Here is my attempt to portray the events of the last few days. Just know, it is hard to put into words the adventure! We left J Tree last Sunday morning to drive to our city, Yu Mon, which was about 7 hours away. Luckily it was a very pretty drive on winding roads through the snow capped mountains, because it could have been quite miserable otherwise with the 4 puking Chinese people.
We arrived in Yu Mon about 4:30 pm. Gary had made a friend on the way, via our phrasebook, who told us where to get off and even pointed out the only hotel in the city. Immediately when we arrived, we had a gathering of staring Tibetans. We got to the hotel to find out we had a couple options. We could get rooms with private bathrooms, that didn’t have showers or running water, or take cheaper rooms and use the bathroom down the hall. We opted for the cheaper ones since we already felt ripped off, but being the only hotel in town, they could do that.
As we came into our room, I realized this was not going to be a pleasant 3 nights stay. The room was filthy, cigarette butts and sunflower seeds everywhere. We had no running water or means to shower. We were using a bathroom down the hall that can best be described as a long sectioned off trough that reaked. We only had power from the hours of 7-10pm, which would have helped had our TV actually worked. And to top it all off…WE HAD NO HEAT. It was in the 30’s or 40’s outside, and not much different in our room. When you have to wear everything you own in your hotel room and can see your breath when you speak…you know it’s cold!
I feel God was really testing us the first couple of days. For most of our other ministries, He has immediately shown us why we were supposed to be where we were, but not in this case. We had made no English speaking friends. We had trouble finding our way around. We thought we made friends with a teenager who helped us find the laundry place, but later when he threatened to beat up Gary because we wouldn’t pay him for his services, we were quite mistaken. Let’s just say I was not too excited to have travelled as far as we did to come to this!
God really spoke to me the first night when I woke up freezing. As I prayed and cried out to Him, I felt He was testing me to see if He was enough. When all my earthly comforts were striped away, could I find joy and rest in Him? Could I trust that He brought us here for a reason, even if I didn’t immediately see why? Could I praise His name even when I wasn’t comfortable? I learned a lot the first night and day about God being enough and all I need. Once I gave my desires and comforts up to Him, He began to fill me with joy and peace…and I didn’t notice the cold as much!
On Monday, our angel arrived. Eugene, our contact here, sent us Noel, a Peruvian who has made a 3 year commitment to work with Eugene in China. We were excited for him to arrive, knowing he would speak a little more Chinese than we did and could help us get around, buy bus tickets back, and find the monastaries. Noel only speaks Spanish and some Chinese, so Gary did a lot of translating.
About 30 minutes after Noel arrived, Gary, Cathy, and him went for a walk around Yu Mon to get a lay of the land and hopefully find the bus station. On their way they ran into Dundrup, a Tibetan doctor who spoke English and Chinese. He came to dinner with us (which was rather intesesting with one guy who spoke Chinese and English, Noel who spoke Spanish and Chinese, and Gary who spoke English and Spanish). Dundrup promised that Tuesday he would take us to the 2 monastaries in Yu Mon. We were excited that God brought a local contact to us and had presented us with a chance to scout out the monastaries for track bombing!
The next morning Dundrup showed up at our hotel, remember is the only one and easy to find, with a driver to take us to the monastaries. We soon discovered that neither was very close. The first one we went to was about a mile and a half out of town, then about another mile and a half over a creek, up a dirt “road,” and a bit of a hike up a mountain. Not quite the easiest to get to in the dark of the night, we were thinking.
Up at this monastary we got to see a couple temples and prayer wheels. It broke my heart to see some kids bowing down to the idols. At the end of our tour, Dundrup told us his brother and uncle were monks there and had invited us to come into their home (which Noel told us was very very rare). We entered and were immediately served bread, dried yak meat (still on the bone), and hot water, with some yak butter in it. A taste of the yak butter was plenty for me! I wont be putting that sour stuff on my blueberry muffins!
Dundrop and the monks then taught Gary and Cathy some traditional Tibetan dances, while Noel, Ashley, and I watch on and chuckled. They looked much like a couple of dancing Teletubbies to a strange Tibetan beat. It was very entertaining. Gary got the foot work down, but could use more help on the arm flailing.
Following our visit to the first monastary, we had a quick lunch break and then headed the other way out of town to our second monastary. This one was a little closer and not quite the uphill trek, but there weren’t near as many monks here. We did see a huge towering Budda. The men were invited into the temple where monks were reciting tape recorded prayers, and one was banging a drum and cymbols. Gary told us it was very dark and strange. I’m not sad I missed that part.
After both visits, Dundrup wanted us to come see his hospital. It was very close to our hotel so we agreed. While we were on the second floor, we noticed a huge crowd gathering across the street. Finally we realized that a couple men were fighting. The police quickly pulled up and grabbed one of the guys, punching and beating him with their night sticks to get him into their vehicle. We had some great bird’s eye seats for the excitement!
