SUNDAYS
8:30 am Traditional Service
9:45 am Sunday School
11:00 am Contemporary Service
4:30 pm Youth Group, Children's Choir
5:30 pm Bible Drill, Adult Bible Study
WEDNESDAYS
6:30 pm Children's Missions,Women
& Youth Bible Study,
Prayer Service
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 Lorraine Garrison is right in the middle of her SIXTH Mission Trip to China! She has been keeping us posted via email. Please remember Lorraine as she spreads the Word and LOVE of God abroad!
China Update #8
Date: Thur, 7 Jul 2011 11:37:51 -0400
Yesterday and today the sun is shining! When I looked out yesterday morning, I wondered if that meant that it was going to be hot...it wasn't. The day was beautiful...cool and breezy and sunny. Hope today is the same.
Last night was game night...we had BINGO going in my room, Twister and Memory in another room, Spoons and Pictionary in another room, and UNO games in another. Our studennts had a great time and we did too.
Today all of our lessons are on Christmas and tonight we will have our Chriistmas Party. I am pooped and ready for tthe weekend. I didn't take anything last night for sleeping (no Melatonin) and slept like a rock.
On Sunday I am having lunch with one of my students from the 2004 program who teaches in Changzhi. She was one of my best students.
Would love to hear from you all who haven't written to me yet. Loved talking to Mike yesterday morning. Sorry I missed you Drue, on your birthday...hope it was a good one.
CNI DMs, Jaime, and Ivan...you can write me at this e-mail address. Thanks Bob, Shane, Terry, Margaret, Mike and Denise for your e-mails.
Love you all. Miss you. Another team arrives in Changzhi this morning...so there will be more foreigners to stare at. Ellen and I walked over the park across the street from our hotel last night and there was a boy about 6 or 7 years old and he could not stop staring at us for about 20 minutes or so...he was so cute, but he was mesmerized by us...so funny! On of our students asked another teacher if they came to our country would people stare at them they way people in Changzhi stare at us...she told them no that we all look differnt and no one would even notice. This iis a different world. It isn't just children who stare...grown men and women almost trip sometimes they are so surprised to see us!
China Update #7
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 11:37:51 -0400
Everything is going well...I had a bout with an uncooperative stomach/intestinal issue earlier this week, but I am back to normal now and the allergic reaction has also cleared up. We have had a great start to the program and the days are flying by. Everybody and their neice, brother, neighbor etc. is trying to get into the program and they just keep coming...what the officials told us would be 15 in each class (we didn't buy it based on past experience) has now turned into 22-24 in each class. We are making every effort to make today's the last additions but it is a continuous battle and although we hate to turn students away, we believe quality is better than quantity.
Last night we had our line dancing activity and the neighborhood turned out to watch. Our students and some of the English teachers on staff at the college all enjoyed the macarena, electric slide, YMCA, and Hokey Pokey. Some of the students picked up the steps quickly and some (in the words of one of our male students) did not have the "gift of dance".
Tomorrow night is game night and Friday night we will have our Christmas party after having lessons on Friday about all aspects of Christmas.
Today must have been "wedding day" in Changzhi...we heard firecrackers going off all morning. Ann had to run an errand at lunch and she said she saw lots of "wedding cars". Ann left tonight on the night bus to go back to Beijing to meet another team that is coming here. They will arrive Friday morning after riding the night bus all night Thursday...after the long flight from the states. Pray for them as they travel.
It has rained every day since we arrived in Changzhi...not all day, just off and on so we always take our umbrellas. We cannot see the mountains which should be visible (because of the smog). We are not complaining about the rain...it has kept the temperatures quite mild so that is a blessing.
Happy Birthday, Drue...I love you!
Margaret...I thought I put Stephanie on my update list, but she isn't there so would you forward all updates so far....I was just a little nuts before I left and I don't know what happened to my list...I thought there were others on it that weren't.
Mike, don't forget to water the plants on the back porch (and in the front yard too if you haven't been watching them).
Love to all...I'll be home before you know it.
