Summer 2022

In our last post, we gave a brief update of the last year. However, this past summer leading into the 22-23 school year deserves some special attention.

[I wrote this a few months ago and never quite finished editing it to post! So some of it is written looking back, but most of it was written when it was still summer. A lot has happened since this was written, so we will try to write another update soon.]

It was a big summer for Chengdu. There were actually a number of times when Chengdu made international news, and it’s a new feeling to receive questions about things happening in our city without actually telling anyone about it first! News travels fast.

So, a few key goings-on:

• With more than 1000 total cases in September, Chengdu experienced its biggest COVID outbreak yet since the Spring of 2020. So we spent a few weeks in a soft lockdown. This meant that we could leave our apartments, but were limited to leaving our apartment complex (a dozen buildings, we estimate 10000 residents, maybe half a block in area) once a day for 2 hours. We had a little sign-out card and everything.
  
  This is not actually that out of the ordinary for us, as we didn’t spend copious amounts of time outside our complex during the rest of the summer anyway. However, it was much more difficult for families as well as the more social / adventurous of our peers.
• Chengdu also fought through China’s record heatwave, with a couple weeks of temperatures reaching 40*C (104*F). The intense heat, combined with a lack of rainfall, led to low water supplies in Sichuan Province’s numerous rivers and reservoirs. Because a large portion of Sichuan’s power is hydroelectric in origin, the climate conditions were a perfect storm for power outages and power rationing. The city adopted numerous measures to combat power usage, ranging from fewer lit streetlights at night to lights and AC cut in public spaces like malls.
• There were a number of small earthquakes, which is not unusual, but also one large 6.8 magnitude quake. The epicenter was a few hundred kilometers southwest of Chengdu, but it was still felt by many around the city. More than 60 people were killed, and many other repercussions affected the local communities, including injuries, property damage, and loss of communications infrastructure.

Any of this sound familiar? You can play a little game – how many of the plagues did we experience? In lighthearted moments, some of us would wonder – which apocalyptic sign are we in for next? Darkness? Hail?

But in all seriousness, it continues to be a time of soul-searching for many. The catastrophic effects of a changing climate become more and more real every year — and the closer they come to you, the more people seem to take notice. Despite the hope I have, my heart is weary for those who are suffering from the results of our collective deadly way of life. I am preparing myself for the reality that these “unprecedented events” will continue to repeat, and that every year of the rest of my life will likely continue the same sad stories of extreme weather, displacement, and death — at the hands of an industrialized, power-hungry world led by a too-apathetic United States.

In all of this, I continue to take hope in the promises and ongoing realities of life, purpose, freedom, and kinship that are bound up in a life lived with Jesus. There is much that Jesus asks of us — our homes, families, and possessions, not to mention our complete allegiance — but there is much that he promises in provision, as well — homes, families, and possessions, with persecutions; and eternal life. May we live up to the new life he has given us.

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Hmm, I seem to have forgotten mention in our last blog post one key reason I don’t post more often: I’m too much of a copy-editor! I literally spend hours reading and re-reading posts, even after they’re finished. I don’t think I’ve ever sat down with a paper for proofreading (even a final draft) and left it unchanged. Every time I look over a document, I find more things to change. I do eventually reach an equilibrium, but it seems to take me much longer than everyone else!

I also think I have an unfortunate assumption that blog posts are supposed to be long, and that I can’t just write 3 paragraphs of recent events or recent thoughts and call that enough. So I hope to write more short-form posts! And I definitely know we need more pictures!