20th Anniversary

On Friday night, Tim and I snuck away and went to the the 20th anniversary celebration of the Shanghai International District (for our little church here in China).

We first heard from Tracey Butters. She has been here for 15 years with her family of 6 kids. She shared stories of holding church between just her and her husband, and how they'd hike up to the top of a mountain to have sacrament meetings there. She talked about taking icy cold showers, while the wind blew above her. She talked about living next to a shepherd that would allow her kids help him transport the sheep from across the streets. But mostly she spoke of being pioneers and being kind and loving to the people of this great land. I think every woman was getting teary eyed at this mother's expression of being a pioneer in our day.

We also watched a video of the history of our church in China. It wasn't so long before we got here that the entire branch was meeting at someone's home. Now we meet in an over-sized home that's more like a church building only with several floors.