Hello Friends and Family,
Month 5 has begun. I am in the Philippines and loving it. Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and my team while we were in China. Our time there was amazing. We were given a lot of freedom and were able to make friends with several young women that we got to share the gospel with. Truly, I cannot say how much we enjoyed our month and how blessed we were to make new friends that loved us so well during our time with them.
Getting to China however, was another story entirely. I really almost freaked out… I did actually sit on the ground when we finally crossed the border and have a good cry while eating chocolate. To give you an idea of traveling WR style, here’s what went down for us: My team and I left Swaziland by catching a bus at the end of month three. We traveled to a local town and spent the night there. In the morning we waited for a few hours for the vans that were supposed to come and pick us up and take us to Joberg. They finally arrived and we headed out for an all day drive back to the airport. When we finally got there we laid out our sleeping mats and waited for other teams to show up. It was amazing to see everyone again. I cried. We spent the night in the airport and then flew out to Nairobi, Kenya, where we had a layover for a few hours. During our layover we met a man who had worked in China to smuggle Bibles in way back when. We were so blessed to be able to talk to him during dinner. From Kenya we flew to Bangkok, Thailand, where we had another layover. When we re-boarded our plane we flew into Hong Kong where we were picked up at the airport. We boarded a bus and had an hourish drive and then had to take a walk to get to our hostel. Here we had a small break. We got to stay in Hong Kong for a few days waiting for our visas to come through. It was amazing to explore the city and watch a light show with friends and catch up with my former team. When our visas came through we repacked our bags and got ready to travel again. Little did I know we were about to endure what was probably the hardest thing I’ve done thus far on the race. Unfortunately on my way out of our hostel I rammed my toe into the door and seriously thought I broke it… thankfully I didn’t know that we were about to have to walk to the bus station, which took forever… and then squeeze into a bus and hold on for dear life… to get off and walk forever again… where we meet up with some of the other teams and took a subway to walk again to where we crossed the border, which was totally intimidating… this is where I sat on the ground and cried… Eventually I had to get up and say goodbye to one team who was splitting off from us and heading in a different direction… after goodbyes we had to get through security and then walk to another train station for an hour and a half ride… It was during this walk that I begin to say “I can’t do this anymore…” No, really, I can’t.” After getting off of the train we had to walk again… to meet up with the rest of our squad… where we spent the night – a very cold night, mind you – on the floor. In the morning we took a 6AM subway to another train station… and then we spent the entire day sitting outside in the cold waiting for the team leaders to figure out how to buy our next set of train tickets since their phones and cards would not work. We finally got our tickets and had to catch another train for 40 hours to meet up with our contact. The train was full so for the first several hours our 60ish pound bags that were finally off of our backs were sitting on our feet. When we finally got off of the train, we walked to a KFC and waited three hours or so to meet our contact. We took turns switching from inside to outside since there was not enough room in KFC for all of us and our bags. It was too cold to stay outside for long, especially because none of us had any real winter wear on. When our contact showed up we walked with him to our hotel and showered. Amen. We spent one night there and then my team and I split up, with two girls riding with our contact to our hotel and the remaining four of us trying to catch a bus to get there. This was a riot. We had our backpacks on, which are huge and very heavy… but fabulous for pushing your way into a bus. The whole time we were shouting to each other to not let go. It was very Titanic of us. When we got to our hotel, our contact moved us because of safety issues… so we walked… and then we finally made it to our new home for the month. And slept! Carrying 60 pounds on your back and 10ish in a smaller backpack on your front, plus an airporter (okay, so I usually don’t carry this for myself because I give it up to the first person that takes pity on me) and purse is terrible… especially when limping… but I made it. I will never forget getting to China and how much I had to keep praying for the Lord to make me stronger that I actually am because it was a series of days that tested how much I really want to be here. I am so grateful though for the people that were beside of me, laughing and crying and walking mile upon endless mile with me. China was and is worth it.
That’s all for now. I’ll try to update in a few days some things I learned in China and what travel was like coming to the Philippines and what my team and I will be doing while here.
Love to each of you!
Carrie
