Quick note to let gentle readers know I have been a bit busy getting ready for my first trip to China.
After 11 years serving as pastor of Church of the Nations the mother church University Baptist Church has graciously allowed me a mini-sabbatical of 2 months. Technically a 1 month sabbatical plus 1 month study leave. A large part of these 2 months off is a lengthy trip to China. Because more than half of the people with whom I minister are from that nation. The trip itself has 3 main goals:
- Visit some of the people who were part of our activities. And maybe make some new contacts.
- Understand better the nation its people and its culture by experiencing it first hand.
- Learn more about what Christianity in China is like.
I will visit (1) Beijing (2) Taiyuan (3) Xian (4) Nanning (5) Guangzhou (6) Hong Kong (7) Shanghai (8) Qingdao then return to (9) Beijing for the return trip to Louisiana. I will spend 2-4 days in each city depending on how many people there are to visit and how much there is to see and do. The one exception is Hong Kong – that part of the trip is basically just for fun. Although I do know a rabbi who moved there a couple years ago.
I have been surprised at how difficult it is to plan a 4 week trip with 8 different stops visiting something like 30-40 different people and families. Something like 1-2 hours each day for several weeks. Had to create a spreadsheet just to keep track of all the people and their contact information. Have created a master itinerary file that contains all travel contact hotel and activity planning information. It is about 80-90% complete. I still do not know where I will stay or what I will do some days.
I am both excited and nervous about the trip. I used to enjoy flying but now I cannot stand it. I usually adapt quickly and easily to the local culture and language but this will probably be the most challenging so far. But I am looking forward greatly to seeing these people. Including – as of yesterday when I finally got in touch with him again – a biblical scholar at Beijing University who graduated from the same doctoral program at Cornell University. He began his program as I was finishing mine.
Usually when I tell people about this trip they say “oh a mission trip to China! how wonderful!” This is not a mission trip. Not that there would be anything wrong with that. I will not be working with any churches there registered or not. Although I will of course visit a few churches. And believe it or not I will have two opportunities to give a lecture to Chinese university students. Awesome. But basically I am going as a tourist.
I am not sure to what extent I will post publicly about the trip. We will see.
