We have made it to China! My squad arrived in our city on Friday morning after having left Atlanta on Tuesday morning. We flew direct from Atlanta to Incheon International Airport in South Korea – a 14 ½ hour flight. After a short layover, we were back on a plane headed to Beijing. Once there we got to spend the night at a hostel. It was so nice to sleep in a bed after that long flight halfway across the world! The next morning we walked down the street to buy breakfast from local street vendors than we were off again. We walked probably half a mile with all of our packs to the subway station. There we hopped on a train and road to the Beijing Railway Station. As we waited for our train, many of us played games. Obviously, the Chinese don’t play Uno because several men stood around watching us and seemed to be quite fascinated. One even tried to comment on my game, but, unfortunately, my Chinese isn’t advanced enough to know what he was saying. Several people also took pictures of us. Apparently, 47 Americans with giant backpacks is not a common sight.
Of all transportation I have taken so far in my life, the train ride to our city probably tops the list of most interesting. We first boarded at 1:30 pm on Thursday, and didn’t get off until 8:30 am on Friday. Yes, that is 19 hours. Once we got our luggage put away, we were quite cramped with most of us resting our feet on backpacks. We played more games to pass the time, and again many of our fellow passengers watched with curiosity. Actually, they were probably more interested in how many people we would cram into six seats, so we could actually play the games together!
This month, we will be doing ministry with some Americans pastors who live here in China. Some of our squad had English conversations with students at a local university yesterday, but the rest of us will jump into ministry soon. Today was an off day, so we could get settled, buy groceries, and exchange currency. We have a meeting this evening where we will learn more about what we will be doing for the next two week, so stay tuned for a ministry update soon!
Last night while meeting with our contact, he encouraged us greatly. Even though it’s expensive to bring us here, he says it is worth it since we have something many in China do not – the Gospel. Statistically, there are more Christians in China then the United States, and I can’t wait to see how this underground church thrives.
