Tuesday, October 21, 2008

WE VISIT KE YANG AND HER FAMILY


In a previous post, I mentioned Ke Yang and our meeting in Vienna, Austria. We have kept in contact through the Internet and through Doug's visits to Beijing. It was a real thrill to see her again and spend time with her and her husband and little guy. Her son is 2 1/2 years old.

They have special parenting laws in China and one can only have one child. When she was pregnant she went in for ultrasound and the rule is that you do not get told the sex of the child, only that the fetus is healthy so she did not know she would have a boy until the delivery. This is to prevent family "engineering" or only having sons for children. She had prayed for a son and he is quite a little guy. She speaks to him in Chinese and English and he can count to ten in English. These kids are bright.

We spent three days with Doug and Dr. Jhang and his associates and when they left fo Xian, we had two days with Ke Yang and what a treat it was. She took us to the Temple to Heaven (see below), to the markets, to traditional resturants and explained much about Beijing. She took us to church.


Church was in this building in a entire floor. Three branches meet here. Two English branches for "Westerners" and one branch for Chinese Nationals. They meet in the afternoon at 3 PM. There are strict rules as to who can go to the Chinese branch and those who do not have Chinese pasports cannot attend this meeting. This is strictly observed. I asked a member of the English branch what was going on in the Chinese branch and got a lecture on how they do not know. But I do know that there were about 10 members three years ago and maybe 100 now attend as Chinese students from all over the world, join the church in many missions and return home.


It was great to go to church there. It is such a small world in the church. The branch president is an Austrian from Klagenfurt. "Na was denn von Klagenfurt?" "Ja klar". They set apart a coucilor in the Elder's Quorum who recognized me. He was a German from Erlangen, Germany and he knew me on our mission. The church is so great!

Here is Mom and Ke Yang out side the church. She took us around and showed us many things and spoke of their Chinese culture. We visited her and her husband in their fine apartment (after she was side swiped by a touring bus). The little guy like all children the world over rule the roost! It was such a thrill and blessing to visit Ke Yang and her family and visiting Beijing could very well be habit forming.

Love, Dad

9 comments:

Mommymita said...

My Chinese friends are some of my best friends in the world - they sure are kind.

Emily said...

That is interesting about the church in China.

Emily said...

That is interesting how the church is divided.

Emily said...

That is interesting how the church is divided in China.

Becca said...

It sounds like you and Mom had a great trip. I loved reading your stories. Welcome home!

Cathy said...

DAD! NEHOW!! Looks like you and mom are having a good trip to China! That's great that you get to meet up with friends. I think you have friends on every continent. Maybe not Antarctica ... You'll have to work on that. Hope you travel home safely!

Thinker said...

As you can see from my blog I like adventures - I was wondering if sometime you could take me to China

I think I should practice adventures around the house first.

Mike Wirthlin said...

Dad,

Great article and pictures! RayAnne and I attended this same church last year. I tried taking a picture of the building but the guard came out and wouldn't let me take the picture. We had a great time and met Paula Mayo and her husband in this branch.

- Mike

Dad Wirthlin said...

Cookie Dough.. you are having a lot of adventures there in your home.. it is an adventure a minute

Love, Opa