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I was five years old when my brother Bill came back from China. It was a tumultuous time for our family, as my mother, who was just 36 years old, had just died because of a medical error while in the hospital for a very minor surgery. When my brother returned from China, he was not aware that she had died. He brought home with him many wonderful artifacts from that mysterious country. They did not last long in our home, as he promptly sold them so that he would have the money to leave home once again, bereft with grief at not having been able to say good-bye to his beloved mother. I will never forget the pungent odor of those Chinese treasures. Ever since that time, I have had a desire to go to China myself. Interestingly, I became acquainted with a girl slightly older than I, who had just immigrated to Canada. She had come from Russia via China. I remember sitting outside of the school house, probing her with questions about China. Once I was able to read, I picked out the books about China and devoured them. The stories intrigued me and kept fueling my imagination. I still remember the stories I had read about how babies were thrown away if they were girls. I read Hudson Taylor's "Spiritual Secrets " and any other books on China that I could find. In Bible school, I belonged to the China prayer group. At that time China was closed to foreigners, but my desire was to be able to go there and share the gospel. I talked to visiting missionaries about the mission field in Formosa. Then I met my wonderful Bill, got married and became co-directors of Youth for Christ for l5 years. Many of the teenagers at Youth for Christ were Chinese young people. They were on our volunteer staff, in our home and in our hearts. I loved them. I never gave up on my dream over all these years. I still wanted to go to China! This summer, my dream of going to China finally came true. I was accepted by the China Educational Exchange (CEE) to teach English at the Northeastern University in Shenyang, Liaoning Province for a period of five weeks, including the orientation. It was an experience I will never forget. I was partnered with a wonderful University teacher from Virginia, U.S.A. Nancy had been in China before, and I learned so much from her. We each had our own classroom and taught four hours of English a day, with ample time to relate to students outside of class. Nancy, taught English grammar, (thank you Lord, for her skill in that area) and I taught conversational English using the relationship course called PAIRS, the course Bill and I have taught in the Vancouver area for the last seven years. PAIRS is an acronym for PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF INTIMATE REALATIONSHIP SKILLS. The whole topic of relationships is new in China. Very little has been done in the "how to " of relationships. I was charting new territory, even though I have taught the l20 hour course l9 times in Vancouver with my husband Bill. I was completely surprised by the response I received to the material I was presenting. Students loved the content, and the interaction between groups as they discussed and practiced the relationship skills using conversational English.. They didn't want to leave the class even though it was over for the day, and continued asking deep questions about relationships. Students would walk us back to our dorm just so they could carry our bags and continue talking about life here in Canada, and how to make relationships work. Being a visitor in this new country, I was careful about respecting the boundaries around the topic of faith and religion. I asked God to make my life count, and that they would be able to see the living God in me and my partner. Atheism has left a huge void in the lives of people. I was able to visit a number of churches in the area around the University. We went to church every Sunday. Tears would roll down my cheeks as I listened to the choirs and the pastors, two of the churches we visited had female pastors and one had and another had a male pastor. Sitting in the service of one of the churches with 3,000 present, I knew that God was not dead in China. He was alive and well and thousands were worshiping Him. The choir had 20 women and 10 men in it and the songs chosen were beautiful. As soon as one morning service was over, the next one began, with another 3,000 waiting to get into the building. A fourth service was held at 1:pm for youth. TV screens and loudspeakers were set up so that those who could not get into the building were able to hear the service. People began waiting to get into the 9:00 am service began lining up at 7:am. The message was taken from John 3:3-34. One of the songs the congregation sang was "Where Jesus is tis heaven", written by C.F. Butler in the l9th century. We met the pastor in his study after the service was over. There are a number of churches who have government permission to operate. These are called "Three self churches". Children in China are not able to go to church till the age of l8. In Shenyang the church has 100 meetings points with the city divided into districts for Bible Study. This church which has 10,000 members baptizes two times a year with 500 baptized at the last baptismal service. I was fascinated with China. The GREAT WALL is over 3000 miles long and usually follows the highest peaks of the mountain terrain through which it travels. Walking on the wall was awe inspiring and very emotional knowing that thousands of people had lost their lives to build it. It's hard to believe that some parts of the wall are 2000 years old. A New York organization has put it in a "most endangered " category, because in many places it is crumbling badly. It does not seem like there are 1.3 billion people in China because it is such a large country and so much space out in the country. The cities are jammed packed but the country is roomy and green for the most part. Even though China has had a one child policy for many years it's population is still growing. The people I met were so eager and open to know about me and the world I came from. In the CHINA DAILY newspaper for August l7-l8, 2002 I was interested to read that "Christian carvings have been found, that suggests Christianity entered China some 500 years earlier than was previously thought". Wang Weifan, a theologist and member of the China Christian Council, said his study of the stones, being kept in a museum in Xuzhou, showed some dated back to the year AD 86 . Before Wang's research, the accepted theory was that Christianity arrived in China in the early Tang Dynasty (AD 6l8-907) One by one, Wang, 74,compared the Bible stories with the carvings, which he said depicted Christian tales about "the creation of the world" and "Eve being tricked by the serpent." In another carving a woman takes fruit from "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" and a snake bites her right sleeve. "It's similar to the 'Eve tricked by the serpent' story in the Bible," Wang said. Three other theories about the arrival of Christianity in China are: that it was brought by Christians fleeing Roman persecution during the Eastern Han Dynasty; by two Syrian missionaries also during the Eastern Han Dynasty; or it arrived in China during the Three-Kingdom period (AD 220-280) Two strong pieces of evidence support the last hypothesis: a Roman book written in AD 300 which claims that Christianity was already spreading in China at that time, and the excavation of an iron cross in East China's Jiangxi Province with inscriptions showing it was cast between AD 238 and AD 250. Adult university students had to make special application to take the summer English classes. From the host of applications 56 were specially selected to attend the summer course. I want to add some comments the students wrote to me about the impact of the English class, the course materials and the friendships that were formed between us. Each one wrote a letter to me which I was to read on the plane flying home so I would still be connected to them even though I had left for Vancouver. "Dear Mrs. Dyck: I'm very glad being your student and learning English with you . I will remember these happy days forever I mostly like your teaching us the singing songs and letting us enjoy the different education way from China's." "Today is the last day that you stay at Shenyang. I wish it were endless, but it is only my wish. The pity is that the summer time is so short that we can't understand each other more. My wish is that you will come back to China again..my dearest Charlotte: I really don't want you to go back. I'll miss you very much. I'll never forget you and Nancy. I want to say that I love you very much". "I enjoy the classes. This summer holiday is the happiest one. I not only learn much knowledge but how to have good relationships". "During these weeks together you showed me your warmness and friendship. You made me know what relationships are and how to treat others in the right way. But you, as a foreigner came to China and treated us as your grandchildren. I felt very honored to be a student of yours". " I have had your classes for about twenty days. Now I remember the day I first meet you. That day It was the first time I ever spoke with a foreigner. I was very nervous but you shaked hands with me and smiled to me. At that time I knew that you must be a good and beautiful teacher". "Your English class is very actively. I like it very much. In your class I never felt nervous. You (are) like good friends..you taught us sing songs. I like the songs very much. The other day I sang the song you taught us to my friends. They also liked it very much. You brought happiness to me". "Dear Mrs. Dyck: I don't know how to say I've already begun to miss you several days before you leave. In fact, those days are very difficult for me. Something of my life was over forever. I'm so happy to be with you. I know how to love myself and how to get on well with others. Just a month ago, my spoken English is very poor. Now I dare to say and I can express myself and have the confidence to study better". "Thank you.we became friends and are friends for ever. You are very important person in my life. You let the smile faces around me. I will remember those smiles faces, when I meet any difficulties. I love you." You give me a new beginning", "Every morning I came here sitting with you together. We listened, talked with each other. Sang songs together, I will remember it forever. I will not forget this hot but beautiful summer, It's in my heart". "It is hard for me to say good-bye to you. Studying here has become an important part in this period. To be honest, before I came here, I hadn't thought that I would get something more precious than the English knowledge. I have studied for a long time and met so many teachers and classmates in my life, but I did not feel so sad like today. I find that I couldn't stop weeping because we have been good friends. You always told us that you loved us". The wonderful letters that I received from my students are too many to quote from. I am so thankful for each letter. Even though I could not be overt about my faith, I have to trust that God will bring to remembrance those basic principles that I taught them and that I modeled as a Child of God.
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