As children many of us joked about how we were digging a “hole to China” in our sandbox.
Well, now that I’ve been to China, I can tell you that digging a hole through the earth’s core might be one of the easiest ways to get there.
One of the things that truly marks the World Race are its crazy travel days. Because we are missionaries on a budget, our priority in travel becomes finding the cheapest route instead of the most convenient.
Although racers come to expect these days, we often find that nothing could really prepare us for them, not even prior travel experiences. Each one is new, and each day produces a new level of patience and reliance on God in us.
With that said, I am about to detail our travel experience from Manzini, Swaziland to the city in China where we spent our month. Although I am deliberately writing in a tedious manner to help you get a glimpse into what we experienced, I am not in any way exaggerating. This is really my life.
SO HERE WE GO….
· We left Manzini, Swaziland on Friday, November 30 at about 11 a.m.
· Our khombi bus that we hired to take us to the airport was several hours late.
· After a crowded four-hour bus ride, we arrived at the Johannesburg airport.
· We spent the night at the airport, and most of us stayed up all night to Skype with our families before leaving for an internet-less month in China.
· We headed through security to our gate at 10 a.m. on Saturday, December 1.
· We took a five-hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya, and arrived at 6 p.m.
· Our flight left Nairobi at 11 p.m.
· We then flew 8 hours to an unexpected stop in Bangkok, Thailand.
· Our flight was delayed for 2 hours.
· We left Bangkok at 5 p.m. on Sunday, December 2.
· We took another flight for 3 hours to Hong Kong.
· We quickly went through customs.
· We took a 45-minute charter bus ride to an ancient village, and arrived at about 9 p.m.
· The bus couldn’t enter the village.
· We walked with our packs on for 45 minutes to the place where we were going to stay.
We stayed in Hong Kong for three days exploring, doing squad stuff, and learning about China. For the record, during this time, I got to ride the longest escalator in the world.
BUT THEN THE REAL FUN BEGAN…
· We left our village in Hong Kong on Wednesday, December 5 at 2:30 p.m.
· We then walked with our packs, daypacks, food and water for about 1.5 miles to a bus stop at the train station.
· We waited for an hour for our bus to come.
· We took a 45-minute, standing bus ride with our packs on and got dropped off in the middle of an unknown city. Many innocent Chinese bystanders got hit by our packs in the process.
· From the bus stop we walked to a train station.
· We took a train.
· From that station, we walked to another train station.
· We took a 5 minute train to the China/Hong Kong border.
· We went through customs. One of my squad mates got pulled aside and laughed at. We made it through though.
· We waited outside of customs for 30 minutes for another team to meet us.
· We all walked outside and sat outside of a bus/train station for two hours waiting for the rest of the I Squad teams to make it through the border. It was night . It was cold.
· We took an hour and a half train ride. There was minimal storage for our packs. It was hard to maneuver.
· We arrived at the other train terminal at about 11:30 p.m.
· We were too late to take another train.
· We took turns sleeping in the train station.
· I slept on top of my pack from midnight until 5 a.m. off and on.
· We caught a metro train at 6 a.m. on December 6.
· We arrived at another train station and waited outside from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. in fluctuating weather for our team leaders to buy train tickets.
· At 5 p.m. we went through security to wait in a large, smoky room for 2 hours.
· Walked from that room across the station, up some very steep stairs to another waiting room.
· We got in a line at 8 p.m. with our packs open and waited for some gates to open.
· We walked another mile with our bags to our train car where there was hardly any room for our stuff. We had to cram it into every little space including on our laps and at our feet.
· We took a 35 hour train ride to the city we stayed in for the month.
· We arrived at about 7 a.m.
· We gathered all of our belongings, which had been scattered across the train.
· We walked with all of our possessions to a hotel lobby across the street from the train station to escape the cold to wait for our contacts.
· We were not allowed to wait there. We walked with all of our possessions to a KFC. (Yes, they have Kentucky Fried Chicken in China.)
· We could not all fit with our bags in KFC. We put all of our bags outside and took turns going inside to hide from the freezing cold that none of us were adequately dressed for.
· We waited there for about 3 hours for our contact.
· We gathered our bags and followed our contact to a hotel, which was about a 10 minute walk away.
· We waited on the fourth floor of the hotel for our contact to meet with the team leaders.
· My team walked with our bags for 5 minutes to a bus stop.
· We took a bus, with our bags, for about 45 minutes.
· We got off the bus, and hiked up and down a foot bridge to cross the street.
· We went the wrong way.
· We hiked, still with our bags, to our flat, which was a 30 minute walk uphill.
· We finally made it in the evening of Saturday, December 8.
If you read all of that, I congratulate you. But even if you didn’t I’m sure you get the point.
Travel days are rough, and in the moment it can be difficult to understand why we have to do what we have to do and go as far as they ask us to go.But in many of my moments of frustration, God reminds me all of the times I’ve sang and said to Him that I would go to the ends of the earth for His Kingdom.
After this month, I feel like I have literally been to the ends of the earth – the other side of the world from my home. Getting there wasn’t easy or fun, but if I have to suffer for a week to be in the exact location where God has called me to be than it’s worth it. The lack of sleep, a weary body from carrying 60 pounds of luggage, and the sickness that came as a result were worth it because of the incredible, Spirit-led month we had in China.
So while digging a hole might be easier, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
