We depart from Taiwan and our hosts bless us by bringing us to the airport! We say goodbye to Matthew and Joesph. Love those two men. We come together to fly out with our whole squad. It was so Good to see them. They all congratulate my on the baptism and life choices, even though it was hard. We take off! We are going to Hong Kong and staying for a week to get our Visas into China. We arrive and I love the city. It’s a crazy town. So many different nationalities. We stay at a YWAM base, witch is another missions organization. We go and spend the whole next day in the Visa office. I personally had fun exploring the town and seeing the Visa office. It is very hard to get Visas into China. They questioned our large group. We each got interviewed and some had to twice. It’s illegal to be on missions or affiliated with the church in China. China likes to keep China to itself. I don’t believe in that at all. It was a great feeling knowing I was breaking the “Chinese” laws for a better reason. I’ve always had fun flirting with the law. I was wearing a Fulong Church shirt I got in Taiwan and they asked if I was with the church. So crazy. God definitely had a beat playing in our favor in that office. God is starting to captivate my heart in many ways. I can feel myself coming back to life in a new way! I start to love community living and it’s back to a full house. We are at the YWAM base for a couple days, about to take off for the outskirts of town to camp. Hong Kong is very expensive and to live in the city is out of our budget so we camp! We take off for the campsite. Three team leaders have to go back to interview at the Visa office because China is wondering why there coming back with a whole different group and traveling to so many countries. Coming up with stories, it was unreal. We take off for the campsite! We take a fairy over to the campsite. It was such a beautiful place, so beautiful. We get there and we only have a number of tents and we have to share. So we set camp and we are amazed by the beauty of the area. Then all of a sudden we see big cows roaming the campsite! Big cows that we found out later actually might be water buffalo. They are taking people’s food! There are female and male bulls or buffalos. It’s crazy! We are setting up camp and they come over close and take our apples and bread that we just bought! On the world race we get a $5 a day food budget so it really impacts our food! We find so much laughter and fun in it. We then decide to walk and bus an hour or so into town to get food through the woods. Food is so expensive in Hong Kong. It’s tough walking through the aisles and seeing delicious food. We get back later that night and it’s dark when we return. We get there and the whole campsite is packed with people! It’s so full tents and music everywhere light up. Crazy like a zoo! Music from different areas of life. We meet as a squad and everyone almost looks scared. They said there are wild bore ripping tents and taking them and dragging them. C’mon! There’s also monkeys and python seeing signs we find out later. This place is wild! Wild! We drop off our food at our tent and go brush our teeth. We walk to the water source and on our walk back we are kind of scared of the animals popping out at us. We get back and there’s cows eating our food again! Right by my tent! C’mon now the cow didn’t eat it all, but it was right in front of my tent. We look over and there’s crying kids that are scared of animals. It’s like a battlefield. We pray over the kids and all our tents and I feel a fire burning inside that says no fear. I go to bed laughing with a big smile on my face. Peacefully and fierce fully fall asleep. We wake up I feel so refreshed. It raining. Peoples tents are underwater. It’s a great time to read scripture and spend with the Lord. Rain falling on the tent is so peaceful the next morning so great. We finally calm down people leave because the weekend is over and we get ourselves together. I learn to love this place and camping. Nature walks with friends. Straight up time with God. No WiFi, no emails, no distractions. I deleted social media in the mist of Taiwan Unless I post. It’s so beautiful, so much free time. I love Hong Kong out in the wilderness just me, God, and my people. One day we had to go back to the office and we watch the new Marvel movie in theater. I’ve never see a marvel movie before it was so good! I can’t wait to watch more. We also go out to eat at a cheap restaurant, there food was so good! We find fun hiking and talking coming closer with my squad. I also am finding I have new talents. I love journaling and learning. I knew I loved these things but now they just shine so bright. It was a blast, I love nature it gives the mind free reign. We do team time and I can still feel a bitterness in our team. I feel so much freedom out in the woods. I love it! We then need to bunk up because the leaders are back, so I move in a tent with Jordan. I love having to come so close. We wake up under water that night again. We then meet a person that stays there on and off and has been for five years. His name is Jacko, he’s a retired British military man and is so nice. He likes to drink and relax. He was a blessing and he feeds us and gives us hot water. He’s a great man. Hilarious in his ways. He has people staying there and his campsite is build back in the woods and it is awesome. He has people there in and out. Tommie and Carmen are nurses we met. We got to open the Gospel to them. Pray for them! We go out for a hike with them and have so much fun. We start to get the hang of camping there, like tying our food up high so we don’t have to worry about the animals getting our food. If you left food in your tent they would get it! Meanwhile we are still trying to get Visas into China. People going back to interview. Me and my good friend Zach head out to do a little man hike. We get back to the campsite and people are yelling Zach! You need to catch the bus to the Visa office they need to interview you! I saw him off to the bus. All a mess and so funny at the same time. It was groovy if I had to describe it. Me and My teammate Allie are sitting in Jackos tent one night and she gets up and randomly goes “I have to go check on this bag”. She gets up and starts yelling! “The bore has Zach’s bag it has his passport and his papers in there!”. A group of people chasing after this bore! Eric told me later he was putting pants on to come chase the bore. So funny! C’mon! We all chase the bore down. C’mon. So great. I love working out and staying out in the wilderness. It was a week I needed! So perfect! There’s no way God was not there. We end up getting a message from the office we all get in or no one gets in. We keep praying and the next day we get it! So beautiful, thank God! So we’re going to China after a wild week of camping. It was so beautiful and I got over a lot of fears and learned so much. I feel like God has touched me and really opened up my hearat over that week. I had my mind blown with so many revolutions and it’s crazy how God can put you in places to change you. We go back the YWAM base for a day. Next thing I know we are packing up! We are taking the train into China and we are off to China! Till my next blog China!
Much Love!
