Dear Brothers and Sisters!
We are so grateful for your prayers and support that keep us going
here in Beijing. We praise the Lord that He is doing wonderful things in our
midst.
As is normal for our church, about a third of our members are
leaving in these summer weeks. The only way we can keep ourselves from
inconsolable grief is to remember that’s why we’re here! Our motto is
“Gathering, Growing, and Going”! With 82 Universities and more than a million
students (100,000 Internationals from over 100 countries) in our neighborhood,
we have a big pond to fish from! We see our mission as equipping young leaders
from around the world who are getting higher degrees here to be Kingdom workers
in their homelands. But it is hard to say good-bye to loved ones we have served
the Lord with, some for 7 or 8 years….Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD’s straight
through…
Here are some specific praises…
Dayna was part of a small team to the home town of our church Administrator
to share the love of Christ with hundreds of young students. Terry, our
Administrator grew up in this city which is the hometown of Chairman Mao. There
is no church there! So no gospel witness! Our invitation was to come and share
English language. Our little team of four was from Hawaii, England, Ghana, and
China. But how can you share “English” without citing the Book that has
most-shaped the English language/civilization? 😊 So, they had lots of friendly and
well-received times of sharing about our Lord.
The
leaders of the four schools they visited are eager for us to send more teams!
Pray for our future relationships.
Other
things going on here that we ask you to pray for…
Praise
for the new connections we have made with one of the migrant schools in Beijing.
Pray for wisdom as to how we might best meet their needs with our church’s
skill set and time allowances.
Praise
God for the 40 people who attended the “Ready to Return Home” seminar in late
June. Pray they and all those leaving Beijing will transition well back into
their home cultures and get connected to healthy churches.
The
small Portuguese Bible study group has been meeting. Pray for Lidia leading,
that they'll keep going and support one another.
The
French “Alpha” group has also been meeting. Pray for Ruth leading this, that
students will turn to Christ and grow in him.
Pray
our Int’l Students “Summer Fun” will build community and reach students outside
our fellowship.
Pray
for our 2 International Student Ministry interns, Yueying and Heather, who are
doing a 6 week summer internship - that they will grow in Christ and their love
for international students.
Here
are with our “daughter” from Uruguay. She met Jesus in our church two years
ago. I baptized her. She is a vibrant, enthusiastic,
always-talking-about-Jesus, growing believer! She often brings
not-yet-Christians to church and small group meetings. She just received a
scholarship from her University for her program next year (majoring in
Mandarin!). She is translating a Christian book into Mandarin for her
graduation project. This is creating lots of good discussions with her
professors.
Gratefully in Him, Mark and Dayna Blair
