With a Bang

To misquote T. S. Elliot’s “The Hollow Man”, we will end the stay in Beijing with a BANG, not a whimper.

Friday morning we had closing ceremonies, and then performances by all the classes. It was in our humble estimation, the best program to date. Slowly, over years, we’ve honed this closing program down so that each class does a performance that is less than five minutes. (In contrast to some years ago when classes might drag on for 20 minutes – multiply by ten!) The classes were creative, brilliant, funny, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Ceremonies are followed by a luncheon at a South American grill that is a good mix of South America, western, and Chinese. The classes sit together and go through the buffet line, but also have roving chefs carving meat at their tables. No one goes away hungry, and since it the university “foots the bill” everyone feels wonderful about the luncheon. There are pictures taken till our smiles are pasted on, lots of hugs, and quite a few tears. Our teachers slowly peel off their learners and tell them good-bye, write, keep in touch.

Saturday we took the team to an eco-resort just below one of the Great Wall entrances and did four hours of debrief of their experience. This too went well, and was followed by a wonderful luncheon at the resort. Yes, working in China is just one eating experience after another. After lunch the team split into various groups to see the Great Wall – some hiked, some rode ski-lifts, some rode cable cars, and a few intrepid souls came back down on a contraption called a toboggan but in actual fact more like a bumper car in a track. Our Auzzie wanna-be race car driver was more than a little ticked that his wife was in front of him and hampered his speed! We returned hot and sweaty and thoroughly sated with the experience. A great way to end the program.

Unfortunately, Saturday night one of the team fell in the tub and broke her arm which put a bit of a kink into Sunday. One of the team nurses and I took her to the international clinic where I had stitches removed in the spring from my hand. This is the first year we’ve even known this place existed, and it was an incredible blessing on a Sunday morning to walk in, have an appointment, have doctors who spoke English, get X-rays, and a cast all in less than two hours. Expensive, but each team member has overseas insurance as part of their program fees. While I was doing that, David got on the phone and changed the woman’s flight to Sunday afternoon, along with another team member who had traveled out on the same flight. That way she had a companion. We got back from the doctor, got them some lunch, and headed to the airport.

Others did get to services, and there were many learners who attended. Many, many serious and deep conversations. By Sunday night a group of the remaining team gathered in the team room and shared stories of all the Father had done on Sunday. We’ll share some of those stories with you later. Amazing cycles of planting, watering, and seeing fruit.

Young American friends of ours who teach here came into town to join us for dinner. That was a delightful break for us to hear how they are being used, and share the delight of knowing that our beginning conversations with them almost ten years ago on a campus are yielding great fruit.

This morning at 5:30 AM we put four more team members in a van to the airport. Another just left in a taxi and two more leave at 3:30. That leave six – three couples. We all have appointments and people to see, but also will pack, sort, decided what stays stored here and what goes home, and then all leave Wednesday afternoon.