China update # 6
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 05:48:16 -0400
Just finished our first day of classes...what a great group of kids we have. There was a bit of the "deer in the headlights" effect this morning, but already they have relaxed and are having great fun and practicing their English. My homeroom had 20 girls in it...I love it. There are a few boys in the other classes, but the girls far outnumber them. Opening ceremony was at 8:30 with Mr. Zhang, head of the Foreign Experts Bureau, The Party Secretary and the Vice Party Secretary for the college, and the President of the college. They gave speeches welcoming us and it wasn't too long.
Kids had a great time learning to play UNO this afternoon and used English as they played. They did great.
I am sleeping well, but working hard during the waking hours. I had to give some of my students new names...the ones they had chosen were not proper English names...Fly, Yours, Money, etc. I decided I wasn't going to let this slide this summer.
When we left the school for lunch, there were cannons and firecrackers going off...(a new business was opening and this is the way they annonce the grand opening), but we celebrated our Fourth of July with them.
It was a great day! Love you all.
China update # 5
Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:54:47 -0400
Today is the first day of classes...we are excited (waiting for them to open for breakfast here at the hotel). We went to church yesterday afternoon...they have a new building and have paved the walkway to the church and have a cross indicating there is a church there. Pastor Wang was not there, but we met our friend, Brother Li and elder Zhang preached.
Gotta go...will write more tonight. Opening ceremonies at 8:30 this morning and then we meet our students.
Love to all...thanks, church for taking such good care of Ruthie and Momma.
China update #4
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2011 20:37:05 -0400
Got to Changzhi last night about 6 after an exhausting 9 hour bus ride (the exhausting part was that they played 3 movies in Chinese and they were LOUD! and then there was a little girl with an MP3 player that had no headphones so we had competing cocaphany-sp?? or Chinese all day long). We got checked into the hotel and then went to KFC for a quick dinner. We were all so exhausted. Had a good night's sleep. Hilary is in Beijing and will be making the bus trip today...she couldn't get a ticket on the night bus. Pray for a safe trip for her.
I will write more tonight when I have time. Love to all the Garrison's in Easley this weekend. I miss you guys...kiss all the kids for me. Tell Walker and Granger I will bring them something from China too.
We will be meeting this morning with the college officials to work out details of the program and then we will have an opportunity to set up our rooms. I love being in Changzhi...weather not quite so hot.
You should have seen us yesterday morning as we arrived at the Beijing bus station. It was pouring down rain. The 6 of us pilled out of the van and then proceeded to get our 9 bags out of the van and into the bus terminal...the Chinese were standing inside cracking up...I bet we made a real amusing site! Ann and I had gotten back from picking Ellen and Linda up from the airport at 2 AM and we had to be in the lobby of the hotel and ready to leave at 6:45 AM...so you see why I was so tired last night.
More to come this afternoon or evening when I get a minute.
china update # 3
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:47:17 -0400
Just a quick note to let you all know that we arrived back in Beijing this morning about 6:50 AM after riding the night train from Xian...I had the third bunk up, but rested very well. When we got here, we got a driver from the train station to the hotel and got checked in, went to the bathroom, brushed teeth and then headed off to the bank to change money and Ann met other folks and ran errands to ship luggage...so glad my task was the easy one. Paul and I then got coffee and breakfast at McDonalds...mmmm, good. We had the whole day, so since Paul had never been to the Temple of Heaven we walked there and continued to walk the grounds and see those sights. When we left we got on the right bus but headed in the wrong direction so had a "Beijing City Bus # 610 Tour" before finially arriving back at the hotel 2 and a half hours later...at least we weren't walking and the bus was air conditioned. We saw some very different parts of BJ.
We are meeting Wu Peng tonight to get the bus tickets for tomorrow morning. Hilary is stuck in Chicago and won't get in until tomorrow afternoon instead of tonight so will miss the morning bus and will have to travel on the night bus tomorrow night...yuck...a 15 hour plane trip and then a 10 hour bus ride back to back...pray for her.
I will write when we get to Changzhi. but probably not until the weekend.
Mike, don't forget to water my plants on the back porch.
Love to all.
