China.
First week of March we were in Hong Kong. We had applied for visas. During that time we (the whole squad) were camping on a peninsula called Wantsai. Camping got a little wild. On the camp ground there are cows. We found out quickly that they eat about anything and everything. My team didn’t get hit to hard by the cows. The others though, they had some wild times. We then found out there are boars on this peninsula as well. I got to wrestle a tent from a boar. Zach’s bag got taken by the boars, but was heroically rescued by Molly and Allie. Aaron’s tent got ripped open by the boars, but was fixed by Heidi with her magical sewing powers and some duck tape. So yeah, haha we had many other random and crazy experiences camping in Hong Kong to be honest. Did I mention it rained most of the time? Haha. Anyways… Some of the squad had made friends with a man that lives on the campsite. Just imagine a house of made of tents and tarps. It was pretty sweet. I showed up one night to meet him and found a majority of the rest squad there. Next I find myself eating a chicken foot, man what a sweet time. Shoutout to molly for that lol. We ended up getting our visas, some of us got called in for questioning. All in all it worked out. We had sweet time together as a team, got to talk to a few people, and we got to pray for the tent man before we left.
After getting our visas we are off to Shenzhen. We couldn’t find a hostel or a place to stay that night. So we slept outside the train station. I ended up making friends with a soccer team. The boys were 9-10 years old. Some of the guys from my squad and I ended up playing soccer, tag, dodgeball, throwing them around for the next few hours with them. Haha exhausting, but I loved these kids. It was almost 11 pm before they left. Kids do not have a curfew in China. Nuts.. haha. The rest of the night was sweet. Had a great talk with Brandon. One I will never forget. Talked to a guy that was deaf, he thought I could read Chinese. I tried to tell him I couldn’t but that didn’t work. I just went along with it for an hour. We ended up making hand gestures to communicate. Talked to another guy that came up to me (again this is 12 a.m. at night). We talked for quite sometime, got to tell him a little bit about Jesus. The night got a little weird after that. We had a few guys “hit” on Brandon and I if you know what I mean. One of the dudes grabbed my butt, the other guy smelled Brandon’s hand. The one dude really liked Brandon. Not sure what was happening, but when we figured out what was going on, we put the foot down immediately. Haha so yeah a weird night. We all found a corner to sleep in at the station (there is about 12 of us). I was woken up the next morning at 5 a.m. by the deaf guy. He was telling me that my train was here. Our train didn’t leave till 2 p.m. Haha, so confused. That was the last I saw of him.
We board the train headed to Kunming. We stay there a night and then we head to Zhaotong. The train rides were long, but good times. We end up in Zhaotong and my team (just the six of us) find out they we will all be staying with our own individual family in the city. We are helping teach English in the city at a local private elementary schools. These families FEED US SO MUCH FOOD. Hardly any of them spoke English. So we use google translate the whole time. Man, it was such a sweet time. We ended up having to leave the city, due to some visa complications. So much to write on this time. I can’t muster the strength to do so right now.
Overall, we got to pray, do worship, go to an international church here in China, and even hand out some bibles. China has been weird. I have loved every second. The people here are so nice, I have had some really great conversations. I have seen HS do so really cool things. We are now in Beijing and on our ways to Mongolia! Excited is an understatement:)
So yeah.. Currently I am good. So good. I am determined and just having fun honestly. Christ is it. Phil. 4. I am currently reading Wild at Heart. I will let you know what I think when I am finished with it.
Sorry not enought time to spell/grammar check. Limited WiFi 🙂 lol
christ is it! Much love!
