Mid December

This week included more government visits as Gerrit Gong, who has been serving as the church representative for Southeast and Southern Asia for the last five years, has accepted another assignment and needed to introduce his replacement, Randall Funk, to the various heads of various government organizations.  So we spent time with them and other local church leaders as they visited with the Fatherland Front, the local and national Departments of Public Security and the Committee on Religious Affairs. The meetings were cordial and generally positive, a tribute to Gerrit's careful, considerate and honest work to build bridges of transparency and trust.

Public Security

Lunch at a small eatery in-between meetings

Given the social and political history here, there are understandable concerns about religious organizations in the minds of some government leaders and in the minds of various segments of society in general..  And so we are very clear about what the church is doing here, spending extra time on the parts that they are generally the most concerned about and are wary of. ie., what it teaches about responsible citizenship, the humanitarian work that really is humanitarian work and not a cover for proselytizing, honesty, obeying the law, and family respect and harmony.  Some of the people we visited with had been able to be part of delegations to the U.S. to see for themselves what the church is there, and that has been very helpful too.

So a shout out of gratitude for the short-staffed, stretched hosting department in the U.S, who did so much of the work to enable these government delegates to meet with church, educational and civic leaders there.  It really helps to see more of an international organization, how it works, and how it relates to education and government on its own turf, when you are dealing with a new, unfamiliar, branch of it in your own country.




The rest of the week has been the usual teaching and helping as best we can in medicine, English instruction, family relationship classes and ecclesiastical support as our little church tries to keep up with many requests and needs that are part of any ministry.   (And cheering on the Noordas, our LDSCharities directors in the early stages of a provincial project training opthamologists.)  I have a great deal of respect for the local church members and leaders who do so much while struggling to also financially support themselves and their families in their day jobs. It takes long, long hours of work and more than one worker to feed, clothe and house a family here in this emerging economy. The tradition of multi-generational living helps, but even in families where that is geographically possible , it is long hours of work. So I really appreciate their efforts to serve and minister beyond those many demands.

It is nice to have Christmas coming. Of course, we did not have room to bring any of our Christmas decorations with us, and it seems silly to purchase baubles or an artificial tree (no live ones near here) when we have no room to store them the other 11 months of the year. But the previous tenants left some small, lovely straw ornaments behind. And there was some red ribbon. So today, before supper, Lewis put up our Christmas tree.

 A joyful Christmas season to all!