This morning marked the last Sunday I’ll be attending worship in our little Longzhou church.  Cherry, my Christian student, has been quite the active evangelist in inviting her classmates and roommates to come with her this semester.  Today, we had my students Sky, Nana (a Christian as well) and Jenny attending as well, all because of Cherry.

            We also had a packed house this Sunday.  Pastor Zhu (pronounced “jew”) fromNanningwill be here for 2 weeks to lead services.  We had a very nice message entitled “Don’t Want to Cry,” in which he talked about God’s ever-present arm to lean on when we are feeling overwhelmed.  “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” was our hymn and Pastor Zhu had us sing it a second time, at the closing, to remind us once again of the Lord always being by our side.

            Afterwards, Cherry took the initiative to pipe up that everyone needs to stay so Teacher Connie can have a final picture of us together.  We gathered around and had numerous poses with various people taken over and over again. 

Packed house in church this Sunday, due to Rev. Zhu’s visit.

A nice farewell photo of our congregation for my memory books.

My students, Zhou Ning, Rev. Zhu and some parishioners along with me.

                 By 11 a.m., it was time to leave.  Zhou Ning, our lay leader, needed to see to Rev. Zhu’s lunch and lock up the church.  I promised to get the photos to Cherry who can then pass on to others.  I also gave a small gift to Zhou Ning, a refrigerator magnet angel and a Jesus bookmark.  I told her I’d never forget her or everyone’s kindness to me and my students.

Still Packing:  The Incentive is Waning

            The students and I returned to the school where I wanted to continue with my packing.  I feel like I’m making very slow progress, and recently, it seems to be slowing down even more.

            My visa processing at the  Sichuan   provincial level is at a standstill, meaning that it most likely won’t be approved before I need to leave for the States.  Everything will have to be done from scratch, including the application at the Chinese Embassy in America while I’m home and then starting up the long paperwork from this end when I return in August.

                Thus there is no hurry for me to move to Luzhou since I don’t have to be there in person to finish the final phases of visa application – There won’t be any final phases as we haven’t even finished the first phases yet.

            I might very well still be here next Sunday for another church worship, although I would rather be back in Luzhou by then awaiting my things to arrive to settle in.  

            The movers?   Thursday is my current deadline for their arrival.   The manager will come to look at what needs to be hauled onto the truck.  He has already informed me that if there is enough room in their own company vehicle, they will load everything up immediately and drive it off toSichuan.  If not, they will return on Friday with a bigger truck that will put my things inNanning, in a warehouse, until it can be added to someone else’s shipment toChengdu.  Once inChengdu, it will be switched over to another truck and head to Luzhou.

            Will all those boxes and furniture get there in one piece, together? Good question!  One can only cross fingers and give it to God.

            From Longzhou, here’s Ping An (Peace) for your Sunday.