Debriefing with Amity
July 29, 2007

It was our last Sunday in China. Amity provided an option to attend the Guoxi (International ) church before the debriefing for the Summer English Program began. This picture was taken before the service began. We estimated that there were about 600 people in the congregation.

The service was in Chinese, but they had simultaneous translation into English that you could listen to with earphones. My question is: How do we know that Sylvia and Vern are listening to the service and not to the local rock music radio station?
 

The Children's Choir.
 

The Amity debriefing was an opportunity to hear from each of the 13 teams about the successes and problems they had. Each had a story to tell that was unique to their situation, but also much the same as everyone else's. Each time had a phenomenal experience. We heard heartwarming stories about the progress their "students" made in English, close friendships that developed, and about how much each team learned about Chinese culture and customs from the students.

In each location, the students and hosts wanted to shower the Amity teachers with gifts, despite being advised by Amity that any gifts should be small and light so that their suitcases would not be overloaded. This American Baptist team that was in Inner Mongolia was given Mongolian clothing, so they put on a short "fashion show" of what they had received.
 

Many of the teachers in the Summer English Program have volunteered for several years. This was Loretta Denson's tenth summer of volunteer teaching so Amity presented her with an award recognizing her service.
 

Judy Sutterlin concluded the debriefing with some inspirational comments about the treasures of our experience being "more precious than gold", which was the theme for the Summer English Program. That phrase sums up well our experience this summer; the Chinese teachers who shared with us so deeply this last three weeks will be in our hearts forever. The memories we have are indeed more precious than gold.