Hello again, from Nepal!
I am quite behind in my story telling and my updates, but with me… can you really be surprised? Don’t worry, I will do a brief update after the funny China story!
In one of my previous updates I mentioned that the guys on my team had a dudes day and we went to a place called Shaolin Temple. Shaolin Temple is a Monastery for Chan (“Zen”) Buddhism in Dengfeng Country, Henan Province, China. It is believed to have been founded in the 5th century and is the main temple of the Shaolin school of Buddhism to this day. Mount Song is located there and it is the mountain believed to be the origin for Zen Buddhism (Which made praying and worshiping Jesus over the land all the more cool).
This Temple is also very big in the martial arts world for its Kung-Fu. My teammate Jake has wanted to go for years and get a sword from the temple. This is where the story gets interesting!
Jake buys a sword and I decided in order to remember the journey I would buy a cheap dagger. Now there is a major problem with us deciding to do this… it is illegal to take these on trains. While we were in China, our main mode of long distance travel was train. We took a total of 4 trains. At this point in the story we had taken 1. The only way to get this home would be to send it home by package or to put it in your checked bag flying home. Jake and I decided that we would try to send them home via package and split the price.
We had train tickets for the next day and didn’t have a chance to try to send them that day so we were going to have to do so before we went to the train station. In order to make this work we split up as we went to the station. Me, Eric, Sarah, and Rebecca went to the station and Jake and Laura Leigh went to the post office.
Once we got to the station we were unable to get all the train tickets because we didn’t have the passports for Jake and Laura Leigh. Mistake number 1.
The next problem we ran into was one out of our control. On our team we had 3 phones with local sim cards. All three that day decided to get, our guess, blocked by the government (or we just got gipped). So, we had no way to contact Jake.
Once we were able to find Jake and Laura Leigh we ran into another problem. Turns out that shipping swords is not allowed for safety reasons. This means that we are going to have to try to get these weapons on a train and hope we don’t get them confiscated. Us flying them home in a checked bag wasn’t exactly an option.
We get our train tickets and wait outside security longer because we still had about 30 Minutes until boarding and we needed to get some food. Side note, it is hard to read foreign train tickets when you don’t speak the language and so when you get through security it is best for you to find someone who knows what gate you have to go to. No problem at all when you have time.
After about 10 minutes I got this feeling that I should look in depth at my ticket and double check something. When I get out my ticket I realize a very vital piece of information. Our train was leaving in 5 minutes. We hadn’t even gotten through security, Jake and I had weapons, and our team was still split up! How many mistakes is that??
So, I get the attention of the team that was near me and say, “we gotta go! our train leaves in 5 minutes!” Jake and I end up going ahead of the rest of the group (while they regather) because we were probably going to get stopped because there is no way these weapons get through the metal detector. Jake had already been stopped once our first train ride for a pocket knife!
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t praying that Jake and I would get through no problem.
I find the shortest line and start going through security. The line was moving quickly, so within 30 seconds of us getting in line my time has come to place my big bag and my day pack on the conveyor belt to go through the medal detector (if you have ever been on a plane the process is very similar).
Here goes nothing.
I toss my bags down, walk through the detector, look at the conveyor belt as my bag slowly makes its way through. I grab my bags as they come out, fully expecting to hear someone telling me to stop and give them my bag. Nothing. I quickly get my bags on my front and back and start to move toward the stairs. Still nothing. I had gotten through security with ease. I turn to see if Jake was making it through. I mean his sword was 2 times the size of mine. To my surprise, he is right behind me. We exchange sighs of relief quickly and begin rushing to find our gate, hoping the rest of the team is close behind.
We find someone to ask about our ticket and he gives us the look that you really don’t want to see. We missed our train…
He takes us to a spot to start getting new tickets for the next train. At this point Jake and I have no clue where the rest of the team is. I start trying to find them and cannot. Eventually we are able to get back together and after sharing how Jake and I didn’t get stopped I learn why I couldn’t find the rest of the team for a while. The one place I didn’t think to look was back at security. As it turns out Laura Leigh had gotten stopped. She got stopped for having a multi-tool. And Jake and I had gotten through just fine.
But the story goes on, because Jake and I still have these swords and more trains to take.
The next station we went to we made sure to get there with ample time. We start going through security. I go through, once again, no problem. Laura Leigh is behind me and Jake is behind her. Laura Leigh ends up getting stopped AGAIN, this time for a different pocket knife that they ended up confiscating and Jake, behind her, hustles right on through!
Two times in a row Jake and I get through security without any problem and still have our weapons.
Now you must be wondering, where are the swords now?? Well, good question! Mine happens to currently be safely in the United States! Jake and I were able to give them to a friend who was flying to the United States! Unfortunately however, Jake’s sword ended up getting confiscated by the Airport! It had made it so far but even in a checked bag, was not destined to make it home.
That is the story of how I smuggled a dagger through China security, missed a train, smuggled it again, and then got it safely to the US of A. Stay tuned for the story about me arm wrestling a former Chinese body builder!
Update: My team, and the rest of my squad, is in Nepal. We have been here about 13 days. Our first 12 days in Nepal involved debriefing what had happened in China. This involved our coaches and mentor from the US coming to Nepal and getting to spend time with them. After a week of debrief we switched into training time to get further spiritual and ministry growth. Training ended yesterday and so today the teams split up again and went to their respective ministry locations!
The host that my team has is absolutely amazing! We haven’t even been here 10 hours and I am so excited to work with them and learn from them!
If you could be praying for our hosts and my team as we work together to uplift each other as well as bring about more kingdom in places where Christian missionaries can get arrested and deported, it would be more than appreciated!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
Blessings!
