Month 6 was spent in the suburbs of China for Team Relentless. Our ministry for the month was working a full time job at Roundabout, which is a really nice thrift store that donates all it’s proceeds to charities. One of the charities includes a baby home that takes orphaned babies with the worst medical conditions.
This was one of those months where my feelings about our experience fluctuated. It felt like time rewound and we were at home again, only with a full-time minimum wage job. We spent an hour commuting to work and another hour from work as well. I woke up at 6:30am and went to sleep at 11:30pm. Some days it was good and fun and funny to be at the thrift store. Other days were much harder…but in the end, I learned so much discipline through it all. I got exactly one hour of time to myself if that each day, and because of that, I had to use my time wisely. I found myself craving alone time with the Lord every day to journal, read, or worship.
I literally sorted through people’s garbage and treasures for hours on end. We probably should have used gloves, but most of the time it was too hot. Oh, the things I have touched. I have to admit – touching plastic children’s toys was a legitimate fear of mine that I had to work through this month. I feel like plastic children’s toys are some of the most highly repulsive things to touch, as who knows what kind of nasty or bodily functions or germs have dried onto them. There’s me going slightly overboard, but clearly I was meant to have this job!
China Highlights:
- Our first stop, arriving in Asia was HONG KONG. Honestly, I love this place…possibly because it was my very first experience in Asia. I don’t love how hot it was though. We actually got to spend six days for a Leadership Development Weekend here while we were waiting to get our visas to get into China!
- One of the biggest blessings of China was having our CHINESE ROOMMATES. Honestly, at first, we didn’t know how great of an experience it was going to be to be for the girls to sleep on a couple of mattresses that took up the entire living room, wall to wall, of our four Chinese roommates. Eight girls tucked into one small, not the cleanest living space…but that all changed.
i. Our roommates gave me the Chinese name “YI FAN,” which means, “Everything is going smoothly. As a little bird rests upon a man – a timid and lovable little woman.”
- Our Chinese roommates taught us how to make HOMEMADE DUMPLINGS one night, and they were delicious!
- A good chunk of our day was dedicated to COMMUTING TO WORK on the busses. It took two busses and about an hour to get to and from work every day…and one day we got caught in a crazy downpour.
- Our team got connected with the most amazing missionaries: DAN AND COLLEEN and their family. They only just heard that we needed a church when they were dropping off donations at Roundabout, and they immediately invited us to dinner at their house and to church. I couldn’t even believe their kind hearts and generosity. They proceeded to love on us the rest of the month and take care of us. Thank you Lord for blessing us with this incredible family!!!
- In trying to experience the most Chinese culture possible, I decided to get FIRE CUPS. This ancient technique is supposed to release toxins in your body. Glass mason jars are placed all over your back (I had 12 placed all over my back), after they put a flame inside the jar to heat it up. Essentially what happens is the trapped heat suctions your back skin up into the jar (the size of a tennis ball in each jar!)
i. Does it hurt? Yes, slightly.
ii. Did I focus on that? No, I was too busy laughing at Danielle and Lori getting it done next to me.
iii. What did you hear? Horrible suction sounds and Danielle saying, “Every time I laugh, my jars clink together!” And the laughing brought on more pain….
iv. What was on my mind? “This is most disgusting thing I’ve possibly ever seen in my life. We look like MONSTERS and it’s freaking me out!” (This was looking over at the process happening to Danielle beside me. Scary)
With all that being said, it was a great cultural experience – I’m so glad I did it – and I will never do that again!!!
(The welts on my back…those are from the fire cups.)
- My absolute favorite cultural experience in China was DANCING IN THE PARK. This was one of those moments that I could have easily passed up and it ended up being one of those moments that define the World Race. (I’ll talk more about this experience in a blog to come!)
- In efforts to get to the baby home, our team ended up in a 45-MINUTE TUC-TUC RIDE that should have only taken 5-10 minutes. Tuc-tucs are a form of Chinese public transportation – a tiny boxcar on top of a motorcycle essentially. It seriously turned into such a spectacle, with the drivers of our two cars yelling at each other the entire time, swerving, jumping out to ask for directions…good times.
- We had the opportunity to visit the BABY HOME that Roundabout donated its charities to. When I walked in my jaw dropped. It was such a clean and beautiful home with the most precious babies I’ve seen. When we first heard we were visiting this home, my first thought in all honesty was, “Okay, I better put on a shirt I don’t care about because I might get pooped on today.” I was completely on the wrong mind track. This baby home takes orphaned babies with the worst medical conditions because it in fact was the only home in China capable of caring for some of these children with rare diseases. Just seeing the way the staff operated and interacted with the babies was magical. I feel so blessed to have just had a glimpse of this beautiful ministry and how they truly are saving the lives of babies who wouldn’t have made it otherwise.
- The STREET PANKAKES were amazing and I loved seeing how they were cooked!
- Roundabout treated us to a day at the Mutianyu section of the GREAT WALL OF CHINA! It was awesome being able to see one of the Wonders of the World while being here on the Race, as a gift, nonetheless….such a blessing.
i. We got to ride a CABLE CAR up to the wall…
ii. …and my absolute favorite part of the day was riding a TOBOGGAN down! So fun.
- BEIJING – In visiting many of the tourist attractions on our “off-days,” we found that we were also the TOURIST ATTRACTION. People were constantly asking us to be in pictures with them! One of my favorite parts was Snack Street. They sell everything from delicious Chinese food to scorpions on a stick. We tried the deep-fried GRASSHOPPERS!
(Oh the thrift store…boxes on boxes on boxes of STUFF)
Here’s the monthly recap video, brought to you by my awesome teammate, Mandi Gummels!
World Race – Month 6: China from Mandi Gummels on Vimeo.
