September 2006

Hi All,

It’s been an eventful summer. Kate and I spent July in Nanjing. During the first week, we helped with orientation for Amity’s Summer English Program (SEP). About sixty volunteer teachers came to China to help middle school English teachers improve their English language skills. These teachers, in groups of four, spent three weeks at locations all around China providing an intensive English enrichment course for Chinese teachers. These folks were volunteers in every sense; they paid all of their own travel and living expenses, plus a block grant to cover program costs. You can learn more about Amity’s Summer English Program at its Web site.

Bishop Ting’s health has declined, and he was not on campus during our stay. The Seminary arranged for us to meet him, however, one morning at his apartment. Bishop Ting is an accomplished and influential man who has done much to shape the church in China and to hold it together in times of duress. He was also a gracious host and spoke appreciatively of our involvement in the Seminary’s English program. Our visit with the Bishop was brief, less than an hour, but I came away wishing I could have met him sooner and known him longer.

Bishop Ting and Dr. Chen both speak excellent English, as does Dr. Gao. Their concern about the limited English skills of their faculty and staff led to the July English classes. The program was directed by Zhang Jing, also called “Cathy,” who earned her graduate degree at Eden Seminary in St. Louis. There were nineteen students in all, seventeen faculty and staff members, plus one high school student and one college student whose parents work at the seminary. After morning and afternoon classes, most stayed an extra hour for an optional English language movie session.

Nanjing is a city of 5.3 million people. The Seminary is just a couple of blocks from one of Nanjing’s busiest retail intersections, with several department stores, a Walmart (no joke), and a string of KFCs, Pizza Huts, McDonalds, Starbucks, and Haagen-Dazs stores, all of which seemed to be busy all the time. Nanjing also has a modern subway system. The subway stops and trains are very clean, and tickets, which are inexpensive, can be bought easily from vending machines. The subway stops are connected to a subterranean maze of restaurants and retail shops.

One of Nanjing’s key points of interest is Zijin Shan (“Purple Mountain”), and the main attraction there is the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, founder of the modern Republic of China. To reach the Mausoleum, we climbed a marble stairway some 350 yards long and 75 yards wide. There was a large crowd, but it didn’t become congested until we reached the top where the walkway narrowed through a doorway and down a few steps to Dr. Sun’s tomb. The tomb lies in a small circular enclosure under a domed roof. A statue of Dr. Sun lying in repose covers his coffin. The entire Mausoleum layout, viewed from above, is in the shape of a bell.

In August we made a quick trip to the United States. We hadn’t planned to go back until our two-year term with Amity is completed, but we started planning this trip when we learned that our daughter Rachel was having a baby. Our grandson Kellen Leigh Hawkins arrived August 8 and we were in Fort Worth to meet him on August 13. We spent six days with Rachel and her husband Jody, mostly holding the baby and getting to know Jody’s eleven-year-old daughter Lindsay (good name!) better. Jody’s son Blake was away from Fort Worth while we were there, so we didn’t see him on this trip. We’re claiming Blake and Lindsay as our grandchildren, so in the year we’ve been in China we’ve gained a son-in-law and three grandchildren. While in the states, we also spent time with our son Jose, our son and daughter-in-law Vic and Beth, and with my mom, our sisters, and other relatives and friends. We returned to China on August 19.

Shalom y’all,

Don and Kate Lindsay