May 2005
Dear Friends,
At last the cold and dreary winter seems to have passed. There
is still plenty of rain, but we do see the sun some days. Some
of our students and colleagues have told us that this has been
the longest winter in China for at least the past 100 years. We’re
not sure of that, but we’re delighted to now be able to
turn off the heat and have the windows open.
It has been a busy semester so far. Jay has been teaching two
groups of students. His classes have been on Tuesday, Wednesday
and Friday and each one involved a separate preparation. His students
are always so pleased with his class. “Jerry,” for
example, is the monitor in one class, and he takes the opportunity
to talk with Jay and ask questions whenever he can. He has a great
desire to continue his education, and he appreciates being able
to talk to Jay and to listen to his lectures. Susan has been teaching
teachers again. This semester she is blessed to have only a few
students. She divided the class into small groups and meets with
only two or three of the teachers each time. Needless to say,
they were delighted to have the opportunity for such “one-on-two”
communication.
After praying for several months, we feel that the Lord is leading
us to return to Wuhan for at least another year, if not more.
While living here in Wuhan could never be said to be a delightful
assignment, we do see that the Lord is using us in many ways here.
One big development has been our involvement with the local Chinese
language church. Imagine sitting around a big conference table
with 20 or 30 elderly women and a few men. These are the “forgotten”
ones, the ones who lost a chance for education because of the
hard times, before the current “reforms” were begun.
Mary, for example, who has few teeth but smiles and looks thrilled
when she can remember the right word to say, is a precious sister
in Christ. This is a picture of Susan’s “English”
class at the Thanksgiving Church on Saturday afternoon. It’s
a mixed class with new people popping in each week. One of the
young pastors and his wife are usually there, and they are the
organizers of the class. Susan considers it a rare privilege to
be able to help these sisters and brothers learn a few words of
English. She teaches them simple words and phrases that help them
in their various jobs in the church. We have also started attending
a Wednesday night group of young people who are studying Christian
books in English. There is a Chinese teacher, but we are there
to help and to answer questions. A few years ago, this type of
work would not have been possible, but in this church the help
of foreigners is welcome.
This summer we will be on home assignment in the United States,
but it will be a short one. The Chinese where we teach would not
appreciate our absence for the amount of time we would need to
be able to take a full leave, or “interpretation assignment,”
as it is now called. So, we will be in the United States for about
two months. We will spend most of that time, from July 4 through
the middle of August, in the Alabama area. During that period
of time we do expect to make a trip to Louisville and perhaps
to visit a couple of churches in that area that we have worked
with for a long time. Then we will spend about ten days in the
San Francisco Bay area toward the end of August. We wish that
we could spend the time visiting all of you who have been such
a wonderful support system. There may be opportunities to see
some of you, so if you want to try to see us, do let us know by
email. We can’t say that we will be able to do much visiting
but sometimes an opportunity will come along. At the very least,
you can give us a call. Our telephone number in Alabama is (251)
343-0435. In San Francisco, our number will be (925) 934-7787.
If we’re not there, the people at those numbers will be
able to direct you.
We do appreciate your prayers very much. We would also love to
be able to pray for you if you want to send us prayer requests.
We continue to ask for prayers to build good relationships. We
also ask you to pray for a smooth summer and for our children
in the midst of their busy lives.
Blessings,
Susan and Jay Boone
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
245
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