Nanjing

All of the Virginia Baptists who were to arrive for the Nanjing orientation for Amity's Summer English Program (SEP) came into the Nanjing airport on time. Stephanie, who came from Korea, where she had been studying for the past semester, arrived within an hour or so of those coming from the US. Craig, VBMB coordinator for adult projects, came with them to participate in the orientation and to go to one site in order to understand better how to enlist and advise volunteers who want to join the SEP. So, there were a total of nine Virginia Baptists in Nanjing for the SEP orientation, July 1-4, 2004. The teachers, rom left: Jill, Laura, Karen, Tish, Stephanie, Kim, Penny, and Brownie.

There were presentations on the Chinese church, on the work of Amity, and on the state of social development in China, as well as workshops on a variety of topics and, of course, good food.
Sunday brought church at St. Paul's Church, which is where I usually attend. After the service we had a chance to talk with the pastor.

Other opportunities included visits to sites of interest, such as the memorial to the victims of the Rape of Nanking, in 1937, or to a school for the children of migrant workers (farmers who come to the city to find work, usually in construction) in Nanjing. The school receives support from Amity. On the tour of the memorial, one of the victims was working as a volunteer, and stood on his own footprints commemorating the terrible period. The group also visited the national seminary in Nanjing and had the closing worship service there. Virginia Baptists made a strong contribution to the music portion of the worship service.

One last evening of being together before heading out to our teaching sites in Lanzhou, capital city of Gansu Province, and Qujing, a city east of Kunming, capital of Yunnan. Craig and I accompanied the Lanzhou group. The Qujing group left the hotel at 7:30 a.m., but because of flight delays, didn't leave the airport until afternoon. The Lanzhou group left on time and arrived to warm greetings.