November 2002

Dear Friends,

Greetings from China. We have been back in China for over two months now and we're beginning to feel quite at home again. As you may be able to tell from the address, we are not only in a new city at a new school, we are also in an area of the country that is new to us. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province, which is located in the southwest of China not too far from Thailand and Burma. It is the place tourists who want to travel into Tibet must leave from, so it is a city of many tourists and tourist attractions. Chengdu is a very large city, with a population ranging from 7 million to 10 million, depending on who is speaking. Since it's in the southwest, the weather is much milder than our last posting. It will be cold here but it will not go below freezing and there will not be any significant snowfall.

We have been attending the Open Church here in Chengdu. Chengdu is the capital, so the seminary for the province is located here. We go to the church that is home to the seminary. We've met several "foreigners" like us who also attend the church and we usually have lunch together after the service. Often at the church we meet Chinese people who want to talk with us and they go to lunch with us. Last week Jay and I talked with a young teacher who has become a strong Christian. She told us that a man from California shared the gospel with her a few years ago and she accepted the Lord. Now she is very active in witnessing to her faith in Christ to other Chinese. She will be having lunch with us this weekend. Often there are meetings and contacts that we make in the church which help us to see that Jesus is alive in China. There is also a group of foreigners who meet away from the church and we also stay in touch with them.

We are beginning to think about the holidays. Susan will be baking for her classes and telling the stories of Thanksgiving and Christmas to all the students. Christmas is on Wednesday this year which means that we will teach. Actually, we feel it's appropriate. We come here to share the good news in whatever way we can, and what better day to do it.

We do need prayer for health. We both have heavy schedules and need to find time to relax and rest. As always, we ask that you pray that students will want to build relationships with us and that they will ask the important questions of life. We pray that your holiday season will be filled with the knowledge that Jesus, the Savior, lives.

Blessings,

Susan and Jay Boone

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.179