Me, 3-Self and I…or, Sunday in Chengdu, Texas
Today we were planning to attend a church near our hotel, but the services started at 6am and so the plan was adjusted and we join with Ma Min and Kim to go to the 3-Self church that Ivan and Victoria Ho (CBM Missionaries) attend when they are in Mainland China. It is a very introspective day for me for several reasons, (1) this is the church Juli and I would have attended if we had gone to China with CBM and (2) we ate lunch near Sichuan University which is probably where I would have taught (in the Foreign Languages Department, the Canadian Studies Program or the new Christian Studies Program). It was a very difficult decision to stay in Canada and, although I was sure it was the right one, part of my time in China has been to confirm that in my own mind. The service at the 3-Self church is truly worshipful – it may have been because we are better rested and acclimated, it may have been that the songs were familiar songs we sing on Sunday mornings, it may have been that Ma Min translated the sermon as it was preached. Whatever it was it felt good to be in the house of the Lord on Sunday.

After we leave the church we go in separate directions – Greg and Russell go off to become international models – I am dying to tell this story but won't because you have to hear it from them!!! The rest of us head off to eat at a place Kim and Ma Min have discovered near Sichuan University, called Peter's Tex Mex. I go with a mix of thrill and fear – I remember finding a 'dead on Western' hamburger place in South Korea that Juli, my wife, informed me was nothing like the burgers at home – it seems taste buds are prone to amnesia.

The hamburger is amazing – it tastes very much like the ones Fuddruckers used to serve (I think they had them in Alberta). It is amazing how a little bit of home can encourage you to continue on in an adventure. Fully "westerned" up we leave Peter's for Computer City – multiple blocks and floors of the latest doodads, gadgets and gizmos that, once you see 'em you can't live without 'em. I am a good boy and don't spend money there. Truth be told it is really because I have found a foreign language bookstore that has a linguistics section…Juli, send more money please.