September and October in Shenyang
Oct. 23, 2011

Dear Friends,

Sorry for the delay in hearing from us in Shenyang but we have been very busy with happenings here and elsewhere.

For those of you that don’t know, Cindy went to be with the Lord on September 17. We, her family and the guys she worked with at Bombardier gathered on the 19th to celebrate her life. It was bittersweet for us that hold the Christian hope of seeing Cindy again in heaven: we will miss her so much but we are happy that she found “the way” before she died. Her whole family including some extended members came to “believe” through Cindy, too! We were also sorry that she missed meeting the Pastor from Texas (Joan) that had been calling her from Texas to encourage her. She was due to come visit us early in October and was instrumental in comforting Cindy’s parents when she came.

Actually Pastor Joan and others in the Bastrop, Texas area were having a challenge of their own in the guise of a hurricane wind powered wildfire that swept through the “Lost Pines” just east of Bastrop. At least 1550 homes were lost including that of Pastor Joan! We were thinking that it would be natural for her to cancel her planned trip to China in view of all it would take to get her life back BUT, she came anyway!! This was definitely a “Joseph” type deal as what the devil planned for evil really backfired on him as P. Joan really blessed folks in Shenyang during her short two week stay! She ministered in two formal congregations and several informal gatherings, all to rave reviews with many lives being changed forever!

In amongst ministering, we dragged her and her travelling companion (Jan) all over the place. We had dinner with Chinese folks and other foreigners. We visited the orphanage (of course) and even visited our old “youth” who were excited to receive the hand puppets brought by Jan! There was actually almost a “group grope “ as we were so happy to see the youth and they were happy to see us! Having two additional “sweeties” along with puppets, even, was almost too much for them to bear! A good time was had by all times 1000! From the youth, we moved on to our little ones and they enjoyed some quality time being entertained by ZhiLei and ZhiChun and the others.

Since P. Joan and Jan were staying within easy walking distance of our apartment, it was easy to introduce them to my favorite neighborhood and the wonderful Chinese folks that sell in the “night market” that have become my special friends. I believe that now, these Chinese folks know that Texans are very sweet and loving and they welcome any more of them that can come to do so! Besides the immediate neighborhood, we visited one of the primo parks here: Beiling Park that is always beautifully landscaped with seasonal flowers. They seemed to know that very special visitors were coming because they outdid them selves with a solid display of “football” mums both outside and inside the grounds!

Later, we made a day and a half trip to DanDong which is a city on the North Korean border. It is a good place to see the bridge that the US bombed during the Korean war and to send good wishes across the Yalu River there. The spectacular fall foliage on the way just added to the trip!

One day was set apart to so some shopping at a wholesale market and also visit the oldest church in Sheyyang. This is where the Book was translated into Korean! Very historic and worth a visit! They even gave us delicious apples that were left over from their recent Thanksgiving service. Yum, yum!

Very much part of this busy time was the school boys that live near us. Actually, LiangLiang is living at his Financial University but rides the bus back every Friday to keep up with his two buddies, LuPing and YongEn (DaPing, Sam). LuPing gave me a very special present last week! It was the very first project that he was assigned at the Tailoring and Design school: a pillow with a case that even has a zipper! It was all so neat and beautiful! Not at all bad for a first project! We are so proud of our boys, including YongEn who is back completing his middle school work. The three boys joined us for dinner and several gatherings of the Chinese folks that come to our apartment weekly for study.

I bet you can tell that I’m missing P. Joan and Jan a lot, a lot, a lot, right?! We’ve never had a visit before from one of our Pastors and it meant more to us than we can say!

Thanks to all of you for your prayerful and financial support. We share this “work”, you know. We just couldn’t do it by ourselves!

Love, Migyeong and Elaine

Back to News