|
| My Photo Album is here
You can see pictures there of friends and family, and stuff like my new appartment.
Scott
| | |
| I am forcing myself to write a quick update... but it will prolly end up being longer than what I think.
So I made it to CA! The drive was great and I had a fun time with dad driving for like 4 days accross country. The car's computer is going/has gone and it would randomly not start, so we were praying that the car would make it, and it did. When I got here I got it checked out and I guess the cat-converter is busted as well now, which is not good, but I told them I didnt have money to fix it and so now I have just been praying that the car keeps runnin until I can get some help fixin it up... And so far the car has great, starting everytime. (Now watch it wont next time I try).
I moved into my cool lil appartment and everyone and their mothers (seriously  ) from church was helping in someway to get me setup with all I need and making sure the appartment was cleaned before I got in. There were somedays where I was like hmmm I could use some kitchen utensils and stuff, and then I lady called up saying "hey I got you stuff I'm bringin it over" and there were the utensils and a heap of other stuff I didnt notice I needed yet. Still keep updating the list of things I need, and people keep bringin stuff to church for me :) Like Christmas every week! :) Pastor even donated a fake 6 foot Christmas tree... now I just need some ornaments donated . A week ago the church had a catered lunch for our 1 year anniversary, and we had chicken breast and tri-tip steak. Well at the end one of the deacons bagged a bunch of leftovers and I ended up with a freezer full of chicken and tri-tip steak, so that was a praise cause now I dont need to go meat shopping any time soon.
Still waiting for a part-time job, but there are a couple oppertunities that might come available in the next week or two... it hard to find a job when you have a two week Christmas vacation preplanned, but I trust God knows my needs and will meet them, as he has been doing over and over since I've come out here.
Well think thats good enough for now :) Wont make any promises on the frequency of updates :) But hey... heres one!
Because of His Grace
Scott
| | |
| So, here I sit in the middle of a Chinese dorm room at a Techical College listening to American music and bloggin on the internet. My trip to China has been really awesome, and it is a big eye opener to see the culture of the Chinese people. So much to write with so little time :) Everyone looks our way when we walk on by or when we are eating dinner with a couple of students out on the street side. We have learned some Chinese phases and also enjoy eating every meal with chopstick. Speaking of Chinese food... the food is great! Some of the team members don't like the food too much, but I love it cause I can eat much of it with my wheat allergy and everything. The one night it was funny cause we were eating at a restaurant, but had two separate tables. Our table cleaned off all the food at the table (in China you dont get individual servings but group servings that are on a lazy susan in the middle of the table) I looked over at the other table and saw that they hadnt eaten hardly anything cause they didnt like some of it... so Mrs Chang, Jonah, and I pulled up chair to the table and started grabbin food with our chopsticks and stickin it on our plates :) The waitresses were all laughing at our antics, but we had fun... and we ended up cleaning off all the food on their table as well.
Tomorrow we are headed to the one of the silk capitols of China, and we are planning on staying the whole day touring around the city.
We had a great time yesterday in a thing called the "English Corner" where about 100 students gathered around to talk to the Americans. Most of them were very shy, and fearful of messing up their english, but many started opening up and trying their english out on us to see how much they could say.
The teachers are the best English speakers, and it is fun to help them with their english. One guy named Tony is really cool personality, and he learned much of his english idioms and pronounciation from American TV shows, and so he uses slang and voice inflection that makes him sound like he could fit right into America.
One of the nights Jonah and I went out for dinner with an English teacher and two PE teachers who didnt speak much english at all. The meal was awesome. We went to a fundue place where they had a spicy pot and and a normal pot where you could cook your meat, vegetables, and tofu. We ate and talked for 3 hours. They took us to the place on mopeds, and dropped us off at the hotel at 10pm. It was probably the best meal we've had so far. The moped trip was so fun because the driving in China is insane, and we had gotten used to the insane driving in a van, but now we were experiencing the insane driving on mopeds. One of the team members said the brakes on the vehicles are good for a good 50,000miles, but the horn is only good for about 500miles. They are constantly honking to let people know where and what they are planning on doing. Whether that be running a red light, goind down a one way street, or double passing over a double yellow line. Pretty much anything goes in China.
