Conference Sunday?

Today is Conference Sunday everywhere in the world but here in China and a few other places in the world. We don't get the satellite broadcast here so we have to wait until next weekend after the church receives a copy of the DVD to watch. We can get it over the Internet so we will watch most of it during the next week at home. So, we had a normal fast Sunday today here. During the sacrament prayer this morning I was touched again at how it doesn't matter where we are in the world, the church is still true. It's the same here as it is back home. It just reassured me that the church is true and I am so grateful that the government of China has allowed us to meet together as a church here.
We have had several people ask about that because most people are under the assumption that it is illegal to practice religion here, which is entirely false. The government has allowed people to gather together as a religious group but Chinese Nationals are not allowed to meet with us. It is only for people holding foreign passports. If a Chinese National is married to a foreign passport holder, they are allowed to come to our branch. They do have branches for Chinese Nationals who were baptized outside of China but are living here now. We are reminded constantly at our branch about the rules in which China has allowed us to meet as a church. We are not allowed to share the gospel with the locals here but we can answer questions with a brief explanation. There are several other churches here in Shekou that meet on Sundays, so we aren't the only ones.
The locals here understand that some foreigners go to church on Sunday. Last night we got a call from one of the modeling agencies that had a job for Vika. The shoot was set for 8:00 this morning so when we told the guy we couldn't do it on Sunday, he totally understood. He said that most foreigners go to church on Sunday and that he understood why. He said he would try to reschedule the shoot but it didn't work out so he said he would remember not to have it on Sunday next time.
I've been trying different recipes here since we don't have an oven. Today I tried a recipe in the crockpot that my mom had sent to me. She sent quite a few different ones but this one was a chicken enchilada casserole. I was a little apprehensive to try it but it turned out pretty good. Not as good as my original enchiladas I make at home but good enough. The pictures don't look that great but it tasted good to us. Thanks Mom!!