It snowed for the first time this winter in Beijing today. I guess we brought the weather with us! We spent a couple of hours touring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was quite cold as you can see from the pictures. We also went on a Hutong (the part of town we were in) Tour – we were driven (?) on bicycle rickshaws to a local family’s home and were able to eat authentic, home cooked Chinese food for lunch. It was quite good.

I’ve been fascinated by the culture and in particular the spiritual aspects and names of the many buildings that we’ve seen. It is sad to see so many given to idolatry. Here are some of the names of the buildings we saw in the Forbidden City – Gate of Divine Might, Gate of Supreme Harmony and Palace of Heavenly Purity. O that God would raise up more missionaries for this people, are they any more Hudson Taylors and Lottie Moons among us? Men and women willing to give their lives in service to Christ.

Attached are a few pictures of the day.

Much love to you all.

Standing in front of China’s National War Memorial

Graceann stole my hat so I purchased this one for $5. The cold conditions and this hat reminded me of the movie Red Dawn. WOLVERINES!

Rickshaw ride