Church in China

The students had the option of attending church this morning with my friends Ann and Michael and their children. The services are in English and the priest is a former teacher that taught himself English. The service also had a choir with guitar and flute. They have been only holding services at the church since about 1994 but the building has been there (as a church) for much longer. Much of the architecture on the island is quite western since the island was originally the western trade concession and originally (before 1949) inhabited by the various western people that traded with China. Some of the buildings are old consulates that used to exist and the church itself probably dates from early in the 20th century. The pictures show the exterior and the interior of the church. The fourth picture is my friends’ three children: Thomas, 12 years old, is the oldest; Helen (Huan Huan) is 6 years old and was adopted from the same province (and at the same time) as my daughter Megan; and Sophia is their youngest at 2 years old. As mentioned before, they have been living in Xiamen since last August and will be returning to the United States in July.