Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces

      Although our hearts and minds are always full of the new places and people we are experiencing, we are equally touched by the sense of Christian community that we share as a group. Each day one of us takes on the task of blogging about our activities, and one or two others lead our devotions. A couple of the group with musical gifts have helped the rest of us make a presentable musical sharing for our hosts in various locations.
One of us is very knowledgeable about Chinese poetry, and  every day distributes to each of us a slip of paper with one or more poems for the day.We have a gifted photographer in our group. Others do the loading and unloading of luggage in the van. Three of our number cheerfully tripled up at the hotel here for the sake of our logistics. And at each step along the way one cares for another--keeping the 16 of us connected when strung out through crowds in train stations or on the street, seeing that someone is weary and could use a break or some tea, administering either warm sincerity or spirit lifting humor. It's hard to imagine this group without any one of us in it and we all feel we have come to depend on the others and the whole for gifts that go beyond what we can muster ourselves.

Catherine Allard and Gale Grayson

Kimberly Salico-Diehl and Catherine Allard

Above, Erica, Brianna, Joyce and Mark
Below, Brandon, Kim, Catherine and Erica

 

       A special place goes to Hiutung Chan, director of the Tao Fong Shan Christian study center in Hong Kong, our true leader. Hiutung's unruffled manner, gentle humor and deep insight are daily gifts to us. We travel not only on the road paved by his preparation of all our logistics, but even more on the network of personal relationships he had built among Christians  and those of many religious traditions across this whole region. We can clearly see what respect our various hosts have for him, and the many ways we benefit from it. It is a privilege to be his companions.