Happy New Year…watch out!

Explosions rumble across Beijing already – this is real Chinese New Year! Wow! We’ve had some noisy New Year’s nights in Hawaii, but they don’t hold a Roman candle to these rockets. And it is only two in the afternoon, wait until dark…yikes! We’ll see it all through the windows of our sixth floor apartment. Hope we get some sleep before church tomorrow.

Fun in the Sun

We thank the Lord for good health and open doors to serve Him. Once the doctor gave Mark the ‘all clear’ cancer report we jetted to Southeast Asia. There in the warm tropics we had a week with brother servants, exploring Paul’s letter to the Ephesians for lessons on ministry.

This opportunity was scheduled several months ago and we were thankful the Lord allowed us to go. It was an honor to learn many lessons from these brothers about faithfulness in adversity. Their friendship and encouragement was a great tonic to us. After a week of teaching we spent time on a warm, beautiful beach. We arrived back to cold Beijing eager to continue serving.

Winter Conference

Back in Beijing Mark was a speaker at the Winter Conference held at BICF. Three hundred international students gathered from around China. This conference has been held during the Chinese New Year’s

holidays for the last several years. Most of the delegates are from African countries, so the messages were translated into French. Twenty-one students received Christ and were baptized right there!

Mass Migration

Perhaps you have read about all the people moving around China in these days of ‘Spring Festival’ (lunar new year) holidays. Over 300 million citizens have traveled to meet the new year with their families. The vehicle of choice is the train, the world’s fastest, some average 215 mph! Beijing, a city filled with people from all around the nation, is quite ‘empty’… maybe only 10 million here now! It’s a festive time of gift giving. Shops and businesses are closed for at least a week. Dayna has a break from her Chinese language school until early March. We have church every Sunday at BICF, of course. Mark is preaching through Luke’s Gospel. But many members are traveling too.

This week the pastor’s of the government-sanctioned ‘Three Self’ protestant churches in Beijing invited the pastors of BICF for a holiday lunch. It was quite interesting and encouraging to meet these leaders. Each Sunday their churches are filled with thousands of people who hear the Christian message. The door is open for them to preach to their people and they are trying to be wise and faithful in this opportunity. The woman pastor in the red sweater told how both President Bush’s have worshipped in the church she serves. George Sr. rode to her church on a bicycle each Sunday as the US Ambassador to China. His son attended during a presidential visit.

Family News

We are always glad to ‘Skype’ with our sons to the west (Josiah and Maylee in Almaty, KZ) and the east (Nathan and Heather, and Aaron in Oregon). They are all doing well. Recently Nathan was featured in a running magazine. You can read the article at:
http://www.fluxstories.com/2010/01/a-couple-hundred-miles/
Dayna’s elder sister Gaylyn is now battling cancer. We would be grateful for your prayers on her behalf. We are so thankful for the way you have stood with us and our family for many years!

Yours in Him who is faithful through the years,
Mark and Dayna Blair