Being Mormon in China

I often get asked about our religious experience here in China.  We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in Beijing. 


First of all, the LDS Church has recently created an official website providing information about Mormonism and China.  You can find it here: 

http://www.mormonsandchina.org/ 

Because of religious restrictions in China, this website cannot be viewed if you are inside of China.  But you can refer your friends to this site if they are anywhere else :)

Hong Kong Temple

Our church experience here has been pretty normal.  We belong to the Beijing China International District.  When we first moved to Beijing there were 3 branches (a downtown branch, our branch which encompasses the outskirts, and a Chinese National branch).  We met on the 4th floor of a building in town.  A few months ago the downtown branch split so there is no longer room for us in the building because of certain restrictions.  Getting a new place to meet is difficult.  Getting approval from the government is taking a really long time.  So our branch now meets in homes.  There are about 30 families in our branch, so we are split up and meet in 3 separate homes via teleconference.  Which ever house the speaker meets at is where it is broadcast from, and often changes between homes during the meeting.  After sacrament meeting each home holds their own primary and Sunday School.  Then for the 3rd hour we all join together in one home and rotate weeks between having RS/YW and Priesthood/YM.  So, if it's a Priesthood week I take the kids home and Rob and Luke stay an extra hour.  Relief Society weeks, Rob takes the kids home and I stay the extra hour.

Then every Fast Sunday (first Sunday of the month), we all meet together in the building for fast and testimony meeting, then a 1 hour primary/Sunday school.  And the other branches do as well to make room for us in the building.  Am I making any sense? :)

The arrangement is not ideal :)  I serve in the Primary so I really like that I can attend Relief Society.  But it is difficult to teach a roomful of 3-7 year-olds when there is a bed or couches in the room.  Yes, jumping, laying, rolling, these kids come up with some crazy ideas :)  I also feel like I don't see everyone in the branch very often, and it's more challenging for kids to pay attention when the talk is coming over a speaker as opposed to being in the same room. Nevertheless, being a faithful member of the church in China has provided us with great spiritual growth.  And I LOVE hearing the kids sing I Am a Child of God in Chinese each week!

Our branch is pretty spread out.  Luke and Zak are both the only members of the church in their grades at their school and Keely has one other little 2nd grade girl.  Luke is the one starting to notice the most -- he realizes that he is the only one not swearing and not getting coffee or tea during break times.  He is a rock and teaches me so much.  I am so proud of him and his strength.

We do have certain restrictions in practicing our religion in China.  Each Sunday we are reminded of specific guidelines about what we can and cannot do here in China. Printed in each bulletin, and read at the beginning of every sacrament meeting, is the following statement:

 

It is important for foreign members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in or visiting China to be aware of the unique restrictions on religious activities here. 
While China permits freedom of religious belief, it requires all religious activities in China comply with relevant laws and regulations. 
We would like to remind you of the following: 

a) no active or passive proselyting is permitted among local nationals in China,
 
b) only individuals who hold foreign passports, and their spouses, may attend meetings or other activities of this branch,
 
c) no foreign nationals are permitted to participate in activities of any kind with Chinese nationals who are members of our church, and 

d) religious materials may not be disseminated to Chinese nationals in China.


Your strict observance of these rules enables us to build a foundation of trust with government authorities and enables us to continue to meet together as the government permits us to do so.

So what does that mean?  It means we can't talk about the church or invite to church our Chinese friends or neighbors.  We can only have church related discussions if the person holds a foreign passport.  The strangest part to me so far is not being able to interact with members of our church who are Chinese Nationals.  These people usually have come in contact with and joined the church while visiting outside China.  There is a Chinese branch in Beijing and we can't even be in the building at the same time!  Their youth can't join ours for Youth Conferences or activities, or even District Conferences.   But one great thing about belonging to this wonderful, international religion -- each Sunday we study the same lessons, from the same manuals as our brothers and sisters all around the world.   We are grateful the government allows us to worship and we have great hope that someday these wonderful people will be able to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Wo Shi Shen Di Haizi!

(I am a Child of God)

 

 

 

 



Learning Chinese

Meet Vickey :)

Vickey is my Zhongwen Laoshi (Chinese Teacher).  Out of everyone I've met in China, she is the person I spend the most time with!  She's awesome!

 

 

When we learned we were moving to China, I immediately wanted to learn Mandarin.  It was never a question for me.  I've always wanted to learn another language and this would be such a great opportunity (I can't really count my two years of French in high school).  And while I never imagined I would ever learn Chinese -- I've always loved French, and Spanish would be very useful having lived in Arizona and Texas -- I was excited for the challenge!  I also felt strongly that because I had chosen to live in China, I should learn to speak the language.  So I signed up for lessons right away!