I had to do a presentation in front of some students and teachers for the cultural exchange that we are here for, and I did mine on College Life. The teachers and students seemed to enjoy the talk and powerpoint, and as soon as they found out I was a music major they asked me to sing a song... We'll I wast sure what to sing, so I sang a Christmas song :) "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." Yeah it was embarrasing, but fun, and after everyone broke into cheers and clapping. It doesnt take much to entertain the people here as an American I guess :P
I have already given two students english names, one named Autumn (her name menat autumn flower) and another Joe (his family name is Zhou which sounds like Joe), but still have not recieved my Chinese name.
It's getting late here and I feel bad for taking so much time on this poor students laptop, so I will sign off for tonight.
Zai jian (goodbye)
Scotty | | |
| As I'm preparing to head out to China... yes China! I'm actually going to the other side of the world... I thought I'd post my prayer/support letter on the xanga site to keep everyone posted... Please keep me in your prayers as I head out, and if you know anyone who would be interested in helping to support my trip, please forward this along.
Dear Friends and Family,
While
I was attending Northland Baptist Bible College, I heard much about
the great things that God is accomplishing in China through the Chinese
church body: a church body that daily suffers persecution, and yet continues
to grow at an amazing rate.
Since
leaving Northland, God has allowed me the opportunity of joining a missions
team from my home church headed for China. Limerick Chapel has had a
wonderful opportunity to be able to reach out to the Chinese people
in our area, and for many years they have been able to host an annual
trip to China led by one of the Chinese leaders in our church, Kurt
Chang. This is a two week trip (October 7th-22nd)
in which we will be staying near a Technical College and helping to
teach the students English, presenting cultural presentations, and just
interacting one-on-one to let them practice their English. The team
currently consists of 15 members, 5 of which are native Chinese. I was
thrilled at the opportunity of learning from the Chang’s about the
Chinese people and how we can “legally” witness to them.
Because
of new religious laws passed in China, the Chinese government is cracking
down on proselytizing even more than ever, and so it is illegal in China
to “witness” about God’s love and the truth that we know about
the salvation we can have through His Son. But if the Chinese students
want to ask questions, we have freedom to share information with them
about anything we believe, without challenging them to believe the same.
We know that God uses truth to convict, and so if we are able to share
any truth from God’s word, God is able to do the convicting of sin,
righteousness and judgment. The team that went last year was able to
see a number of people profess to accept Christ and a couple of believers
were baptized in a hotel bathtub.
I
am not only excited to see what God will do through this trip in the
lives of the Chinese students, but also in my own life. One thing I
pray for is that He will use it as a catalyst that stirs my heart to
have deeper passion and devotion for Christ, and a compassion for those
who do not believe in His name.
The
greatest support you can offer us is prayer. I ask that you pray for
me and for the whole team as we prepare to leave, and also while we
are working there. We will need much prayer as I know that Satan and
our flesh war against us in this endeavor. If you would like to contribute
monetarily, the total cost for this trip is $2,300; every little bit
of support helps. If you are able to make a one time, tax-deductible donation,
you can write a check out to Limerick Chapel, and send it to:
Limerick
Chapel, 378 West Ridge Pike, Limerick, PA 19468
with a note specifying
the purpose being for Scott Fries’ China Trip. Also if you would like
to receive updates on this trip and a follow-up on how God was able
to work, please send me an email expressing your interest at scottkfries@gmail.com, or via snail mail at 124 Kay Street,
Stowe, PA, 19464. Serving Him,
Scott Fries
| | |
| Figure I should write a blog for this month :P
Well things have been going pretty good...
Things were pretty hectic for Josh's wedding. Drove the whole way to
Kansas City in Heidi's car :) It was really neat cause the day before
we left I was mapping out directions and I realised that we had to
travel right through St. Louis and I was like waitaminute! I know peeps
there... so I jumped online and chatted with Jodi Rhodes'
sister-in-law, Corina McNutt, and I was like so can I bring some people
over tomorrow night and spend the night, and she was like of course! so
thats kinda what we did. It made for a much better trip not having to
do the entire thing in one day. The next morning we headed off and it
was only about a 3.5 hour drive to get to KC where we met up with the
boys who were getting their tux's. Had a batchelors party which
consisted of eating at TGIF or something like that, and then driving
around the area till we ran outa time and had to head to the rehearsal.
