Happy Thanksgiving, November 2016
We have much to thank the Lord for as we serve Him in
Beijing! We’ve just enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner with 160 people from 45
nations. For more than half of them it was their first Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks
to Dayna’s hard work we DID have pumpkin pies – 200 tart-sized tasty ones!
A number of our guests are not yet believers in Jesus,
Buddhists from Southeast Asia, Muslims from Pakistan and India, and Atheists
from China. I had the privilege of sharing a brief Thanksgiving Gospel message,
some were hearing His Great News for the first time!
This month we followed September’s well-attended “Go
for the Gold” day to challenge incoming students with “Giving Away the Gold,”
an evangelism seminar. It is so encouraging to see believers who are eager to
share the love they have received from Jesus Christ! That’s what we’re all
supposed to do!!
On November 13 we baptized 20 people in our Mandarin,
Indonesian, and English congregations. Two from the English congregation were
Buddhists who recently put their trust in Jesus for salvation – a brother from
Thailand in a Master’s program and a sister from Sri Lanka who is doing her
PhD. The Lord used
“horn of Africa” brothers, one from Ethiopia and another from Eritrea to bring
them into the family of faith. What a privilege we have to have a front row
seat to see so many glorious ways our Lord is advancing His Kingdom right here
in a land that does not admit He even exists!
One young
lady our members reached out to is from South America. I had the privilege of
baptizing her on Easter. Here we were in August on her last day with us before
leaving to study in Europe, she just wrote…“One year ago I decided to follow Jesus, and it has been a
great year… of growth and non-stop
blessing. I want to thank you for the great work you are doing in Beijing
where you are reaching a lot of people and transforming their lives. I'm
currently in Denmark…studying for my degree…I've found a family in Christ here
too…I really like it here, I'm happy and peace and joy is in my heart, all this
comes from Him…I always remember BICF with great joy!”
We had the
privilege of hosting Tedd and Margy Tripp the first weekend of November. Their
excellent books on parenting “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” and “Instructing a
Child’s Heart” are translated into Mandarin and very popular here. They taught
our parents and led a meeting with our single young adults. The meetings were
packed with eager learners!
What comes
into your mind when you think “Sister’s Fellowship?” Paintball? That’s what
Dayna and her troops were doing on October 30. Looks like they had fun, in war
and peace!
We made our
second visit to “Sun Village” – a home for children whose parents are in prison
on the outskirts of Beijing. There was lots of joy and fun as we shared the
Good News, played games, and gave them Christmas gifts…
Last weekend
we had our annual Global Leadership Summit here in Beijing. We rebroadcast the
program held in Chicago at Willow Creek Church. About 30 leaders from our
congregation joined with more than 500 people from our region of China. As
always, it was an encouraging time to think about how to serve Him more
faithfully and fruitfully.
Monday
morning (November 28) we are scheduled to land in Honolulu. We’ll gladly
exchange our winter coats and face masks (the pollution has been bad here!) for
shorts and slippers. We would love to talk to you during our Home Assignment.
Please email us your phone number and we’ll gladly call! Here
is our schedule of sharing, Lord willing…
December 4 Hawaii Kai UCC, Honolulu, Hawaii
December 11 Kalihi Union Church, Honolulu, Hawaii
December 18 Haili Congregational Church, Hilo, Hawaii
December 25 Puna Covenant Church, Keaau, Hawaii
January 1 Living Waters Assembly of God, Hilo
January 8 Hilo Missionary Church / Opihikao Congregational Church, Puna, Hawaii
January 15 Mokuaikaua Church, Kailua-Kona
January 22 Kalahikiola Congregational Church, Kohala, Hawaii
January 28 Kalihi Union Church Men’s Retreat
January 29 First Chinese Church of Christ, Honolulu
February 5 City Church Honolulu (PCA)
February 16 Women’s Board of Missions, Honolulu
February 10 & 12 Waipuna Chapel, Kula, Maui / PM - Door of Faith, Wailuku,
Maui
February 19 North Shore Christian Church, Kilauea, Kauai
February 26 Kawaiaha’o Congregational Church, Honolulu
March 1 – Back to Beijing
We very much realize we are here
because of your faithful prayers and generous support. Hope we can see you! We
are very excited our kids and grandkids plan to visit us in Hawaii.
Mele Kalikimaka!! Mark and Dayna Blair
Our Mission Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Dr -
Orlando, FL 32832 USA
Checks
should be made out to ‘Pioneers’ – with a separate note attached saying: ‘Mark
and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’ Electronic transfers can be sent to: http://www.pioneers.org/Give/AutomatedGiving.aspx
