Aloha from our Apartment…and nowhere else!...in Beijing, March 2020
Our wonderful Home Assignment in the islands seems like a distant memory.
What a blessing it was! We saw family members, friends, and churches we had not
seen for three years. ‘Mahalo nui loa’ to you dear ones in Hawaii for
houses, cars, meals, and countless acts of kindness! It was a great
encouragement and reminder of God’s faithfulness to our family. Seems like yesterday we hugged our families “a hui hou” and went from Hilo to Uganda
in 1982. We are humbled by the sacrificial support and faithful prayers of you
who lifted us to the “throne of grace” through 8 years in Uganda, 11 years in
Kazakhstan, and now in our 11th year in China. All Glory to God.
We landed home in Beijing last Friday. We’re now quarantined in our
apartment for 14 days. I thought – wrongly – we were bound to the apartment
‘complex.’ So, on day one I walked around the perimeter of our complex, alone,
masked. When I got back 10 ‘volunteers,’ a uniformed policeman – three of them
with taking a video – knocked on our door and made it sternly clear that I was
receiving my ‘first warning’ and I dare not step outside the door of my
apartment again! Message received. Perhaps
it reflects why China is now recovering from the virus scourge, people follow
the strict restrictions! Difficult for this American! But we are very thankful
to be in a nation where the ‘spread’ is declining.
8 ‘Corona Sundays’ in BICF and Counting…
We are proud of the great job our church leaders have done through the
challenges of virus and quarantine. Many of our University students were not
able to leave campus, some even their dorm room, for two months! We have been
having ZOOM on-line services for the last 8 weeks. We returned just in time to
begin a morning sermon series on Romans for our 8th virtual Sunday.
I preached a sermon to my screen in my study and our tech guys sent it to the
world-wide-web!
https://bicf.org/sermon/latest-sermon/message/it-will-be-great-to-see-one-another
Got a Building…Now the Bills…and No Offerings!
Our last letter urged prayer for our church location. Praise the Lord for
providing a great full-time place for lots of ministry opportunities all
through the week for our five BICF ZGC congregations – English, Mandarin,
Indonesian, Japanese, and Korean – in the strategic University area. And we
have been able to secure the necessary permissions! But now…we can’t use it! So
now our urgent prayer is that we can keep paying the rent! (Thankfully our
people can give on-line.) Like the rest of the world, we are navigating unique
challenges – trusting Jehovah Jireh with you. No word yet about when we will be
allowed to gather in our facility, but things are starting to happen…
Crisis, Opportunity, and
Lemonade
A few weeks ago we had lunch with some Chinese pastors in Honolulu. They
reminded us of the Chinese character for ‘crisis, danger, opportunity.’
(I am the last one to speak about Mandarin meanings! In fact the idea is
debated!!) And I told them the American equivalent might be ‘when life gives
you lemons, make lemonade!’
We are very proud of the way Christians in China are courageously
and creatively seizing this opportunity to serve the nation and make Christ known.
Their resolve has been a rebuke to our doubts and fears. One of the great
privileges of missionary service is learning so much from the people we are
sent to serve.
Our people have stepped up in all kinds of ways – distributing food to students on lock-down
in the University dorms, masks and sanitizer sent from BICF friends around the
world to hospitals in Beijing, even helping people in the epi-center of Wuhan. We
have received a number of calls on this helpline in Mandarin and English. Our
members have been responding to calls for almost 2 months now…!
“in season and out of season”
What a crazy time our world is in! Wherever this letter finds you, we
pray you are healthy and strong in the Lord. This time of crisis has only
increased our need for God. God is asking the whole whether they are ready to
meet Him?
We have long preached and believed that ‘church’ is not a building, but
people committed to Jesus and His Word, striving to love God and people. We do
that anywhere, 24/7. When we can get back together it will be exciting to think
how much more effectively we can ‘be the church’ – gathered and dispersed - reaching
the nations around us!
Trusting Him who never slumbers or sleeps,
Mark and Dayna Blair
Our Mission Pioneers
- 10123 William Carey Dr -
Orlando, FL 32832 USA
Checks to ‘Pioneers’ – with attached note:
‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’
(Our Account # is 110565, Mark and Dayna
Blair)
