Greeting from Bloomington, Illinois.  We arrived back home at about 8 p.m. Monday.  Our flights were on time and we had no difficulty leaving either Dalian or Hong Kong.  While in Hong Kong we were contacted by the U.S. Consulate to make certain we were okay following our encounter in Dalian and we assured them we were.  They requested I send a report of the encounter to them which they will forward to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.  We were told that it would be placed on file.

I am going to say very little here as our computers where "searched" by the authorities and the Chinese authorities may access this site.  I have written a report of what transpired and will share it with anyone who requests it, simply e-mail your request to me at: keith.barclay@comcast.net

If I do not recognize your name I may ask for verification before I send the report as I do not want to unwittingly send the report to the Chinese government.

Thank you all for being interested in what we were attempting to do.

Fraternally, Keith Barclay

This will be short.  Due to some difficulty Dakin and I have left Dalian.  The others will be leaving soon.  We are currently in Hong Kong attempting to secure a flight home as soon as possible.  Please keep everyone in your thoughts and I will explain more fully once I return to the Stateside.

Be assured we are fine physically, deflated and disappointed emotionally.

Until I write again...

Fraternally,

Keith

Greet the family for me.  Are you in the same place we were last time?

Really longing to be there.  Looking forward to May when Annette and I plan to visit.

Will you go back through Hong Kong?

After 16.5 hours on 3 different airplanes and 9 hours waiting in three different ariports Dakin Kinser and I have finally made it to our hotel room.  We were met at the airport at 11 p.m. Tuesday, Dalian time (there is a 14 hour time difference between China (yes all of China is on one time zone) and Central Standard Time in the United States), by four friends, Francisco, Jason, Esther and Grace.  We received a police escort to our hotel.  Grace has an acquaintence who serves as the police chief in one of the local precincts.  He owns his own automobile and agreed to take us to our hotel.  Quite an interesting experience.

Here it is, 12:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and I cannot go to sleep.  One would think that being up for 45 straight hours (only 4 short 20-30 minute naps) would cause one to be exhausted, but not so.  I guess the adrenelin is flowing and being here and seeing our friends at the airport was quite encouraging.

We will take the first half of the day remedying problems.  Neither my credit card nor the the room internet service worked when we arrived so they will have to be dealt with tomorrow (or will have been by the time you read this).  We will exchange money, do a little shopping for snacks for our friends and acquaintances who come to visit us and make plans with Francisco for the remainder of our stay.  Francisco has been a friend since 1993 and has served as our translator since 1998 on each of my trips.  He is a good man and I am fortunate to be able to call him my friend.

So we are here, whole and well and look forward to a wonderful time with our friends and acquaintances.  I will try to write at least every other day, but check, just in case I do write something everyday.

Keith

In less than 36 hours I will be aboard an American Airlines flight approaching China. This will be my 6th trip to the great Middle Kingdom and each time the excitement level increases. The changes in China since my first trip in 1992 have been legion and they have been dramatic.

I have friends in each of the cities I have visited. Dalian, a city in northeastern China, near the Korean peninsula, I have visited on every trip. It is an engaging city with delightful people. Through the years I have talked with hundreds of people and developed friendships with many.

I hope to continue to make new friends and talk to as many people as possible. Our discussions regarding ancient writings and the common human dilemma are enlightening and beneficial. I hope you will enjoy reading and viewing the various photos I will share.

I hope we will be able to do some swimming while there. On my two previous trips we did so 18 times.

Well, I will close for now.  I may not write again until arriving at Dalian.

Zai jian!

The above is an example of the type of e-mail I will send from the mainland.  Since e-mails originating in China may be read by the Chinese government we must be careful what and how we say things.  "Friends" will refer to brothers and sisters in Christ.  "Ancient Writings" reference the Bible.  "Swimming" is talking about baptism.  "Family supper" is referring to the Lord's Day assembly.  Upon returning home I will no longer speak in code and hopefully be able to clear up any confusion that might exist due to the cryptic language employed while I am in China.

I am looking forward to working with Eddie Pagan, Perry Hall (and their wives) and Dakin Kinser.  We should have plenty to do and if this trip is like past experiences we will all wish we could stay just one more week.  At the end of that week we would wish we had another...and so it would go.  That has been the nature of my experience in China.

Pray for us, but especially pray for our Chinese brothers and sisters.

Fraternally,

Keith