Jake was still at home with me so I opted to have a private tutor come to my home instead of going to a class setting.  I also liked the idea of being able to go at my own pace!  It does take up a lot of time.  But I jumped in hard and fast, I feel like I'm in school again :/  She comes 3 days a week for 2 hours each day and let me tell you - my brain hurts by the time she leaves each day!!  This is tough!  So I comfort myself by eating a lot of chocolate and doing Internet searches of the most difficult languages to learn, and Chinese is always in the top 5 :)  Vickey also makes me feel like I'm progressing well.  She tells me out of all the Americans she has taught I'm learning faster, and that my pronunciation is very "standard."  Maybe she's just trying to be nice and keep me interested?  But it's working, so I'll take the compliments ;)

After 6 months of lessons I feel like I'm finally "getting" it.  I still mostly look like a deer in the headlights whenever someone is talking to me (they talk so fast!), but I can pick out a few words here and there and get the general gist of what they are saying.  I can also say enough that they understand what I'm trying to say.  I decided to just work on speaking and listening so I haven't started to learn the characters (writing) yet.  So I can't read signs around town, but Rob is pretty good with the characters and the kids are learning them in school so I'm starting to pick out a few here and there.

The other day I took Jake to the playground and I sat and listened to the children play.  I almost got emotional because I could understand what they were saying!  It was awesome!  Baby steps, right?

Zai Jian!

 

 

Chips Anyone?

 

 

Had lunch today at Subway with my little buddy.  Here are our chip flavor choices...

 

 

 

-French Chicken Flavor
-Italian Red Meat Flavor
-Mexican Tomato Chicken Flavor
-Cucumber Flavor

Which one would you choose?

 

 

Just Because

 

 

 

 

 

I love this structure -- it's right outside the school doors -- part of the playground.  Very Chinese :)

"Midnight In Peking"

 For Book Club last month we read "Midnight In Peking" by Paul French.  It's a true murder/mystery of a young Englishwoman that took place in Beijing in the 1930's.  The author made a podcast walking tour that takes you to the actual scenes from the book.  The hutong where she lived, where most of the foreigners lived, the "badlands" where she was murdered.  The area had a real "old China" feel.  The book was okay, but the tour was great!! 

 

 

 

Starting out at the Beijing Train Station

 

 

 

A Hutong is a narrow alleyway where you can find traditional courtyard homes.  This is the way most people used to live, but are harder to find today. 

 

 

 

The Fox Tower.  There was a wall that was built to surround the old Ming Capital Peking.  Part of the wall still stands today.  The Fox Tower was a watchtower to one of the passageways into the city.

 

Just look at that gorgeous blue sky!  See -- it's not always "foggy" here :)  It was a beautiful day!

The wall was built in the early 1400's.  It's 600 years old!! 

 

 

 

Food along the hutong for sale: Buns and Jiaozi (dumplings)

 

 

Fresh meat anyone??  There are actually many fresh meat markets all over Beijing.  I haven't quite been able to buy meat at an open market yet though.  There's just something about buying unrefrigerated meat in a dirty building that I can't get over.  Even though the little supermarket where I do buy my meat probably buys it from that same market :) 

 

At the end of the tour we stopped at a random small noodle place and ate some noodles.  $2.50 a bowl!  The menu was in all Chinese and no body spoke English.  It was a great chance to put all those hours of learning Chinese into practice!  These are the types of places and experiences we are missing out on by living in the suburbs.  So it's fun to experience it every now and then.  Hopefully we can do more things like this!  I had a great time!

 (Check me out eating soup with chopsticks!)

#Forksarestilleasier

 

 



"The Domes"

The school that my kids attend built these two massive "domes" in response to Beijing's obvious pollution problem.  Pollution is a serious problem, even more so, I imagine, to children with lungs that are still developing.  You want your kids to be able to play outside but not at the expense of their health - and there are still many studies trying to figure this all out.  So we were all excited when the domes were finished! 

 

 

Outside view of the side of one of them.  They are each about the size of a football field.

 

One dome has a turf soccer field on half, with basketball courts, four square, and badminton courts on the other half -- with a track running along the perimeter.  There are balls, hula hoops, and all sorts of games to play with.  The other dome is home to 6 tennis courts.  The inside is held up by air pressure - about 35 psi, the same air pressure inside a bicycle tire.

In order to keep the air pressure constant inside the doors to get in and out of the dome are these air-lock chambers.  On the left are revolving doors - the right is a larger "come in one door, wait til it closes, then the other door will open."

There is also a gym (actually 2) and 2 dance rooms, locker rooms, a small cafe, and an Adidas store.
The domes are only for the kids during school hours and after-school sports hours, then is open to the parents from 6-10.

