China Update #1

Hello AGPMA Friends and Family,

As many of you know, I have been reading through my Bible, beginning to end, since last March. I am currently in the book of James and if you have ever read James, you probably remember him saying that “when there are trials in life…” (notice he does not say if, but when) we should “…count it all joy” and learn and grow stronger in them. He says that we should not pray for God to remove them, but instead pray that God would give you the strength to endure them. So once again, through His Word, God has pre-framed and prepared me for my “Great Grandmaster Adventure.”

It is Thursday night, September 6th – forty-nine hours, six airports, five flights, and one bag lost and recovered after leaving Bush Intercontinental in Houston – and I am checking in to the Seaman Hotel in Kashgar, China. This will be my home for the next three weeks. As excited as I am about what God has in store for me here in Kashgar, several highlights I have already experienced have been meeting people in my flights and in the airports (lots of airport time), so I will start there…

Because of some miscommunication in arranging my flight schedule, I arrived in Beijing a day late and I guess you could say a Yen short J for my connecting flight to Urumgi. No problem! I had the pleasure of spending the night in the Beijing airport with Li Tao, an English-speaking engineer who is from China but working in Saudi Arabia. We got to know each other pretty well as he seems to have been the only other person in the airport who had a longer layover than me. He turned out to be a big help the next morning when he helped me reschedule my flight to Urumgi and then to Kashgar. Praise the Lord for Li Tao and his graciousness, not to mention his ability to speak English and Chinese (since my excellent English, good Tex-Mex, and few Thai and Portuguese words were of no help)! So far I have gotten by with Nihao (hello), Zaijian, (good bye) Xie-Xie (thank you) coupled with God’s Language of Love.

So after an overnight stay in the Beijing airport I was off to Urumgi then to Kashgar. In route from Urumgi to Kashgar, I sat next to John Chang from Taiwan. John was named “Mr. Taiwan” when he was 20 years old! Now 50, he still looks to be in great shape. He was traveling with his sister and his parents (87 years young). They were a Christian family, on their way to Kashgar to hire employees for their family owned and operated company. The flight went fast as I introduced him to the Newsboys “Go” CD, we shared some scripture, and we exchanged some testimonies about how great God is. I met the rest of his family when we arrived at the airport in Kashgar and left in hopes of meeting up for a Bible study on Sunday.

Now approximately 11:30 on Thursday night, just after unpacking, Mr. John Hu, my contact in Kashgar, called to invite me to come out to his Café. It has been over forty-nine hours since my last shower, so I consented to going, only after a shower and a shave. Unfortunately, by the time I got cleaned up, John was no where to be found. I figured that he had called it a night, so I decided to call it a night also. A soft bed and a good night’s sleep…YES!

Friday morning, I met John Hu and began to get acquainted with him and with the area. John Hu, his wife Chui Xiu Ying, and his 17 year old son Pi Ter are the owners of five John’s Café and Travel locations. They specialize in traveling the Silk Road and this side of China. John and his family are very friendly and have been great hosts so far. Thanks to my good friend Pastor Larry Garza, who put me in touch with John, I am being looked after once again on my adventure.

As a Martial Artist, I seek to add balance to my training and teaching by studying Tai Chi with a focus on the health and healing aspects. I have a desire to service my students both young and “mature” with the Tai Chi principles that I will learn. Mostly, I hope to learn additional training methods to enhance everything that I teach and do. John Hu arranged for me to meet my teacher, Ms. Yu, who is a well regarded Tai Chi instructor here in China. We made plans to meet at 6:00pm at my hotel.

