Dinner, Tuesday Evening

We had dinner at the home of John and Doris Bowerman on Tuesday night.

They are fellow teachers, who are going to stay here in Macau
permanently. They are going on a five week trip to the states, from
Texas to Illinois. They are taking Flora with them to give her
testimony. they had us critique their their presentation. Flora has
a wonderful story to tell about what she has learned and how the
Concordia English Center has changed her life.

The photo of Zhuhai is taken from the roof of the Bowermans home in Macau looking toward China. The clock tower is a landmark.

Blessings, Jane

Concordia English Center

There is a picture of me near the entrance of the Concordia English
Center. I have been observing classes and will teach my first class
on Sat. Nov. 1. We have open lunches from Tuesdays- Fridays. 12-2:00
PM. Students bring their own lunches and we have conversations with
them on all kinds of topics, very informal and fun. It's a good way
to get to know the students.

House God Shrine

My apartment is on the 25th floor in a group of high rise towers, when
you get to individual doorways people have set up little shrines to
their gods. My entrance doorway is very close to another entrance,
they have shrine very close to my door. They place various food and
paper offerings on these shrines to their ancestors and burn them.

Monday Morning October 27

Boxford to my apartment in Macau in 27 hours! My apartment is on the
25th floor- a bit of a change from Boxford.

I slept about 4 hours on the plane - maybe more. Flight time was 14
1/2 hours from Newark to Hong Kong. In Hong I got the 10:00 PM high speed ferry from the airport to Macau. They transfer your bags right from the plane, so I didn't go through immigration until Macau. Mary Eddy U met me at the ferry here in Macau and we took a taxi to my apartment in Macau.

My apartment has two bedrooms a living/ dining area and a small kitchen and small bath. My roommate's name is Kali and she is from Wisconsin. She just left (6:30 AM) to meet a short term mission team in Hong Kong. I slept from 12:30AM - 4:30 AM. I am wide awake right now. Wonder what I'll feel like this afternoon.

Mary Eddy U is one of the adminstrators of the Concordia English
Center. She is originally from IL. She is married to a fellow from
mainland China. She has been serving in various places in Asia for
four years. She is picking me up at 10:30 AM along with another new
teacher and will give us some orientation today.

My apartment is quite nice and I think Kali will be an excellent roommate.

Back to unpacking and ....and thanking the Lord for my new humid day in Macau.

Jane

14-1/2 Hours Non-Stop to Hong Kong

Newark Airport

27 Hours door-to-door

Jane's travel itinerary took her from Boston to Newark, NJ, then non-stop to Hong Kong.

Prayers for Jane and her work

In church, last week, we had a formal sending ceremony for Jane. This consists of a prayer.
During the prayer, people from the congregation place their hands on the team members.

The significance of this is:

a) It is a practice that was done in Biblical times;
b) it's a symbolic acknowledgment that the team is representing the people of the congregation; and
c) it is an act of corporate involvement of the congregation.

Please pray for Jane and her work --

*Pray for the spiritual darkness in Macau to be lifted

*Pray for many opportunities to share Jesus’ love

*Pray for my own children and grandchildren that they may learn by my example

*Pray for my health and safety

*Pray for the long-term and short-term mission staff; that we may all work in unity

The purposes of my trip

The purposes of my trip are:

*to reach adults with the joy of the Gospel while teaching English

*to encourage the long term staff at the English Center

*to assist Missionary Sharon Owens and Evangelist Ma, the only Chinese speaking missionary at the Center.

*to help Rev. Wu, the Taiwanese minister at St. Paul’s Church

*to reach out to children with the love of Jesus

About Macau

Macau is a former Portuguese colony located on a peninsula off of mainland China. It has the same status as Hong Kong. They are now part of China, however, they have self-rule- which allows missions. It is the Las Vegas of the Orient, home to 550,000 people in less than 13 square miles. There are about 28,000 contract workers who are mostly Chinese, who are eager to learn English. Gambling is very prevalent, along with its attendant problems.

East Meets West in Macau

Dear Friends and Family;

As many of you know I was part of a five member mission team from Our Savior Lutheran Church in January 2008. The Lord truly blessed this mission and our work. A seed was planted, for me to consider a longer mission. This led me to apply for a position in Macau, a special administrative region of China. I will leave for Macau October 25, 2008 for a five month stay. I will teach English as a foreign language and also be a relationship builder at Concordia English Center in Macau. I will also visit the Concordia International School in Shanghai.

During my working years at Harvard I hosted international graduate students (my last six years). I made an especially wonderful friend, named Alina (Yi Weihua). She was a student at the Kennedy School of Government in the 2005-2006 academic year. She was very homesick for her husband David and son Jerry (age 10), so she spent a lot of time with me on weekends and on breaks in Boxford. She walked with my Boxford walking group and went to church with me. David and Jerry joined her here in February 2006. Jerry was an excellent student at public school in Somerville. They are back in China at their home in Zhuhai, Guandong Province (formerly Canton). They live very close to Macau, so that is partly why Macau has been calling me.