The Garden

After church we had lunch at a restaurant near my apartment, then since we all like walking adventures, we took a taxi, all the way to the end of the second island of Macau, which is Coloane. It is the least built up part of Macau, while there we visited a garden of medicinal plants, a little zoo and a nature center. Then we took a bus up the highest point of Macau, a wooded hill of 560 feet. It is actually quite a steep wooded hill. At the top is a 65' statue of A Ma, a patron goddess of the fisherman. The temple there and the statue were built in 1999 to commemorate the return of Macau to China.

A visit From Alina, David, and Jerry

The highlight of my week was having Alina, David and Jerry visit last Sunday.
Alina (pronounced Aleena) was the Chinese student I hosted at Harvard in the
2005-2006 academic year. She is a big part of the reason I chose to do a
mission in Macau. She was very homesick for her husband and son when she was
first at Harvard, so she came home with me to Boxford many weekends. Then David
and Jerry came the end of February through the end of June and they also enjoyed coming to Boxford.

Tai Chi In The Morning

It has been a busy week here in Macau. I had a Cantonese lesson with Tony a Macau native, who teaches some classes here at the English Center.

I asked him to teach me counting, words for buying things and bargaining. I also want to learn some greeting words which I can use when going to a Tai Chi exercise class.

In the morning if I have time I climb up the Mong Ha, a steep hill/park where people do Tai Chi and other exercises separately or in groups.

I like to join in with a group, so I need to learn a little Cantonese. The owner of the black and white dogs is in the the Tai Chi class I like. The lotus water view is what we look at while exercising.

Tai Chi In The Morning

View From The Top

Guia Chapel, Inside The Fort

Guia Lighthouse

At first glance this may look like Maine, however it is on the highest
point in Macau. The Guia lighthouse dates back to the 19th century and is still
used today, especially for typhoon warnings. It was also a fort at one time.
Lois and I took a pleasant short ride by gondola car to the top of the hill,
walked all around getting good views of the city and walked down on the foot
paths of a tropical garden.

Out on the Boulevard

The next two pictures are of two of the more glitzy areas of Macau, first the golden lotus sculpture with the Sands Casino in the background. Then a contemporary sculpture over one of the nicer boulevards. Macau collects 50% of its taxes from the casinos. Many people come especially from China to gamble. there are 26 legal Casinos in Macau.

People and Places

Joanna in the red shirt is the adopted daughter of Sharon Owens, director of the Concordia English Center. Joanna is eight years old and speaks English and Cantonese fluently. She is also learning Mandarin. She accompanied three of us volunteers last Sunday on a shopping expedition around Macau and to the island of Taipa. She knows all the bus routes. She is about the same age as my grand daughter Kelsey, actually I am going to Joanna's eighth birthday this Sunday. She was adopted from an orphanage in Macau and had a rough start in life, as her mother is an alcoholic. She is very much loved by everyone at the Center. She is incredibly bright, and occasionally acts like the eight year old she is. The other young woman in the picture is Hilda who works at another English Center.

Neighbors

The adorable twin boys live across the hall from my apartment, so I occasionally bump into them with their mom.

I'm feeling like I'm really settling in. yesterday my roommate Kali and I went on an expedition to find new mattresses. Kali is twenty five and from Wisconsin. We each bought a foam pad to help soften up what just felt like a hard board. My bed was so hard my shoulders and hips were hurting, so now it is softer, but still pretty firm. Our apartment has pretty much everything we need. The
kitchen is very small with two gas burners, a cabinet to hold dishes and pots, a sink,
a refrigerator and a wash machine. The only counter/working space is two areas on either side
of the sink that are about 24"x24". We keep the unrefrigerated food and a small oven in the dining area. Any fruit or vegetables are washed and rinsed twice with a special organic liquid to
remove any insecticides. Actually the fruits and vegetable are quite good.

Friday November 7

It's a relatively quiet Friday afternoon, so I'll try to get more blog off to
you. I'm back to using Comcast, as it's easier and works here.

Some people stories to go with the accompanying photos:

Jane and Evangelist Joanna: Jane is a member of St. Paul's Friday night Bible
class and is sometimes the interpreter for Sunday morning services. Joanna is
an evangelist hired by the Hong Kong Synod to help at St. Paul's the local
Lutheran church; there is only a part time pastor, so Joanna often is the
preacher - sort of a jack-of-all trades. She does not speak English. In this
photo Jane is translating to English what Joanna is saying in Cantonese.
The local folks here mainly speak in Cantonese, not Mandarin. The second photo is of Jane translating what Jan Foytek is saying. The photo reminds me of some of our India photos of translators. Jan is one my colleagues at the Concordia English Center. She is from Keene, NH. She is a retired elementary school teacher and lots of fun. Our lunch time visitors are always asking the
difference between the pronunciation of Jane and Jan.

Lunch

We had lunch at the Center with the pastors and then they returned to
the Center at 4:00 PM for a very inspiring worship service with
communion - wonderful voices in harmony.
In the evening we went to the local church for a craft project and
Bible study.

Blessings,
jane

St Paul's Ruins

We also went to the ruins
of St. Paul's Cathedral which is next to the Mount Fortress, which was
originally built by the Jesuits in the 17th century. There is an
excellent cultural museum on top of the Mount which opened in 1998.
There are great views of the city from the gardens and remains of the
fort.

In the Cemetery - Local People from Boston

Chapel Window and Grounds

Visit to The Morrison Chapel

Yesterday we had a team of visiting pastors and their spouses from the
states. They were from Laurel, MD, Alexandria, VA, Wisconsin Rapids,
WI, the St. Louis area. Lois (another short term person) and I went
with them in the morning to tour some of t he sights of Macau.

We went to the Morrison Chapel which includes the grounds of the
Protestant Cemetery. The chapel is named for Dr. Robert Morrison the
first Protestant missionary, who translated the Bible into Chinese and
wrote the first English-Chinese Dictionary.

All Saints Day

November 1 - All Saints Day

Today is my first day of teaching - conversation with four different
students. All of these are adults of a fairly high level. They like
to talk about a variety of subjects, especially from the news. I have
to help them with pronunciation and vocabulary.

It has been quite a week: getting over jet lag, adjusting to all sorts
of new procedures, and meeting many people. I hope the jet lag is
about over, however, the timing of our schedules will be more
difficult, as classes are in the afternoon and evening, a big switch
for a morning person. Some new things I have had to learn: how to
light the gas water heater so I could take a shower; the bus route
from my apartment to the English Center and back (two days escorted,
now I'm on my own), grocery shopping for basics - not really cooking
yet; washing clothes and hanging them on the balcony hangers. I need
to get a picture of this procedure. Lots to learn!

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.