Posted by gpowell001 on 1/13/2011 7:40 AM
Today was my favorite day so far. We started out in a freezing cold, but interesting, lecture about Hinduism, Buddhism, and the folk religions (Taoism, Confucianism, and other folk beliefs). By the time our lecture was over, the clouds had cleared and it was starting to look like a beautiful day! We headed down a treacherous staircase (with only two butterfly attacks [for those who don't know I have a, um, small fear of butterflies]) down to the bottom of our mountain home and went off
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Posted by Nathan S. on 1/12/2011 2:54 AM
Today we learned more about the history of Christianity in China. Christianity first came to China in 635 C.E. (A.D.). Christianity has been brought to China a number of times and encountered a number of struggles including times in which Christians were oppressed due to their religion. While Christians came to China to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they also learned much of the religions that were influential to the people of China. During our trip we are doing much
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Posted by Emilly W. on 1/11/2011 4:54 PM
Good morning! It's been over a full day since we've posted on the blog. When we returned yesterday night, we went straight to bed because it was a long, exhausting, wonderful day. It opened our eyes, hearts, and minds to an expanse of issues, ideas, and questions.
First, we attended a four-person panel where Chinese Christian leaders provided their opinions on the church in China. Here's just a few insights from the panel. China is big (obviously)
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Posted by gpowell001 on 1/10/2011 6:42 AM
I was thinking of posting some pictures, but I got a really big blister from walking the town today, so I don't want to go back upstairs and get my camera. You'll just have to suffer through my text and look for pictures on facebook later.
Today was a pretty fantastic start to the trip. My roomie and I did a lot of non-sleeping last night, but for some reason the crisp Hong Kong air was helpful for getting us going. Walking down a gigantic hill first thing in the AM probably helped. And also the
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Posted by lnelson001 on 1/10/2011 3:27 AM
It's 5:29 PM here in Hong Kong. Today was our "easy" day, where our host John took us all over Hong Kong. I had watery noodles for breakfast and it was really good! After that we went to a meat market where we saw hanging pig parts and beating fish hearts. Yum! ... NOT!
Then we went up a tram to the Peak and saw Hong Kong from above. We had some starbucks coffee while up there too, while we sat and chatted. Then it was bathroom searching time were we fortunatly found some western-style
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Posted by Beau Nelson on 1/9/2011 4:46 PM
At about 8:00pm China time (6:00am CST), our plane safely landed in the Hong Kong airport. It was a very long flight, but a good flight nonetheless.
The most beautiful part of the flight was when we were over Siberia. There was enough light to see mountains of snow and ice, frozen rivers and their tributaries, and then later the most glorious sunset I have ever witnessed.
When we arrived last night, the weather was in the high 50s, but this morning it is just a little cold, kind of like a brisk
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Posted by lnelson001 on 1/7/2011 8:02 PM
I can hardly believe that it's almost here, that we're really doing this. We're going to China! Our bags are packed full of extra socks and kleenex, our cats are taken care of, our rides arranged, our mail held. All we need to do is
get there.
But first... many many hours on airplanes!
One of the nice things about both my husband and I going is that we can divvy up some of the packing - we've divided the snacks, games (I hope our fellow students like games!), magazines (which we will share), and
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Posted by Elizabeth F. on 1/6/2011 4:18 PM
We welcome your prayers for safe travel for all participants on this China adventure. The group will head out this Saturday! The Luther Seminary students participating are Beau, Lydia, Nathan, Gwen, and Emily W. We also have Emily G. from PLTS (Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA). The Luther Seminary professor leading the course is Dr. Latini.
In Hong Kong, the group will meet up with Professor John Lemond from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong.
Professor Peter Shen
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Posted by gpowell001 on 1/6/2011 3:19 PM
Well, the group departs in about two days and I'm starting to feel almost prepared. Having parents that are doctors makes it hard to get out of the country without every type of pharmaceutical known to humanity, so I have been making multiple daily trips to Target. I think the pharmacy techs are beginning to think I'm falling to pieces. There are a lot of little things I need to remember (for example, enough socks and underwear!), and other more important things I'm afraid of forgetting like the
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