Day 34

Sunday, so off to church I went. At church I met several other Americans. There was a group from Pennsylvania teaching English for three weeks at a university down the road from CAU. Several of them have been here before but it was the first time they had been the church. The pastor was very interesting and he was very passionate about delivering the word of God. It is always so impressive how emotional and excited they get about God. He had an interesting slide and break down of John 3:16. I hope the picture is clear enough to read.  I found out that the church has seating for 1000 people and they allow 200 more in to stand. That is not including the “over flow” area. They have 6 services and everyone of them is full. It amazes me how much the spirit is at work here. They had 165 baptism today. They have had over 320 this month! God is so powerful! I really think that the Chinese people really hunger for the word of God as often the common people here have a harder life than we are accustom to the in the states. However, the standard of life here is increasing drastically. Geoff was talking about how some old underground churches he knew about when the government was suppressing them have expanded with the new policy and actually the government has built their buildings for them. The churches here are required to belong to an association but it is not a regulation one like many people believe. It is similar to how the churches in the states are in some association. I am down to 4 day left here in China. I have some tourism plans but this week will be slower, which will be nice after a very fast moving, busy 5 weeks. I am starting to prepare some of my things for the trip home! I am very excited about seeing my family and friends and being back in my normal setting, especially my small town countryside!