New Friends

     We knew that, being so far from family, we would be relying heavily on our church friends here.  We were anxious to figure out how to get from Wukang to Hangzhou (about 45 miles) each Sunday for our LDS branch meetings.  On Thursday, Matt was able to go with a friend (our friend Maggie’s brother in law who we met in Boise but is back here now) to actually look at the bus routes, figure out the most cost effective and convenient route and then ride it so that Matt could duplicate the trip with the rest of us on Sunday.  They were gone from 10am-3.  But the trip was a success, they made it to the church building and there they met the caretakers of the building who directed them to the branch president’s house a few minutes’ walk away.  He went there and was welcomed by the branch president’s wife who loaded him up with cheese, tortillas, licorice, popcorn, butter, and cookies!  All things that are very hard to find in our little city.  Besides all those treats he came away with an invitation to bring our whole family over on Saturday afternoon to play and go out to pizza then spend the night and go to church.  Boy were we excited.

   So Saturday we packed a bag of Sunday clothes and headed for the bus stop.  The bus ride took about 1 ½ hours then we got off and flagged down two taxi’s and Matt was able to communicate to them where we needed to go, 30 minutes later we were at the church!  And then of course we realized that we should have got the branch president’s address and had the taxi’s drop us off there.  But Matt knew the way to walk.  We were just a little tired.  But we made it!  Great navigating  of the trip by Matt.  There were times when he was pretty stressed, what if our two taxi’s drop us off at different places, etc.  But we were saying little prayers along the way and thanks to his preparation and a good Chinese friend that helped figure it out, we made it.

     The Phillips (branch presidents family) consist of President and Sister Phillips, daughter who is 11, and sons who are 8, 6, and 4.  We unloaded, visited and played for a little while then they took us to one of their favorite pizza places just a very short walk from their housing complex.  It made me so happy to see Kaleb playing so happily with their boys right off.  The other kids took a little while to warm up but by the end of our visit the kids were all running around playing together.  Anyway, after yummy pizza we walked to McDonalds for ice cream and to play at their play place.  Kids had fun running around, grown-ups got to visit

     Sunday they fed us wonderful waffles with syrup which will be a rare treat for us here as we do not have a waffle iron and have not seen syrup at the markets where we live (they had Kirkland syrup brought back from their visit to the states this summer).  Then we squished into their minivan (all 14 of us) for the short ride to the church. 

     The church building is very unique.  Chapel, restroom, nursery and eating area on the first level, about 4 classrooms on the second level, 4 more classrooms on the 3^rd level, and then up a winding wooden staircase one big room for primary.  There were about 42 people attending on Sunday.  We make up about  one fifth of the ward!  Klora and Kendra are the only YW.  There are 4 or five other families with kids, a few older couples and a few single people.  Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.  When we visit other wards our kids usually say “do we have to stay for classes?”  But this time they all wanted to stay for sure. 

Hangzhou Branch church building

     I guess I am assuming you all know how it works in China—foreign passport holders have their own branches and groups separate from the China nationals (Chinese people).  There are strict rules of segregation and a statement is read regularly from the pulpit on Sundays about no proselyting among the Chinese people, even if you are approached with questions.  There are small congregations of Chinese people (those who joined the church while outside of the country and then came back and maybe their family members who they are allowed to tell about the church I think).  But their leadership and organization is totally separate.

      Anyway, church was great, the whole family felt welcome and at ease and like we have a place to go.  After 5 days of being the only English speakers, only church members, only foreigners, it was so great to fit in.  So comfortable, so comforting.  After church we had dinner with the Branch presidents family and one other family from church.  And then the kids played outside a while.

    Then goodbyes and the home route.  One small hiccup occurred as my taxi arrived at the bus station and we waited and watched and waited and watched for matt’s taxi.  We haven’t been able to get our phones hooked up with a China phone service yet so we had no way to connect with each other.  Not very smart of us, will resolve that before the next trip.  So we waited and watched and a cute, kind Chinese grandpa came and told us in Chinese how beautiful we were, played with Klarese and told Kendra how beautiful she was and took her picture too and Krista’s and just played peekaboo with klarese to help her not be fussy and tried to talk to us in Chinese but we couldn’t understand but that was OK, he could tell we were worried and stayed with us until Matt’s taxi finally arrived and we boarded our bus.  He was really an angel helping us pass the time and feel taken care of.

a shot Kendra got from the taxi ride back to the bus station, no idea what it is but it looks cool.

     So Matt’s taxi driver dropped them off a little ways away from where he was supposed to and pointed for them to walk, they started walking but Matt asked a few people and he got the idea that it was still a ways off so he grabbed another taxi and found us.  Wow, could have been much worse in a city where you don’t recognize anything or speak the language.

     The bus ride back was very full and long or maybe it just seemed long until Klarese finally stopped fussing and went to sleep!  We asked the kids if it was worth it to do that every weekend to get to church—it was a unanimous YES.

Wow, Mint Oreos!  Nope, tried em' Kyle says they taste like alfalfa--it is green tea.

Now this we like--individual coconut oatmeal packages, Yum!

Little turtles and big frogs!  A pet section in the middle of the grocery store?  Nope, part of the meat section.  Klora was a little distressed and thought we should buy them all and set them free!  Sure but the first Chinese person that sees them free is going to take them home for dinner.