I’m convinced that if God wants me to love something or somewhere He will take me there when it’s warm. Let’s just say…China wasn’t warm at all.
I’ll give you the negative stuff first:
It was snowing basically all the time and really cold and I hate cold.
We were living in a hotel with a jank shower, Barbie sparkle sink, and three separate rooms which meant there was NO body warmth in my bed – just my own. I don’t have enough.
No one spoke our language because most people were old and so they only speak Chinese.
The food made my poop weird.
I got sick and spent 85% of Christmas by myself sickly with no one around at all in a hotel room and I cried some because I got lonely and knew my family would be sad because I wasn’t with them.
KFC was abundant, but so gross. Def not the same as in America or Africa at all.
I thought I was dying at debrief because I was so sick and couldn’t breathe or eat or anything until AP came and saved me.
Here’s the good stuff:
God planted some awesome seeds through us in some of the college students we were able to build relationships with while we were there.
I was reminded how crucial it is to walk in the Word, especially in a country where religious freedom isn’t encouraged.
We learned how to make dumplings and spent some awesome time eating some awesome food mostly from street vendors.
I watched Lord of the Rings AND Downton Abbey AND lots of Christmas movies, which was awesome. I love Downton.
Bubble tea was in abundance (MORGAN, CODY, and HANNAH this is obvi for you!!) =D
We got to go to the Great Wall (and it was cold) and I bought Sar a shirt that actually will fit her.
We ate Pizza Hut on Christmas Eve and it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I mean delicious.
McDonalds was awesome in Beijing.
I got to dress up for New Year’s and be super cute even though I was sort of sick still, but it was so nice.
H&M was having a big sale in Beijing so I got my Christmas shirt/dress for cheapsies with Ceena!
I mapped out the entire lineage of the Kings of Judah and Israel in search of this Manasseh guy who did really bad things and made God really angry and brought down His wrath on Judah in Jeremiah. This was probably my highlight of debrief (besides awesome convos with some squadmates that I love dearly). God made it abundantly apparent that I needed to spend debrief with Him and not exploring. If you know me, you know this was an issue because I LOVE TO EXPLORE NEW PLACES. However, it was fabulous to spend a few days with God delving into His word and learning. The entire OT makes so much more sense to me now!
I know that’s sort of short and sweet, but really that’s how it happened. We hung around a university most of the time for ministry and met with people and had lunch with them. We literally spent the entire month making friends. It was pretty cool. At debrief I was still sick so I spent most of my time at the hostel and in the Word. I still had some really awesome conversations, though. God is good. 🙂