The reason for the domes is to provide a normal pollution-free environment for the kids.  On days where the pollution index is above 260 (which is still too high in my opinion) the kids still get to go to recess but they play in the domes instead of on the playground.  The school is doing some research and considering changing the acceptable pollution level for outdoor play - to as low as possibly 150 {in which case the kids will never get to play outside :(  }  They spared no expense in putting in the most advanced air-filtration system.  This is a picture of a few of the vents:

Pretty cool.  Of course I'd prefer for my kids to be able to breathe clean, mountain air - but when it's not available I'm glad there have been steps taken to keep them safe! 

This summer if you need to find us we'll be somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Utah cleaning out our lungs :)

Artwork

 

 

Zak's recent watercolor:

 

Luke's newest creation:

 

 

 

 

Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month - so this year it was February 24.  This festival is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. 

Riddles are written on paper lanterns and displayed for the kids to solve.  People light paper lanterns - the lanterns can symbolize the people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones, which they will let go of the next year.

We had dinner at a friends house, and while we were driving home we saw some people lighting some lanters along the side of the road.  So we pulled over to get in on some of the Lantern action!

Here are some examples of some riddles:


Riddle: What’s full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: a sponge

Riddle: What building has the most stories?
Answer: A Library

Riddle: Which is faster, hot or cold?
Answer: Hot’s faster. You can catch a cold

Riddle: When is your mind like a rumpled bed?
Answer: When it is not made up.

Riddle: What is it that everybody does at the same time?
Answer: grow older

The Chinese riddles are much more difficult to solve because a chinese character has so many meanings and they don't translate into English.

Snowboarding

To finish of our Spring Festival Break we took the kids skiing again at Nanshan Ski Village.  Only this time it was my turn :)  Rob was feeling a little under the weather so he stayed home and played with Jake.


I had to get a picture of this sign along the freeway there.  There were several of them, but this is the best shot I could get...It says "Don't follow too Clowsely"

The boys decided they wanted to try snowboarding for the first time.  I have never snowboarded so I wasn't the best teacher.  Good thing these guys are naturally coordinated and fast learners because they caught on fast!!

 

 

Keely skied with me.  Something clicked with her this year because she is awesome!  Instead of everyone waiting for her, she was waiting for the boys this trip!

 

Luke's a natural! Zak had a little rougher time catching on this trip.  He hit his head pretty good a couple times, so we chilled like this for a little while :)  Both of them had sore bums by the end of the day!

The next day they were so sore they could barely move their necks - it was hilarious :) 

Shanghai

During the Spring Festival (the week off after Chinese New Year) we decided to go check out Shanghai.  The kids and I hadn't been yet, and we heard rumors that there was a Krispy Kreme donut shop there :)  And sometimes it is all about the food :)  Plus, Shanghai is a bit warmer than Beijing this time of year.

We hopped on a short flight there and rode the famous Maglev train from the airport into town.  The Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) is a high speed train that uses magnets to lift and propel the train, so you're kind of floating along the track.

We went 300km/hr (about 186 mph).  Although I read that it can go even faster than that.  Fun!

In front of the Jing 'an temple.

Donuts are the one treat the kids (and Rob) have missed the most. There are some places in Beijing that try to make donuts, but so far we haven't been able to even finish one of these imposters!  I'm pretty sure we ate at least one donut a day while we were there!

 

 

 

We were able to meet up with some friends of ours from Austin who moved to Shanghai just a couple months ago.  It was so fun to see them!! 

 

 

AND to make things even better we happened upon a Stubbs Bar*B*Q restaurant!  An Austin, Texas original!

Street shopping for Tibetan treasures.

Hmmmm...that panda looks a little familiar...

My favorite place in Shanghai was an area known as the French Concession.  The atmosphere here was so quaint and inviting - I could have spent the whole day here if the kids would have cooperated.  They were ready to go swim at the hotel, go figure.  But this area was full of small shops, restaurants, cafes, and small narrow roads that you could wind your way through all day long.

We had some crepes with Nutella at this little cafe (although the kids said my crepes were better). And the cheesecake was amazing!

"The Bund" is Shanghai's most famous mile.  Here we walked along it and you have a great view of the skyline.  Shanghai is a cleaner, more modern city than we are used to seeing in China.

Yes, fireworks are still going on.  This was the view out our hotel window at midnight.  I wish I had taken a panoramic photo because this was just one side.  You could see several more firework shows throughout the city looking the other direction.  I can't believe the kids didn't wake up!  It sounded like a war zone!

 

 

My favorite photo of the trip - snuggling at the hotel :)