CHINA 4

Hello Friends,

I am sorry to leave you in such suspense for so long. I was not able to get back to the internet before we moved on to our next adventure. We are now in a different part of China. We are about 20 hours Northeast from where we were. It was kinda crazy, on the bus part of our journey we drove by the Pacific Ocean. The crazy part is that I have never seen the Pacific Ocean and who would have thought my first time would be from China...yep...crazy.

Well, to finish up my last story of the little hut in the village (which by the way I have pretty good pictures of), they had set the food out before us. Thankfully one of the students had brought a Chinese-English dictionary with them and we were able to communicate what some of the food was. I was very quickly able to recognize the bowls of beer...yep, beer in bowls, and was able to communicate with a firm hand wave, a headshake, and a smile that they were not allowed to drink. So, they settled for giving us cups of orange drink. I was very grateful to have some adventures students on are team who were eager to try some of the food. Not grateful for what might happen in the squatties later that evening, but grateful because it should gratitude and fellowship on our part to partake.

I had a particularly good time laughing with the locals as they watched one of my students have a lot of difficulty with his chopsticks. So much so that another student had to help him dip his...I think it was some form of duck...into the soy sauce. That students also reserved a special place in my heart for eating a portion of the duck head. The other moment was when one of my young ladies decided to try the creamy mixture with red specks with her rice. There is something very fundamental that I have learned about Chinese food. Red specks mean that my mouth will burn with the fire of a 1000 suns. The locals tried to step in before she put it in her mouth, but were too late. In seconds her entire face was red and she was inhaling what remained of her white rice and orange drink. Good thing that she likes spicey food. Actually, I was laughing so hard at the whole situation and just imagining what the locals were thinking about this young blonde american girl eating this crazy spicey stuff, that my students accused me of sipping out of the beer bowl.

Shortly after that we said our goodbyes and thank yous. We may not have stayed with them very long, but I know that I will remember that moment forever and I am sure they will as well. I yarp that our presence there would make a way for more to come after us and communicate the truth of the Father.

As I was saying earlier, we are in a new place. We are staying at another school running a summer english camp. Things did not start off as well as we would have liked. We only had about 8 students signed up to be apart of the program with us. We have been specifically asking the Father to bring 27 more students so that we would have a total of 35. About 14 of the chinese teachers have joined us to kinda even out the numbers a bit. We spent 2 days passing out fliers, and more students have come. We are still not at 35, but the Father is good and we are working with what he has given us. Please be yarping against the discouragement of our team for not having the numbers we would like, but that they would see the Father is what He has done and who He has brought.

More yarp requests. That the team could stay engaged here in China, some of them are starting to miss home. However, we know that after a week of being home, many of them are really going to miss China. We want them to make the most of the time that they have. Also, we are still having some health issues. Nothing drastic or terrible, mostly just pretty uncomfortable (you'll be happy to know that I feel fine!!). Last, that we as a leadership team would be sustained by the Father as the days are long and we are constantly pouring out.

Well, I must go again. I will try to write again soon.

Love and Hugs,

Mags