Clear Light Festival is a holiday for ancestor worship, but we had no trouble finding much better things to do. It turned out to be the nicest outing yet for the group that went to Heron Hill and Bamboo Valley. On the mountain hike we harvested wild "vegetables": mainly budding ferns (very nutritious!). I had been wanting to see the wild blossoms, and there they were in reds, and violets, and pinks, decorating the slopes that are home to forty bird species, (though we mainly saw snakes). Earlier we'd toured the Fangs' new home, all gorgeously done in light wood just full of knots---it was really something to see! Bro. Fang is especially talented in interior decoration. Later, our picnic by the water finished, we were rejuvenated enough to perform all kinds of exercises on the wide variety of unusual play equipment, and I have to say, much of that you would have had to have seen to believe, (though some of us would surely have been embarrassed to be seen swinging like monkeys if you had been there.) In the fresh, fragrant mountain air, amid Nature's splendors, we were invigorated and renewed remarkably. I recommend the nature cure.
Christian went with his student HaoHao's family to Thousand Islands and is not yet back, but was boating when last heard from.
(Guest blogger Annelisa)
Here are some pictures of my little "nephew" ,or well,the closest thing to a nephew that I have at the present. His Mom,Rachel,has lived with us for extended periods of time off and on for as long as I can remember,so I've always thought of her as kind of a "big sister". For that matter,his Dad Jacob,lived with us for several months while he and Rachel were dating,so all and all we know the family quite well. And don't you think their names are cute? Jacob,Rachel,and Joseph:)
Now,on to bragging on Joseph. I must say that what he lacks in size he's made up for in brains...at 20 months old he can count to 30,identify the basic colors,speak fluent toddler Chinese(which includes getting the tones correctly),point to any body part when asked to in either English or Chinese,and the list goes on. It's amazing how he promptly names anything you point at,or at least what he thinks it resembles! He also understands adult conversations with amazing accuracy. Like the other day we were marching up the stairs to our apt. when his mom mentioned something about how treacherous the steep stairs seemed in the dim light. Joseph immediately pointed to the light bulb dangling over our heads and announced,all in Chinese of course," IT'S BROKEN!" Then after a moment of consideration he concluded,"Fix it,Grandpa Wu will fix it!" Imagine that,he'd only been to our place once before,yet he knew that my dad lived there as soon as we entered the building;and obviously he knew that light bulbs generated light,and if light was lacking, a light bulb somewhere needed to be fixed. Maybe his parents gave him the wrong name after all: he should have been called Edison!
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever. (Psalm 125:2)
The blossoms of early spring have taken their loveliness from our view, and though I miss them, the nice thing here in Hangzhou is there is always something in bloom the year around. We lose one set of blossoms, to gain another, and some of the most exquisite like the crepe myrtle are still to be anticipated. On our trip yesterday into the mountains west of the city, I noted that they had managed to hold onto their March blossoms longer in the cooler air. We looked at several apartments in the new housing development called Green Field Spring, but didn't feel clear to order one . The Lord may have something closer in for us. The mountain scenery was striking with the closest mountains ringed with tea bushes, and higher ranges rising behind. We felt sorry for the farmers, though--- having their property taken for all those high rises.
Something tells me that you, like me, may have been facing into an "east wind" recently. I did learn something, that when the suggestion comes, "Life is too hard", the response "To live is Christ and to die is gain," clears the field marvelously. "It is written" is still victorious strategy.
This afternoon (don't believe the date/time labels....this is China!) I finished reading Vanya by Myrna Grant. The first (of how many times?) I read it was long ago in a remote mountain village in Mexico, and an indelible mark was made on my life. Today I realized that the summer preceding my mother's death in the fall of 1972, saw the promotion from the cross to the crown of life for China's illustrious Watchman Nee, and 45 days later, Russia's illustrious "Vanya". Watchman Nee was "in chains" the entire life span of young Vanya; but what struck me was the great suffering and great joy these two fifty years apart in age had in common, in their uncommon love of Christ. Both have left us a tremendous impetus to strive for the high calling of God, taking the bitter cup willingly. Vanya wrote :