The police broke up the crowd by the time we left, and we said goodbye to our friend and told him we needed rest. We thanked Dundrup for all his hospitality and for showing us around Yu Mon. Following this we had a decision to make. The tracks had to be dropped off that night, but to which monastary (they were too far for both), and how would we face the dilemma of how to get in and out of the hotel, which locked it’s doors around 11pm?
Ashley and I examined the front door to see how it locked, and if there was any way someone could let us in from the inside without hotel management. We did find we could play McGyver and unscrew one of the door handles to release the chain and padlock that held it shut. Another option we found was to crawl up on a roof and through the bathroom window in the back. We turned to Noel (our more experienced friend) for help.
Noel thought the best thing to do was to leave before the door locked and then bang on the door when we got back saying we were out late for dinner or just hanging out around the town. We opted for this. We then discussed which monastry to go to. All of us felt that even though the first one would be harder to get to, and was surrounded by dogs, it would be more fruitful because there were more monks. Ashley and Cathy felt called to stay back and pray, while Gary, Noel, and I were excited to carry God’s Word in Tibetan to these lost people. We planned to meet at 10pm, pray, and take off on the 6 mile journey.
We prayed and read for a couple hours, then I began to get ready for my mission impossible adventure. I borrowed Cathy’s black pants (mine were too noisy), her black jacket, put on 6 layers, took out my earrings, pulled my hair under my hat, and finished up with a little chapstick, didn’t want to get windburn. At about 10:30pm we prayed and Gary, Noel, and I headed out on the dark unlit streets.
Since it was still pretty early, there were several people out on the streets. We tried to be very inconspicuous and put our heads down anytime someone passed or a car drove by. It’s amazing how much more you read into slow driving cars when you are breaking the Chinese law. We walked very briskly until our turnoff. However, at the point where we turn down the dirt road there were a bunch of people across the street.
We turned the corner and checked frequently to see if any of them were following us. They weren’t. We then began the more difficult part of the trip. We had to use our flashlights to make sure we weren’t stepping in the creek, on possible ankle rolling rocks, or in yak dung. The uphill journey also began (which we knew wouldn’t be easy considering the fact we were at over 13,400 ft and climbing).
One of the most intense parts was when we passed through and area of houses. We could here the barking of dogs on each side, which is rather intimidating in the dark when you can’t see the dogs or how far away they are. I stuck close to Gary and Noel in case one came after us. At one point we walked by a house and a dog came running out towards us. I about peed my pants until we realized it was on a chain. Noel was good about shining his light on them as we moved past quickly.
The trek up was very hard on the lungs after we passed the dogs. We got to the steeper parts and had to rest a couple times to catch our breath. Finally we made it to the base of the hill up to the monastary, the steepest part. Noel instructed us to pick up rocks in case the barking dogs at the top came after us and to shine our lights on them before taking fire. God protected us from the dogs as we quickly put the tracks down around the prayer wheels and in front of the room with the big prayer wheel. Noel kept a few to put in other places on the way down. The Gospel was taken to Yu Mon!
The journey down was a lot easier on our breathing. However, the excitement wasn’t quite over. As we passed through the area of all the barking dogs, this time one actually came after us some. We ran, while Noel shone his light on it and yelled in Spanish.
The dog backed up, but gave us quite the scare. A couple times Noel would stop and say, “Escucha!” He thought he heard foot steps or voices, but there was nothing.
We made it down to the main road and had about another mile and a half to get back to the hotel and safely inside. The street wasn’t quite as quiet as we would have liked. Many times cars would drive by slowly. It’s amazing how much more paranoid you are in a situation as this. At one point a car turned around and I thought for sure they must be coming for us, but it just drove by. As we got closer to the hotel we could see head lights around the bend in the road. I prayed it wasn’t the police looking for us!
The car eventually drove off and we made it to the hotel at about 12:30am, but we were locked out. We tried to signal Cathy and Ashley to see if they could get us in, but finally just banged on the door until the lady came down to let us in. Noel gave her a speech on locking us out, while we quickly walked on to our rooms. God gave us success in all aspects of our mission (possible)!
The next morning we got up early to get the first bus out of town. It was a sleeper bus, which has 3 rows of very narrow bunks, about 6 deep, in a charter size bus. I was pretty claustrophobic, but glad to be able to lay down for our 27 hour ride. We stopped back in J Tree where we picked up some more World Racers on other teams. Then the bus took us through the night, and we arrived back in the KFC town early this morning.
I have never been so thankful for a warm shower, clean clothes, heat, and KFC! God’s amazing grace and protection have been with us the whole way and have taught me a lot on the journey. Tomorrow we take a train to another 36 hour train to a 2 hour bus to Macao to catch a flight to Bangkok, Thailand! God has been good in China and openned doors for us to share His word! Can’t wait to see what He does in the next country…so probably until Thailand…peace out foo’s!
P.S. I’ll be putting up picks with this when I can find a computer that reads my camera! Check back!
