Allelujia, Amen!

Sunday, April 12. Easter Sunday! We go to the Zhuzhou City Church for the service at 9 a.m. There are five of us, and we make quite a stir. The usher makes two people move so we can have a whole pew. Makes us feel bad but there's really nothing we can do. Before the service, the choir director leads the congregation in hymn singing - sort of a warm-up for the actual service. Today, she teaches them a new hymn, using solfege (sp?): do, re, mi etc. before having them add the words.

The service is again about an hour and a half - and all in Chinese. I must say, however, that coming here really motivates me to learn the language. The minister seems like such a good speaker - making people laugh, using his voice effectively, being very organized (as we can tell from the powerpoint on the giant screen!). But then I think how long I have studied French, and I still probably understand only about 75% of what's being said during the sermon. So it's not likely I'm going to be learning much from this guy!

Some of the music during the service is a little familiar, but unfortunately there's no rousing version of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." I really was hoping to be able to join in on the Allelujias and the Amen!

As we are leaving the church, one of the greeters shakes our hands and says to each of us "Allelujia, Amen!" so I get to say it after all. :) How wonderful to have these two words in common. Makes my heart warm.

We arrive home at about 11, and Tiffany sets to work like a whirlwind. "We" (I'm using the royal "we" here) are having brunch for about 12 people at noon. Actually, she and David did a lot of the preparations yesterday, but there's still a lot to do today. Once again (as with Thanksgiving), the cooking goes on mostly in D&T's apartment, although it eventually spills over into mine too. We set up both of our tables in my apartment so everyone can sit together.

Here's the guest list, broken down into two parts. Westerners: Ashley, Kelly, Suzanne, David, Tiffany and me. Chinese: Rock, Sandi, June, Jasmine, Kandy.

And here's what Tiffany and David were able to produce, in China: bacon, hash brown potatoes, apple cake, fruit salad (mango, pineapple, apple, banana), egg souffle with mushrooms and scallions, pancakes with honey. My contribution was cooked apples, which were actually great on the pancakes (and on the apple cake as well!). Everything was fabulous. It was nothing short of amazing. Allelujia and Amen again, is all I can say!

Note: Here's what the package of bacon said in English, in addition to the Chinese label:
"Elaborate Bacon: Piece in Heart, Fragrance in Mouth" What else can you add to that? :)