Hey everyone! Sooo it’s been a while and I apologize. It’s been quite the ride.
With that being said… we finally left MONGOLIA! I’m sad to say goodbye to my friends in Ulaanbaatar. To the hostel staff at the Golden Gobi as well as some of our hostel mates we met during our time there who were more than open to talk (a shout out to TAZ) and our server from Loving Hut and the chef at the coffee shop!
This was our month one and a half…
We stayed in Mongolia more than we had expected… why?
There is always a reason why… and I believe that all the people we were able to invest in Ulaanbaatar was the reason why. However, we were fully ready to move on to our next country.
Onward to China!
The other half of month 2.
To be honest I was a little let down by our time in China. There were some fun moments but was let down by the difficulty of things there and the heaviness that fell over my team and I. I felt uneasy leaving Mongolia because we did not have a plan that was concrete. That was an inner struggle that I was dealing with that I had to learn to let go. This concept of learning to be ok not having control and trusting in the Lord is hard and every time the Lord brings it around again (along with other things as well) and pushes a different button/ part every time that I need to focus on. However, during my un-comfort the Lord showed me his love and nearness. He showed little spirts of hope along our journey to and in China.
During our long travel days and the many different things, we had to go through to finally get to our destinations the Lord comforted me in the most unexpected ways and it was just what I needed in those moments to know we were ok and that I had no reason to worry.
- We met a really nice guy on our bus ride from Mongolia to China who helped us out at the bus station and kept us company until we got to Beijing. He had access to internet and was able to help us out.
- When finally arriving to the MacDonald’s in Beijing after a long night we were tired and hangry. We found out we could not use our cards to buy food and we could not access the Wi-Fi. We felt so defeated and did not know what to do. Then this woman who knew English started talking to us for a bit helping us out with some questions we had. She leaves after a while but then comes back with two bags full of groceries (SNAKS!) for us and offered to help us get to the train station to get our train tickets.
- We end up going to the wrong train station but are able to buy our tickets and head over to the other train station. Again, we are tired and ready to just get to where we need to be. We make our way through a very crowded and overwhelming train station to our train car and squish through the narrow space to get to our beds. Which are spread out and we are in the middle beds. The first thing that crosses my mind is where am I going to put my big pack…? I don’t want to burden anyone with it being in the way or worse them trying to help me by picking it up because I know its heavy. The Lord is great though in providing a very sweet man who was like an acrobat in a sense balancing himself on the beds and somehow lifting my pack and getting it to the top on a shelf as well as getting it down for me when our train stopped. What a blessing! And on top of that we met a few English speakers who helped us in letting us know when we had to get off the train.
- We get to Lanzhou extremely early in the morning and head on over to the MacDonald’s. Again, we meet another nice person. This man Jack ends up buying us all coffee and stays chatting with us until we are able to check into our hostel.
These are just a few examples of the ways the Lord came to our comfort and aid giving us just enough to keep going and knowing that he was with us. It was so cool to see and feel him in this way taking care of us.
Xi’an
During our time, here we were able to spend some time with another team staying at the same hostel. They had already been there for some time pouring into the hostel staff and making connections with people in the places they frequented. However, the hostel in which we stayed at was more or less like a cave. It was dark and the atmosphere was very heavy. We struggled a lot with tiredness and isolating ourselves. We did continue to pour into the staff of the hostel and to the workers at the places we ate our meals. Great opportunities were provided in this space but it was not easy. The people in this city were very hard to connect with and to add to the struggle more people were pouring into the city because of the holiday.
“Because I Love Zion (the Kingdom of Heaven) I will not keep still”
In the midst of all this…. This was a verse that I held on to daily. It helped me fight to get out of bed every day and get out and explore the city and interact with people. It was hard but I am so thankful I did it. I walked everyday finding new things to do. During this time, the Lord was working in me. Challenging me to practice doing things that scared me and leaning on Him to find comfort when I felt alone in a sea of people.
“The Lord my God will be my everlasting light and my God will be my glory”
The Lord used this time in this place to spend an abundance of time with me in a different and new way. I am a worrier and I fear many things and its one of the things I wish I could change about myself. The Lord put me in uncomfortable situations and yet taught me not to pull back into the habit of worrying and being fearful. Instead I took walks with the Lord around the city and had Him challenging me in different situations to do something that scared me and learning to walk with a little more confidence because I had Him there with me walking along side me. Instead of facing down all the time looking at the ground when I walked occasionally lifting my head up to see where I was going. I was practicing and learning to keep my head up while walking and I began walking more confident each time I went out. Glory to God!
Lanzhou
This time we managed to score an apartment for the remainder of our time in China. I enjoyed Lanzhou so much more than I was expecting. First because there were less people and second the people in this city were so much more welcoming and nice. When walking people actually smiled and said hello in return. When I would start a conversation, they would continue it and not shut it down immediately. I would get my daily piece of bread from the bread guy on the corner and get my lunch at the plaza. Each time growing my relationship with the people and furthering our conversations with each day. Our time was short in Lanzhou but good.
Before I knew it month two came to an end and we were starting month three!
