Chaper 23 - Church in China

Hello Everyone,
Everything is going great! The weather is starting to warm up and it gets very humid. Luckily this Sunday had sunshine and it isn't humid at all, with a very slight wind which makes this sabbath day perfect!
Now since it is Sunday I want to tell you about my Sundays here in Huayuan. Well today I woke up and had a very yummy bowl of instant oatmeal. So good! I even had a second helping! After that I made my bed and got ready for church! Now getting ready consists of getting in Sunday best attire and even setting up our Sacrament. The Sacrament is very simple for us because well, its only for 2 people. hahaha. The water we use 2 plastic dixie cups which we fill with our purified water. (chinese water is nasty) Next for our bread we us these breads that look like Twinkies! It's true! Look in the pic its like a mini Twinkie.

No cream filling though :-( I wish...that would be one of a kind sacrament! So when its time to do the Sacrament Lee will bless the water or sacrament and I will do whatever he doesnt! Easy easy! Then we have like our own little sacrament.

Now we don't have Sacrament and call it a day. No we have an actual church. We are currently in a ward/branch. The ward/branch is pretty much all of China. Families to singles to people like me and teaching. We use skype to call into a conference call. The "head quaters" of the whole thing is in Beijing. They broadcast all throughout China for all of us to listen in. At 10 o'clock we call in and have a opening song then our president does ward business. Although there is never any because there are no new members and we usually go over the rules about the regulations of our religion in China. After that we sing a sacrament song, then the president mutes all the mics and we have about 7 to 8 mins of silence to do our little sacrament. Following that we have 2 to 3 talks. Since it is on skype there are some technical difficulties. As my family and Kellie know, skype is not that dependable to have a great connection. For the most part it stays good and I think that happens for a reason. The Lord up above makes it work so that we may be able to feel His spirit.
After the first part of church we have a role call and we see how many people were listening in on the call and how many people per city. Very interesting to hear how many people listened in and how far it spread. There are even people across the whole country of China. Next depending on what Sunday it is. We have Priestood every 1st and 3rd Sunday and the 2 and 4th sunday is Relief Society. So church is sometimes 1 hour, somtimes 2 hours long! Its very neat to see the sacrament broken done to the basics. No building to gather in, no one to prep the sacrament (except us), and its only listening to the speaker. No watching them! I am very thankful that we are able to partake of the Sacrament weekly and I look forward to Sundays not only because I dont have work but I get to feel the spirit so strongly!
I have been taught so many things while in China and this particular Sunday I learned the power of the spirit and the blessings that the Sacrament hold! It has been very neat to feel the spirit so strongly in my apaartment here in a tiny town called Huayuan in big ol' China! Being able to have the spirit in the home is sure a blessing and it makes me want to have this feeling with my own family in my own home in the future.
Well that is a normal Sunday in China for me. I love Sundays and they are always a good time to get caught up on emails or to chat on skype so dont be shy. Im waiting.
Love
Jordan C. Barnes