First of all I have to apologize, I am a month and a half behind. I have been writing blogs and putting together videos, but while I was in China I decided it would be safer not to post anything.
Currently I am back in the United States! Praise the LORD for keeping me safe the whole year. I have been spending my time with my family and close friends adjusting back and figuring life out again.
Here is the post I wrote but never posed from May 25, 2018 right after we left for China from Mongolia:
We met together as new team before we left Kyrgyzstan for Mongolia to discuss desires the Lord has put on our hearts for the last month in China. Right away I felt the Lord telling me the word “Xianning.” I looked it up on the map and boom! It was a city in China and all know is we are supposed to go there. We talked about what the other people received as they were listening to the Lord and they all had the similar prompting to go to China as soon as possible!
When we arrived in Mongolia we were told that it is impossible to get our visas. Long story short, after much prayer, hard work by logistics, and a miracle we got them!
We were off to China by May 23rd when we were about to settle for staying in Mongolia for two months. We then took a train ride from Ulaanbataar, Mongolia to border city to cross to China. The boarder crossing took 3 hours by itself and by the time we got across to the town, we had 30 minutes to catch our train.
We walked 10 minutes to get there and got in line to get tickets. When it was our turn, they did not take any of our American cards or US dollars. We ran around looking for ATMs for 10 more minutes realizing we weren’t going to make it. We missed our train! We had our housing booked in Xi’an so we knew if we didn’t get there we would be missing out on a day of housing and probably other fun things.
We decided to all head back to the bus station to see if there was a bus that could take us. Two of our team members decided to go to the ATM and meet us at the bus station.
As we get to the bus station, Connie, who speaks fluent mandarin, asked for the bus to Hohut so we could catch the train to Xi’an. The guy literally points to this big pink bus that is on the road headed out of town. The man runs out in front of the bus and stops it! We told him we were missing two of our teammates and we had no money.
There was some debate going on for a little bit. We stalled for 5 minutes explaining what was happening. We realized it was the last bus to Hohut and we had to get on now. I started loading up the packs slowly, trying to buy more time for Nathan and Elaine who were getting back from the ATM. They started yelling louder and 5 of our teammates got on the bus. Since I had the map and Connie spoke the language we jumped in a taxi going around time trying to find Nathan and Elaine while the other teammates started heading out of town on the bus!
Literally craziness was happening and lots of prayer! We go all around town in this taxi and the guy continues to yell in Chinese. Connie and I couldn’t help but laugh because there was nothing we could do. We ended up taking a lap around town and did not find them. As soon as we get back to the bus station and got out of the taxi, they were asking for money which we did not have! It was so funny because we literally had nothing! I tried one more time to get connected to the WiFi because none of us had phone plans yet since we just crossed the boarder. As I was connecting, I looked up and saw Nathan and Elaine.
I ran to them and told, “We have to go now! Our bus is out of town with the others on it!” We jump into the same taxi and literally go rampage to catch the bus. There was red lights and the guy goes on the sidewalk and skips the corner to avoid stopping!
We caught the bus right outside of town. We loaded up and we were off to Hohut! We made it to Hohut on time too. Got the last 9 train tickets for the train and were off to Xi’an. Talk about the Lord’s provision in the perfect timing. So many things could of happened to set us back, but because we were running with HIM and trusting HIM, He made it work out for us!
Oh the miracles that happen as we travel! This is just one of the many amazing stories. But yet again, glory goes to God for making it happen!
We spent the whole month touring China with the purpose or praying and interceding for the people along with evangelism on university campuses and finding contacts. We thought if we were constantly moving it would be safer for us and less suspicious than staying in one place for the whole month. Overall, we went to 8 different cities and saw so many things happen, which I will explain later.
Right now I’m simply praising God for all the experiences and the ability to travel around the world. Thanks for your prayers and support throughout this race. For seeing me through till the end and for God to be glorified in the nations!
