November 25, 2016

Thankful in Beijing

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

Our Email blairstan2@gmail.com  Or blairstan@psmail.net  (secure)

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