Day 2: A day in Shanghai

Sunday, July 10, 2005

We awoke well-rested and refreshed in the City of Shanghai early Sunday morning. Our first effort of the day is to get some well-earned breakfast, and then get on our way. As is the custom of the Chinese, the breakfast prepared for us was elaborate and substantial – lots of interesting new foods (green eggs!) including steamed vegetables and pastries. It’s hard to imagine that we’ll ever be hungry again. Cathy invited a couple of her students – young Chinese girls, Ashley and Stephanie, a pair of twins – to share breakfast and worship with our kids. It was a nice treat as the kids exchanged stories and pictures.

We worshiped today at the Shanghai Community Church, now known as the International Church. As we enter this large and beautiful sanctuary, we hear familiar tunes being played as the Christians gather. As we took our seats in the balcony which was fully equipped with English hymnals, bulletins, and responsive readings, the organist is playing “Living for Jesus”. We’re so grateful that they also provide their English-speaking guests with headphones in which we can hear the service in English. The pastor that delivered our sermon is a guest pastor, and he did a marvelous job telling the story of Jesus healing the blind man. His observation is that the blind man wasn’t fully prepared to “see”, and after Jesus touches him a second time, it is truly like his baptism. Suddenly he can see very clearly. Everyone was very moved by his words, and an animated discussion ensued as we traveled back for lunch which was, once again, a feast fit for an emperor. The platters just kept on coming! We filled ourselves to capacity with beef, hot and sour soup, veggies, fish, noodles, eggs, and sweet and sour pork; and now to our next meeting: the YMCA leadership in Shanghai.

Our meeting with Mr. Wu, Executive Director of the Shanghai Y was a real revelation for all of us. In America when we think of the YMCA, we either think of fitness or a popular 70’s “disco” song , but in China, the YMCA’s continue to embrace the ‘C’ in YMCA – Christianity. In fact, the YMCA’s are known more for Christian gatherings than for fitness. In the last decade, the Executive Y Council in China is trying to marry the two themes – fitness and Christian service, so that everyone realizes that the Y is there for everyone. We discussed and compared and were impressed to learn that Mr. Wu has conducted many exchange programs with the U.S. In fact, hanging on the wall of his conference room are three plaques commemorating three years of exchange trips with a Y camp in Massachusetts!! At the end of his presentation, Mr. Wu presented all of us with a YMCA Shanghai T-shirt and sent us on our way. It was a lovely afternoon.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Yu Garden. This area is much more than a garden. It dates back to the 18th century (was originally commissioned by the Ming dynasty in 1559) and is now a marketplace and social center. Outside the garden is lots of shopping, traditional Chinese arts and crafts and souvenirs. We didn’t have time to really shop, but the garden was exquisite, and not limited to plants and trees. Some of it’s most beautiful features are a giant gold fish “pond”, and stunning rock gardens and bamboo gardens. There were no huge crowds within the garden’s walls, and we really had a wonderful time just strolling and taking it all in.

Our final “experience” of the day – and it was quite an experience -- was catching the train to Nanjing. To say that the crowds in China are overwhelming doesn’t even begin to explain or describe what it takes to run down platforms, being pushed and shoved by the crowds who are trying to do the same thing you are. Once we found our seats (which Cathy had to quickly clear of people hoping to grab them) it was a challenge to hold the seats and get all of our luggage up into the baggage rack. Thank God for our Daniel who just took the bags one by one and kept tossing them up there. Finally, settled into our seats, we had hoped to grab dinner boxes from the train staff, but were only able to secure two. We did our best with what we got, and then slept fitfully until we reached Nanjing where, thankfully, Mr. Chen was waiting to grab our luggage on a rickshaw and get us to our bus. By the time we arrived at our hotel, no evening vespers were possible – we just wanted our beds. We said good night outside our doors and just hit the hay. As I complete this journal now, I’ll just say good night and God bless you, from your little troupe of pilgrims, packing two days into one, and seeing more than we ever hoped to see.

Our lives are truly blessed. Until tomorrow, the peace and love of Christ be with you.

From the other side of the world,

Megan Weymouth and Dana Baker, Pam Koller, Peggy Matteson, Daniel McDuffie, Alicia Perras, and Joe Tripp