Church in China

We had church today. We all piled into 3 cabs and met Sam (the area group leader) who showed us to his apartment where the meeting would be held. He lives there with his wife Alicia, and their two children Indiana and Havana. They are from Australia and have been here about a year. Skip and Callie were the other two locals who came. They are from Idaho and Skip is here doing business for his family's saddle business. Both couples are relatively young and I think they are glad to have us there. In total there were 17 of us there for the meeting. For church we Skype into Beijing. There is a presidency that meets in a class room at a Beijing chapel and they direct the meeting. The congregation is made up of about 20 groups who are Skyping in from all over China.

This is how it goes: they begin the meeting and after the sacrament hymn the connection is muted for 5 -6 minutes so that each group can bless and pass the sacrament. When the connection comes back on there are two speakers who have been assigned from the congregation. So, wherever they may be in China, they sit at their computer and give a talk. The topic today was the Holy Ghost. It was strange to just sit on a couch in someone's house and listen to church. After the meeting they have a roll call and then they rotate between Relied Society, Priesthood, and Sunday School. (btw they were very impressed that we had a whopping 17) Because there were so many of us, we decided to hold our own Sunday School meeting. Dr. Walters led the discussion and we just followed the gospel principles lesson on the Holy Ghost. It was a very good meeting.

After church Alicia had prepared some snacks and I ate my first fresh vegetables in a week and a half. The Chinese aren't really into raw veggies. They tasted so good. All of us were extremely grateful.

Church was so refreshing and Sam and Alicia and Skip and Callie and all great. It was rejuvenating in so many ways. I am really going to look forward to Sundays here.

Also, we are going to have a big dinner together on the 4th of July. It falls on a Sunday, so we are going to celebrate with our little group. Sam and Alicia, being from Australia, will just be along for the ride, but I am already excited for it. The church is so incredible. Anywhere you go. I am in incredibly grateful. This is an experience that I will always treasure.