BEIJING - AUGUST 2012

We had the opportunity to travel to Beijing to do some audits and provide training to the local leaders of the Beijing China International District.  There are four international districts made up of foreign nationals living in China.  One is in Beijing, one in Shanghai, one in Shenzhen and the fourth is for those living primarily in the central part of China.  The Central District includes a virtual branch which facilitates people in more isolated areas to phone in and attend Sunday meetings via conference call.  The Sunday we were in Beijing we attended the Beijing 1st Branch and there were about 300 people in attendance so it was just like attending a ward back in North America.  At the beginning of the meeting the branch president read a statement that only those who hold  a foreign passport should be in the meeting and he explained the policy that members of the church in China are not allowed to actively or passively proselyte in any way to local Chinese nationals.  Due to this policy we were instructed not to wear name tags and to dress casually.

While in Beijing we had the opportunity to visit some of the major tourist sights.  An additional bonus for us was having a home cooked roast beef dinner - just like back home - at the district president's home on Sunday afternoon.  It was a real treat!!  The most enjoyable aspect of these types of visits is meeting the local members and priesthood leaders and feeling of their dedication for the gospel in their lives.

 The Great Wall

 

 We rode the gondola up

That is our guide Herbie

 

 

It really is an amazing sight to see

We could see the continuation of the wall on the far ridges beyond but due to the haze it does not show up in the picture

Tienanmen Square

The picture below is Mao's mausoleum where his preserved body is still on public display.  Crowds were lined up around the building to get in for a 20 second look.  We did not go in.

The Great Hall of the People

Entrance to the Forbidden City

 

Inside the Forbidden City

 

 

The place is huge - one courtyard after another
 

 

Nine dragons on the roof means it was the emperor's palace

One of the Throne Rooms

The Summer Palace

This was built by the only female emperor(ess) as refuge away from the Forbidden City which was a male bastian

This lake is the largest man-made lake in China and took decades to dig.  The dirt was piled up to make this big hill beside it.

A throne room

 

This covered passageway is over 700 meters long and allowed the Empress to stroll along beside the lake without being exposed to the rain or sun.

 

 

This little girl was posing for her mother so we got a picture too.

Dragon boat on the Summer Palace lake

This boat was built of marble but of course could not float

On to the Temple of Heaven - a place where the Emperors went generally once per year to fulfill their religious obligation.

Our guide told us the three levels of the temple represented the three levels of heaven - sound familiar?

Some shots of the inside - but we were not allowed to go in.

They also practiced the ritual of sacrificing calves as offerings to heaven

This Chinese cowboy was playing and singing in the park outside the temple

Then we took a pedal rickshaw ride through the Hutong (old town) section of the city

Our guide - Herbie followed on a bike.

Our Hutong guide - YoYo also rode a bike ahead of us.

We were taken into one of the homes for a brief tour and visit with this family

An upscale motorized rickshaw

On the flight back from Beijing we sat next to a young man - about 18 years old who was going to Hong Kong to enter university.  He spoke pretty good English so Jolayne chatted with him the entire 3 hours of the trip.  He had never been away from home before and was feeling sad about leaving his parents and grandparents as he was the only child in the family.  When we got to Hong Kong we helped him get through customs and collect his bags, etc.  We gave him our card and when he saw the name of the Church on the card he said his grandmother was Christian and asked if he could come to our church.  So we will try to stay in touch with him and hopefully we will be able to get him to church and in touch with the missionaries.

Jolayne has also befriended a young woman from China who came to our branch a couple of times with a young returned missionary who she met in her home city while he was traveling in China.  She has moved to Hong Kong and has a job teaching in an elementary school - she speaks very good English.  Jolayne has lined her up with the missionaries and she has had one discussion and committed to baptism.  The new boyfriend has returned to the U.S. for the next semester so we will see how it goes.  Her name is Jennie and she has really taken to Jolayne.  These have been some interesting missionary experiences.

Jolayne's sister Jocelyn and husband Shawn Lee came to Hong Kong for a dental convention and spent 10 days here seeing the sights.  It was fun to have them here and we hated to see them leave,

Shawn, Jocelyn, Allen, Renee, Jolayne, Larry outside the Hong Kong Temple - the three sisters together again

Scripture of the month - Alma 37:36

"Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affection of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever."