1. Train Travel- Each of our train rides (3 in all) were at
least 24 hours. You are squished in tiny bunks (Hersson, made me think of
you!!) and dispersed amongst the Chinese. The train rides were super fun and
wild. World Racers know how to stay entertained.
2. Missionaries we met in our first city. I instantly loved
the wife and loved loved talking to her in Spanish.
I learned how to make
tortillas and some chicken dish. They were great. Lord bless their home!
3. WonChen. She was our first angel in China. We couldn’t
find a hostel that welcomed foreigners, and people were staring at us like we
had 2 heads. She stopped us on the street, and went to 3 different places to
help us out. By day 3, we were BFFs. Haha!
4. Traditional Chinese meal with WonChen. Before we left we
were strictly told that whatever we were offered we had to bless it and eat it.
When you put lamb hoof in your mouth and chew, your first thought is, “Dear
Lord!” and so I just kept going with that thought and blessed it and ate it.
Yeah, sick.
5. Singing Praises over City #3- During worship one morning
unintentionally, we all began to move towards the huge window in our room. We
opened it wide letting the frigid air in, and sang praise songs over the City.
The Lord loves the Chinese.
6. A certain prayer walk in a certain town- I was feeling
ancy and wondering what the heck we were doing praying for Jesus to come when
we were there! However I learned through my teammates that sometimes you just
plant the seeds, and God will make them grow.
7. College Girls in City #2- We wandered onto a campus and
met some girls, and an instant bond was formed. They wanted to practice their
English, and tell us how beautiful we were (I didn’t mind!), and we wanted to
share Jesus with them! Through many small interactions we taught them a praise
song and shared our faith with them. The girls were precious.
8. Our favorite friend, Susan. We spent 5 days getting to
know her, unexpectedly traveled to visit her family in an other town, and
shared Christ and prayed with her on our last day. Please pray for her! She is
lovely, and made us feel so at home in a random Chinese town.
9. The Great Wall- Loved it!! We went to some remote part of
the wall that has not been renovated. It took us 45 minutes just to scale the
mountain to the wall, but man was it worth it! Miles of misty mountains and
crumbly wall with no other humans in sight, except us 50, haha! We hiked about
5 miles up and down steep inclines and plunging descents, it was totally
difficult and equally fun. We got a surprise one-minute phone call, home, and I
talked to my sister, Amy and was beaming for the next hour!
10. Snowboarding in Beijing! (Genelle- I did soooo much
better than when we went, and I totally missed you!) 9 of us left at 5am to
some random ski resort. Since it wasn’t the season yet we got 90% off lift
tickets and rentals. This day is a favorite of favorites.
11. Allison’s Birthday Party- we all ate at our favorite
little hippie dive in Beijing, and danced and ate (western food, woohooo!!) and
danced some more! It was greatness.
12. Arriving in Hong Kong and Checking Email! Every email I
opened felt like a Christmas present. Thank you loved ones who kept in contact
even when there was no contact to be had! Love you guys!!
