13 May 2017
Yesterday was quite a special day for Rodney and I as we witnessed something very special for us. If you do not want to read or see some photos of a Chinese Christian baptism, I suggest you skip this post.
We have often referred to our Chinese family...and this family seems to continue to grow. At first it was our driver and his extended family, the. It grew to include Daisy, and her mother and father who we met at a flea market. Now, it grows again to include a young man named Tom. We first met Tom several years ago when we lived in the Intercontinental Hotel. He worked as a server in the executive lounge. He was always very shy, but spoke English, so we got to know a bit about him. His mother is a nutritionist and his father died when he was a boy. His job as a server was a promotion because he started working as a chopper in the kitchen. We moved from the hotel, and he changed jobs and we somewhat lost touch, but we always remained in contact through WeChat. Over the years, we exchanged notes and even some gifts at the important Chinese holidays. Fast forward to 2017 and Tom was more and more present and in fact started to work at the hotel where we live. Tom calls us his parents, and in many ways we are. His mother works in a city in the south of China, and Tom lives here in Shenyang. He is not married and has a heart as good as gold. I'm quite sure he would do anything in the world for us.
One day, he asked Rodney about Christianity and Rod took the opportunity to share our beliefs. One thing lead to another and to make a long story short, it culminated in Tom being baptized yesterday. We went to his baptism yesterday morning and it was a very special day for us.
The only Christian government sanctioned church here is the Catholic Church, where all priests must be approved by the government. Protestant churches exist, it they are all private and typically meet in people's homes or in shopping malls or other places that do not call attention to themselves. Foreigners are typically not invited for fear of drawing attention, and we respect that. We told Tom, however that we would like to like to attend his baptism, and he was over joyed.
The church group does baptisms about twice a year in a fitness center large jacuzzi. So we were able to find it and witness a very special event. I share a few photos below. It's not a traditional "Church" building...but I can assure you that from our perspective God was indeed present and all that were there were blessed.
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| Tom in the middle ready making the profession of faith |
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| First Communion. |
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| After the baptism, Rodney giving Tom his words of confidence and pride |
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| Rod signing as a witness, as did Sarah and 2 Chinese friends. |
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| Tom's Christian family |
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| Tom with his fellow new Christians |
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| Tom's Christian family, the lady in the middle is Crystal...Sarah's Chinese teacher |
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| Rod and Tom after a few tears were shed. We gave Tom a cross necklace as a gift to remember the occasion. |
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| All of the newly baptised Christians were given a bouquet of fresh cut peonies. Tom gave his to me. I treasure it. |
How much longer will we be staying here? Honestly we don't know...we take it one day at a time. In life, we find what we are looking for...in the US, France, Romania, now China.
We thank God for each and every one of you and your continued support as we continue to live and work and do our small part to help improve our little corner of the world here in Shenyang, China.
Rod and Sarah Miller
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