In the meantime, I asked John Hu where I could get dollars exchanged to yin and he offered to drop me off on his way to do some business. As promised, he dropped me off at the nearby bank and gave me directions to walk back to which I thought to myself, “it’s a beautiful day and a little walk will be nice.” Little did he or I know that my pursuit of the almighty yin would lead to my next adventure. After standing in a long slow line, I excitedly reached the cashier only to be told that I needed to go to the Kashgar Bank of China which was just out the door and a few meters to the right. So off I went, on foot, to find some yin. Let’s see, how far is a few meters? All the signs on the businesses were in Chinese and there were many that looked like banks…in fact, they all looked like banks. I entered several businesses and asked for directions to no avail until I found a nice man who put me in a cab and sent me in the opposite direction giving the young smiley cab driver directions. By this time, my three Chinese greetings were exhausted. The cab driver kept repeating something like “banko” and I would answer “yes, banko” while thinking to myself that sounded more Spanish than Chinese. He would smile real big, but something told me that we were not communicating. He eventually pulled over, asked a guy a question, turned the cab around, and took me to my second bank. So once again, I approach a cashier and, in the words of Joe DiMaggio, “déjà vu all over again.” She says that she can’t help me, but the Kashgar Bank of China can. The cashier there spoke enough English and Chinese to tell the cab driver where the infamous Bank of China is located. So off we go, back to where we came from. The meter was running, but by now that was the least of my worries. My smiley cab driver and I finally found the bank that I was looking for. Once again, I found myself in a long line and, when I reached the front, the lady took my Visa card and passport to the back to fulfill my request. After a few minutes, she returns and says “debit card”, points outside toward the front and says “ATM machine, ATM go!” BINGO!! I made it to the ATM machine and experienced sweet success as I got my elusive yin. With yin in hand, I approach my friendly cabbie, who I had asked to wait for me, and I asked him to take me back to the Seaman hotel. He smiles big and says “Seaman.” Again, questioning if we were communicating I said “yes” and began praying. At the end of the ride, I arrived at the Seaman hotel with enough yin to last me a while. Praise the Lord and welcome to Kashgar! Could this experience have been one of those “when’s” that James was talking about? Stronger…Smarter…I certainly hope so!!

At 6:00 that evening, as scheduled, my Tai Chi teacher Ms. Yu rode up on her bike to meet me, go over my training goals, design my workout schedule, and decide on a workout location near my hotel. She spoke no English and, of course, by now you know what my Chinese language capacity is. With the help of John Hu, we discussed my goals for training and scheduled my first workout for that evening at 8:00. Ms. Yu went home to change and returned at 8:00pm. She started me with some exercises and then went right into my first form. Our first workout lasted for one and a half hours and, at the end, I was very pleased with John’s choice of an instructor for me. She was a great teacher and in spite of the language barrier, I was receiving top notch instruction and loving it. She built me up as she relayed to John that I am a good student and a fast learner. So, it appeared that we were mutually satisfied with each other’s performance.

Before coming to China, I had heard stories about the Sunday Market where I could buy almost anything, even a camel! I thought that a camel could be a nice gift to take home to Kim and the kids, but unfortunately the ride home might take even longer than forty-nine hours, so I scratched that idea. Still, I was anxious to see the place that I had heard so much about so, on Sunday, I braved it and took another cab ride to the Sunday Market. It turned out to be a very nice outing and I plan to return again before I go home. It was now time to go back to my hotel and get ready for my evening lesson.

As of Sunday, I had taken four Tai Chi lessons and made it through my first form. After another great workout, she told John Hu that she was ready to move on and begin teaching me something else. I encouraged her to keep fine tuning my footwork and stances. So on Monday, she responded to my request by breaking down the stance work and taking me through a good leg strengthening exercise which made for another great lesson.

So far, the only opportunity to use my Tai Chi skills has been in repeated combat with a gang of Chinese Fighting Black and Yellow Bees. I have been able to defuse the attacks, sacrificing only some of my drink and suffering no bee stings as of yet. I think that they sense my Tai Chi skills improving because tonight I had my first meal without them buzzing around and trying to intimidate me. I will stay alert and continue to train hard just in case. Other than the gang of bees, the environment seems to be very safe.
It is now Monday evening and so far my training experience has been a lot of fun. We have found a quiet place just outside of the Hotel to train. Occasionally, we attract a few spectators who just stand around and watch. The kids come by and giggle as they mimic the moves. One older man actually took it upon himself to help Ms. Yu straighten my stance. He meant well, but I think Ms. Yu was doing fine on her own. We have also had a Japanese fellow who has joined us in doing the form a couple of times. I expect that the training will crank up some this week as I will be introduced to the sword and maybe the steel whip chain. I have attempted to teach Ms. Yu the fruits of the spirit, but it is going slow at best. I asked John Hu to write them down for me in Chinese so that I can use them in teaching her in our next lesson.

In closing, I want to say that I am grateful to have been blessed with the vision of this adventure. God is providing everything that I need through His loving and faithful believers. Thank you to my awesome family – Kim, Ashley, Jacob, and Cody – and my staff for your continued support. Jospeh Polizzi and Natalie King, God bless you for your support and sponsorship. Special thanks to Master Robles and his students and Junior Master Beasley and her students for their contributions. And once again, a big thanks to Mr. Silva and Mr. Van Over for their leadership. I pray that my sponsors are blessed abundantly by others as I have been abundantly blessed by them.


God’s Love and Peace,


Al Garza

“Father, let my light shine before men in such a way that they may see my good works,
and glorify my Father who is in Heaven.”
- Matthew 5:16