Neighborhood Buddha temple

Saturday was an incredibly beautiful day. It was sunny and breezy and perfect for a bike ride. After Emily and Gabe finished piano lessons we decided to bike to the neighborhood Buddha temple.

This temple is in the part of our little town where hardly any foreigners venture into. The temple is situated in a kind of plaza type street corner. A lot of people were just hanging out around the temple on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. When we pulled up to the front gate of the temple, several people began to crowd around. They all wanted to get a good look at the bike riding foreigners with 4 kids. It was seriously laughable. We asked this cute old guy at the door how much it was to get in and paid him the 6 yuan it cost to enter. There were so many people gathered around, it was hard to actually get in the door. The cute old guy let us take our bikes and park them just inside the door so they wouldn't get stolen, which of course caused an even bigger scene. After a few minutes however, we did manage to get inside all safe and sound.

The temple was very beautiful. There was so much wood working detail on the ceilings. Out in the courtyards there were places to burn incense and candles and all that good stuff. The kids loved exploring all the different rooms and courtyards. They loved seeing all the ornate colors and designs. I should say everyone, but Anna, loved seeing all that stuff. To her, all the statues just freaked her out. In the room with the biggest Buddha, there was this huge mural on the wall depicting a war scene of some kind. There were all these little Buddha statures lined up in rows beneath it. I wish I knew what it all meant. There was another place where in front of another Buddha statue, it looked like the monks had taken the soles of their shoes and pinned them on a silk cloth. We were the only ones there except for the little old guy at the door so we didn't get a chance to ask anyone the meaning behind it all.

After about an hour, we decided it was time to go. Sara was covered in dirt from tripping over all the raised doorways and falling down and Anna was beyond glad to get out of there. I think the crowd of people must have waited for us because they swarmed again once we got out the door. This time though, they crowded around Chris and Anna. They all wanted to know what we were doing with a Chinese child. They were all talking at once asking why we had her, and how did we get her. After a few minutes the "village sage" came upon the noisy scene to see what was going on. I had never seen anyone like him in china before. His skin was really dark which contrasted sharply with the long white beard he wore. He stood in front of the group and asked the same questions about why we had this Chinese child. Emily, Gabe, Sara and I just sat on the side watching. It was good stuff. Slowly the people lost interest and began to dissipate, but there were still enough people gathered around to make it hard for Chris to leave. I decided to help him out of there by yelling really loudly, " Let's go!" in Chinese. It worked like a charm cause they all stepped aside and let him go.

It was a great memorable outing. It was the first time the kids had been to or seen a real Buddha temple before. They also got to see someone worshiping as we were walking out. It was a great moment to help the kids reflect on their own beliefs and see the beauty in someone Else's. Devotion to God is a beautiful thing. We pray as a family every day that in the near future there will be more religious freedom in China. I have no doubt that some day hearts will be softened and our Chinese brothers and sisters will come to know of the Savior. For now, we strictly keep the laws by which we are bound and say nothing. We are allowed to talk to foreign passport holding citizens about church and invite them to our services. We just aren't allowed to preach to or invite Chinese citizens to church.

We miss our friends and family back home and send you all our love!