Dinner was great and we went to the Melting Pot and then Joe and I
trekked across the city to go get Kerri from the airport (we thought it
would be a 20min drive and ended up more like 1h20min). The next day
Josh and Lessie got hitched and that was the end of that :) j/k but my
sis Britt has more and pics on her site. Then I left right after the wedding and jumped on a plane for CA.
Lemme see... California was pretty sweet I guess. :P I had a blast
getting to know all the people out there, and I love the church. As
soon as I got there I got handed a schedule - which was packed full -
and so it was a big joke the rest of the week if anyone asked about
anything I would say... lemme first consult "The Schedule." In
seriousness though, I loved the effort that everyone put in to make
sure I got the most out of the week. I got to know many of the families
and spent a ton of time with the young adults group (all of whom I had
a blast with (although Binky... yeah she's fired). Almost got
arrested... and I think Martha
has that story on his site, went to about 4,326 grinds in the area, was
on the big screen at a baseball game singing and dancing, shot a Joey
in the middle of the forehead with an airsoft gun by turning around and
bending over and shooting through my legs (that was pretty crazy), and
got to experience some of the crazy people of CA. I had a wonderful
time going over to many of the church families houses for dinner, and I
think I was taken to about half of the restaraunts in town (so I can
rate each one for you if you're ever in Sacramento area :)) I had great
talks with the elders of the church, and I spent much of my time with
Pastor Derek, which was really neat. I think it will be neat to be
able to work under Pastor Derek, and I know that he understands where
I am at and what my hopes and expectations are for the year. So come
the end of October I will be heading out to CA to intern under Pastor
Derek at Faith Bible Church of the Valley, in Sacramento area.
So I went to a party for the Browns awhile back and ran into Mrs. Witt
who is a lady that used to go to our church. The Witts have 5 kids, a
son Justin (18), three girls (Julilanna (19) Christianna (15) and
Shellianna (13?) and they have an addition Zachary (2) who they will probably be adopting soon. So anyway Mrs Witt invited the the Fries kids out to their house
for dinner (Ended up only being Brittney and I). Justin and I hit it
off so well that I've been out at their house just about every week :)
One of the things is that we share interest in a bunch of things (God,
Music, Pingpong :) ) Ping-pong kinda sounds cheezy, but he's pretty
good and we have a bunch of good games. And Julianna plays piano like
amaza-za-zing and so after we did a bunch of stuff she would start
playin something and we would all kinda gather around and sing songs.
Today I was thinking it would be sweet to do a some sort of Bible Study
with Justin and maybe some other guys (I really see Justin having a
heart to know God more, and I could see God using him to starting his
own Bible study even before he heads off to college) and it was neat
cause right after we played some pingpong and talked a bunch Justin was
like hey wouldnt it be cool to do a Bible study? I thought that was so
cool that God planted that desire in both of our hearts! Kinda stinks
in someways cause just as getting to really know Justin a bunch I'm
takin off for CA. But I know got has a plan for even the short time I'm
still here in PA, and I am glad to be investing my time to grow in
Christ and help others do the same.
I went to a sweet music semimar yesterday where we got a bunch of free
sacred choral music and we sight read through everything... it was the
first "choral read through" that I had been to. I was askin Julia Witt
where she got all her music from and she told me about seminars where
they give away free promotional music and she told me they were having
one this last weekend. So without registering or anything I showed up
at the seminar and met up with Julia and Bowman's (another neat family
from the area). Registration consisted of writing my name on a sticker
to wear around for the day, and donating $5 for lunch. I represented
Faith Bible in CA ;), cause they said you could keep one packet of
music per church, so it was my first time associated with Faith Bible
officially :) Well thats about all folks... for now at least... got any questions about my life, shoot them over my way and I can keep blogging about it mbbe! | | |
|