China Update #2
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:20:37 -0400
What a fabulous adventure we are having in Xian! Yesterday we traveled outside of Xian to see where the Nestorian Christian sect (Christians who had traveled to this area of China from Syria in 635 AD during the Tang Dynasty) had lived and where there is a pagoda that is left on the land they occupied. It is farmland in a village and once we drove as far as we could, we left the car and traveled by foot on a mud path through corn crops and across a threshing floor that was being pounded by a stone roll pulled by a cow, and across a small creek to the pagoda. It now houses a Buddist shrine and a monk lives near it. The small museum there was closed and all the artifacts moved to storage, because they are building a tourist attraction that will be finished next year. It was hard to imagine that seeing the condition now. I can't wait to show you the pictures and share the story. On the way we had passed several women doing their laundry in the creek...beating their clothes with a big smooth stick on the rocks. By the time we returned to the van, our shoes were caked with mud, but the driver put some newspaper down so that we would not mess up the inside of the van. After we left the Christian pagoda, we went back into Xian and had the best lunch at a restaurant that Raphael chose...he ordered for us...a chicken dish, Chinese cabbage dish, and an eggplant dish and rice. The food was so good and I don't ordinarily like eggplant! The Raphael took us to the home of his grandfather who passed away a couple of years ago. His grandparents lived in one of the cave homes outside of Xian...this cave home was 800 years old! Raphael had lived there also with his mom and sister during the cultural revolution when they had to leave the city (his mom had been a physics professor and had to go to the countryside for "re-education" under Mao's revolution). We met Raphael's cousin and hiss nephew's wife. His cousin lives in the cave home now. There were old pictures of his grandparents and great grandfather. His grandparent's were believers and there were some items on the walls still that displayed a cross. The village has a population of 30,000! Then we traveled to the fourth Han Dynasty emperor's tomb where excavation had taken place and what we saw was facinating...hundreds of small clay figures of men warriors, women warriors, eunuchs, concubines, pottery, animals etc. that had been buried with this emperor.
We returned to the hotel to freshen up and then met a friend (one of my former students from 2006) who is working on her masters at one of the 45 universities here in Xian. We ate at Pizza Hut...so different from our Pizza Hut's at home...really kind of an upscale restaurant here...you can even order a filet mignon there! We had a delightful dinner and enjoyed catching up with what is happening with Laura and some of her friends from Changzhi.
Today we went to Mt. Hua and I challenged myself again (physically). We climbed and climbed and climbed! Then we had to come down...by the time we made it up and then down, my legs were shaking, but what a fabulous view and beautiful scenery. I took tons of pictures. The mountains reminded me a little of Mt. Zion National Park. We all crashed on the way back to the hotel...had a little more than an hour to shower and relax before meeting Raphael and his wife and daughter for dinner at that same really good restaurant in the Muslim district where we had eaten lunch the day before...it was really good again!
Tomorrow we have some shopping planned, meeting friends (he teaches at one of the universities in town) of Ann and David's for breakfast, and perhaps a museum too. We will take the train back to Beijing at 6 tomorrow (arriving in Beijing at 6 AM Thursday) and then meet the rest of the team at the airport that evening and night...also will have dinner with Wu Peng. We will all head to Changzhi on the bus on Friday morning.
china update # 1
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 07:11:27 -0400
Just wanted you all to know that I arrived safely in Beijing about 11:30 PM on Friday and after navigating through immigration, customs, and baggage claim, I got a taxi to the hotel arriving there about 1:30 AM...Ann was waiting for me. I rested well on the plane, but probably didn't sleep too much because a mother and her daughter sat next to me and the little girl had to go the bathroom every time I got relaxed and about to doze off.
We left for Xian the next morning at 9 and except for a short flight delay, arrived and got to the hotel. We walked around the area and then had dinner and headed for the room. Today we had a busy day at the excavation site of the Terra Cotta Warriors, then rode bikes around the old city wall...14.5 km. My knees are sore! We went to a museum in town I will tell you about later and then walked back to the hotel with a few stops on the way. I will e-mail more in a few days...I am using Ann's computer and don't want to take too much time.
Love you all.
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