The plane trip to Shanghai was almost uneventful. The guy next to me slept. He obviously wasn’t interested in my dazzling Chinese phrases..."I'm full", or "I'm a peasant" or my classic Confucius saying: "never eat without the appropriate sauces". So I read the China Southern Airlines inflight magazine. A fascinating article on the Keriya people of northern China really got to me. Since then, I've been researching them a little and commend them to your prayers:

On the Southeastern edge of the Taklimakan Desert reside approximately 100 families who have never heard the message of Jesus Christ. The Keriya people are Sunni M@slims who worship Allah without a mosque. The awesome Taklimakan Desert poses a major barrier for the Good News for any would-be evangelist. Temperatures can rise over 120 degrees on a landscape devoid of plants and living creatures. Sudden heat waves sap the life from animals and man. Taklimakan is a Turkic word which means "many go in, but few come out."

I just wondered (and still am wondering), who's going to tell them the good news?

Today was good. So was the belly...behaving itself. A great art lesson with 'Master Qiang' this morning. It was very cool. I put on my Chinese ambient music whilst we flicked our brushes to and fro forming little birds and bamboo creations. It was like a scene from "Crouching tiger, hidden dragon", or something. Very atmospheric. He made my wobbly efforts look good with generous additions of his own.
Then at lunch, what a privilege to meet 'X'- here in Shanghai working with returnees. A dedicated young guy with a wonderful sense of ‘this for the long term’ about him. He inspired me to see the possibilities. I'll be taking 'L' with me on Saturday evening to meet him and his group at the Go-Kart Track. Praying it will be the start of good fellowship and teaching for L&W.
After evening meal, it was our first bible lesson. This time Master Qiang was the humble pupil and gave me the big chair as I took him through TWWAW session #1. 'L' translated for him, and rather kindly 'filled in some answers'! (Like his dad helped me out with my art!) Not sure how literate his dad is, actually. But he seemed thrilled by it all, nonetheless. Some utopian Chinese art, he had shown me, was just the hook I needed to get him thinking what kind of a world we'd all like.
Some good phonecalls to returnees to make firm meeting times. Pray they won't clash.