayed that he wouldn’t get hurt. Unfortunately, in the first round he got a blow to the head that gave him a severe concussion and two skull fractures. When she saw him go down, she thought, “that isn’t a very good answer to my prayers.” Then she felt strongly that she should go to him. She went expecting to see him resting, but instead, she arrived just in time to ride in the ambulance with him to the hospital.

They were at a remote area south of Shanghai. He was taken to the local hospital, where they didn’t give him pain medication or a bed. He was stable, though. She prayed, “Should we leave him here at this provincial hospital where he is stable, or should we risk taking him to a better hospital?” She heard, “Take him to a better hospital.” At the second hospital they diagnosed the second skull fracture, gave him pain medication and a bed. She said that even though it was the most scary weekend of her life, she felt closer to the Lord than any other time. She knew he was watching over her and her husband.

A mother from Taiwan bore her testimony. Her daughter is old enough to go to seminary, but they live fairly far from Shanghai. They don’t have enough money for a taxi ride every morning to get to seminary. The first day of seminary she and her daughter took a taxi ride on faith that the Lord would help them find a way. That night, her husband found that a bus line goes right from their town to the house where seminary is held. The bus used to start at 6:30 a.m., which would be too late. Just recently, the bus schedule was changed to start at 5:00. They feel so blessed that the Lord made a way possible for their daughter to attend seminary. The daughter certainly is blessed. Think of her preparation. She started by taxi on faith that there would be a way, and the Lord provided the way. The daughter has to be on the bus at 5:00. She needs to get up early enough to get to the bus stop by then. She is certainly making a sacrifice to attend seminary. Think of the blessing of meeting with other LDS students every morning and studying the scriptures. I’ll bet you wish you could have been blessed to get up at 4:30 to attend seminary instead of sleeping in til 5:30! Just kidding.

A young single sister from India bore her testimony. She was Buddhist and joined the church because of the good example of her boyfriend. She was impressed by his righteousness. One time she was scared and he prayed for her. She felt his spirit. His influence led her to take the discussions. She stressed that she did not join the church just because of him. She developed her own testimony that she could not deny.

Since my last post, Jeff fixed my iphone problems better than the mac store did. I feel much more competent now. I can look at my app and tell what Chinese word I’m looking for. I can look at the map of Shanghai and see exactly where I am compared with where I need to be. I can look at the map of the subway system and see where the nearest metro station is. I can text the name of a place to a phone number, and they will text back the address. I can show a taxi driver the Chinese characters for the place I need to go in great big font. I feel much more sure of myself now. Jeff is a big blessing to me.

Yesterday after testimony meeting I substituted for the Sunbeam class. Four adorable little three-year-olds were there. It was fun! After church we went to Century Park, a big park near the church building. All the parks here are gorgeous.

We were invited to the home of a Chinese couple of professors Dad helped in Detroit. We went from the park straight to their home. We had been fasting until their home, so we gratefully ate the fruit they offered. After an hour and a half, we were about to thank them and go home, when they said it was time to go to the restaurant. It was just around the corner from their home. It was so lovely in Chinese style. We were in a semi-private room with beautiful wood carved screens between us and the next table. The food was so delicious. We enjoyed every dish. They had invited a friend who speaks good English. He is another professor at their school. He said every year they hire 5 Americans to come teach English. The fact that I have a teaching certificate would prove my qualifications even though the teaching certificate is not in teaching English. That would be something I would be interested in if we end up staying here longer than we thought.

This weekend we are going to Beijing. We booked a five-star hotel for just $100 per night by getting a hotel in the business district—a little bit away from the tourist sites, but close to a metro station. The hotel caters to business travel, which is nil for the holiday weekend (it’s the Mid-Autumn festival). That is why we got it for a good price. We plan to see the forbidden city, the Summer Palace, the temple of heaven and maybe the Great Wall. We’ll tell you about it!