I feel like I need to let you know at least a little about this past month in China. It is hard to put into a blog because of the sensitive nature of it all. I’m not sure what I can say and what I can’t, so I have to be very vague.
We basically spent the month in a little town in a mountainous area. It was kind of cold there, so we treated ourselves to some “Columbia” and “Northface” jackets. Since almost everything is made in China, you can find knock-off versions of almost anything.
Most of our time was spent working in a little local restaurant that is owned by our new friends. Actually, they were out of town, which is why we were filling in. We were recruited to do some cleaning one day, and once we got started there was just no way to stop. We not only cleaned, but we also painted and gave the place a fresh clean look. It seemed to pay off. Many people commented that it was one of the nicest places in town.
We enjoyed meeting people, and eating good food. Most of the time we played cards and dice, or browsed the internet for news and recipes. It is off season, so it wasn’t real busy. The restaurant is open from 9am to 8pm, so we split the day into 6hr shifts, with 3 on each shift. That was our basic schedule 6 days of the week.
Monday was our day off, so we got to do a little hiking and stuff. One of the days we hiked up a little hill overlooking the town. On another weekend, we took an extra day off and went camping by the lake. The pictures in the books looked really cool, but it was much smaller when we got there.
It was also very, very cold. There were flurries floating around most of the day, and the lake had thin pieces of ice in the shaded areas on one shore. We were very enthusiastic though and built a big fire and settled in. Just before dark, the wind picked up and it got much colder. I decided to pick up my tent and move to a more sheltered area out of the wind. A few others followed my lead.
By nightfall, it was pretty cold. We huddled around the fire until early morning – clinging to the heat as long as possible. Around 1am, I surrendered to my tent to brave the cold. Now my sleeping bag says it is rated for 15 degrees, but I was absolutely freezing all night. I had to do continuous aerobics in my bag throughout the night to keep my blood flowing. As soon as I stopped for a few seconds, I was freezing again. I didn’t sleep a wink.
Around 5:30am I heard somebody out by the fire. I immediately climbed out of my frost covered tent and resumed my position by the fire. I have learned that you really have to be better prepared to tackle cold weather camping. It warmed up by day and we got in some good hiking before heading back to town. All in all, it was a memorable camping adventure that I will not be soon to repeat.
On out last weekend, the girls got together with some of our local friends and went horse back riding just outside of town. It was a great way to close out the month before rejoining the others in Beijing.
We had to rely a lot on prayer this month because we could not do much else. It was hard in many ways, and the attacks were heavy from the enemy. I struggled a lot this month with lies the enemy kept throwing at me. I got kind of beaten up, but I have come out victorious in the end. The devil does not have the power to defeat us because Jesus is in us and is stronger.
We all had a good time exploring Beijing and The Great Wall, before coming back to Hong Kong to debrief. Thank you for the prayers that got us through the month, and brought us to were we are now. We are all in this together to the finish – for the Kingdom.
