The Suzhou Branch(This should've been posted a couple of weeks ago but got lost when I e-mailed it to my brother who was managing my blog)

We are so blessed to live in the world we live in with a God who loves us and teaches us to love and help one another. The Suzhou branch is full of wonderful people who were so kind and hospitable to us. The times I visited Suzhou they took us into their home and allowed us to stay for the night and made sure we made it to church. Showing us the kindness afterwards of feeding us lunch before we left to head back to the school in Changzhou. I feel so blessed to live in a church where we show kindness and love towards others and can feel a Christ like love. I also feel so blessed to feel the spirit so strongly in such a small but close-knit group of people and to feel the spirit speak to me. Today at church was one such day.
God is Love. We need to put our will in accordance with God and allow him to strengthen us and guide us. Trust God to allow us to experience those things we need to experience in order to grow and develop. Understand and seek to understand the importance of communication with God. Seek for sincere, unselfish, and unwavering faith and bring that forth when you pray. We need to spend time sincerely speaking with our father, seeking for guidance from him, knowing that he will answer our prayers by his  will, in his way, and in his time. We should strive to do more than the repetitive notion of saying the same thing over and over again in our prayers. We need to learn to humble ourselves enough to drop on our knees and pour out our heart and soul to our father in heaven. He knows us, loves us, and will provide our necessities as we move forth as hard workers, and he will grant us strength and blessings as we come unto him.
No matter where in the world you are if you come humbly unto him and strive to attend his church and listen to his words the lord will bless you and will listen. The lord’s people will continually guide and help you in times of need. We are all the lord’s children and we should strive to bring those blessings that we are granted through the Lord and our acquaintance with his Children to those others of the lord’s children who need that strength and love. Seek to be a Christ like people. Know that god loves you and that if you seek for answers, humble yourself, pray sincerely, and listen for an answer though it may not be the answer you seek or at the time you hope he does hear and answer our prayers.
The experience of China and the church in China have granted me so many blessings and love. Pictured below are the Okeson’s, a family in the Suzhou branch who has been so kind as to open their home to us and help us to get to church and feed us. Also pictured is some of what they have so graciously provided for us. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the lord’s people and all the blessings that they have granted me and hope to be able to one day bless and strengthen others as they strive towards all that which is pure and true.

Goodbyes-The start of a Long road

In this life a few things are inevitable, like death and taxes. Another one of those inevitabilities is goodbyes. When you come visit a new place for a time or when you leave an old one it is inevitable that eventually you will have to say goodbye. Goodbyes are hard, It’s just a fact of life. Some of us cope with goodbyes better than others. However, this goodbye in particular is one that is very difficult for me. Despite being little hell raisers and ruffians my kids have stolen my heart, all 30 of them. Today was one of the hardest days in my life when I had to say goodbye to them. It would be different if I had come somewhere closer but I am in China 9000 miles from home and halfway around the world so saying goodbye for them is especially hard because I don’t know if or when I will ever see my kids again in this life.
Along with saying goodbye to my kids at the end of class today I went to their dormitories and said good night to many of them tonight. I got there before the kids and when the kids arrived I was mobbed by about 12 of them, most of which weren’t even my ILP kids. I was giving hugs to several children at the same time as several of them looked at me and said “teacher, not go home! Teacher, not go home! Okay?” It broke my heart just a little hearing that especially from my kids. I got so many hugs, kisses, and snuggles tonight and that is something I will hold on to for a while.
Today was very difficult for me and it is the start of a long road ahead. I will think of these kids with reminiscent sadness for a while after I get home. However, I need to move on and go forth heading home to see friends and family looking towards my future. I hope that I have left an impression on these kids that will stay with them and that when China is opened up for missionary opportunities softens there heart and helps them come to the truth. This experience has been an incredible journey for me with its bumps and bruises along the way and with the children often times not listening to me.
Tonight when I went to say good night to my kids it broke my heart but showed me how amazing are the mouths of babes when one of my little girls looked at me with tears in her eyes and said to me. “Teacher, I need to say sorry, for not listening to you when you talking in class.” While kids are just that kids especially when the time comes that they know they might not get another opportunity they will do the right thing. I hope these thoughts and impressions lead them to a greater knowledge of right and wrong and bring them to better lives.
I have a few more nights here in Changzhou, however, the children go home tomorrow and I leave on Sunday so I won’t be able to see them again after tomorrow. The long road ahead, the one beyond saying goodbye will not be easy but it will be worth it. This experience has melded lives beyond my own and left me with many thoughts, impressions, and ponderings that will stay with me until I carry them out. So, as I get ready to head to Hong Kong and then to go home I start this journey to move forward and to touch lives. I look down the path ahead, which while it seems scary right now will lead me to right where I need to be in the end. Here I start the next chapter of my journey, Thank you all of my children and Thank you China.

sleepy home

Sleepy Home
One of the best experiences I’ve had while here in China has been in this last week going to the kids dormitories to say good night to them. They absolutely love having you there and they all swarm around you for pictures, as well as all being eager to talk to you. I got so many hugs and murmurings of teacher I love you during this time. It is a great time to get to talk to just a few of the kids and to listen to them.
I have gone most of the nights this last week to say good night to them with the exception of one. On the second night when Lorilei and I started to head over the kids were still coming back from their classes so we stood out by the Vienna concert hall to wait for them to get to their rooms. However, one of my little girls saw me and ran to give me a hug and took me by the hand and said teacher come to my sleepy home. Another one gave Lorilei a big hug and did the same thing. So we headed after their class towed by a couple of little girls. I was shortly joined on the other side by one of my other little girls who grabbed my other hand and the one who was towing Lorilei grabbed my arm with her free hand on the other side and so soon I was being towed up the stairs by 3 little girls. Another little girl who shared a room with the little girl who was towing Lorilei came and talked to me as we headed to their rooms. Once we got up there a kind of tug of war ensued between The 2 little girls who had initially started towing me, Cindy and Selina, and the little girl who had joined Judy. However, Lorilei had already gone into the room with Sunny my other little girl and Sunny shared a room with Judy while Cindy and Selina shared so they won out.
All of the little girls were so excited to see me and so they all came around to give me hugs and talked to me. It was all a buzz around me and continued that way until Sunny came to tow me into her room and Lorilei and I switched places. In Sunny’s room I got hugs and kisses on the cheek from all six of the little girls in that room. They all talked to me and they soon wanted a picture, however Lorilei had the camera so one of the little girls went next door to get Lorilei and the camera and she soon came in and we got pictures. After we’d spent a little bit more time with the 12 little girls in these 2 rooms we left to find and say good night to a few more of our kids. We said good night to a few more little girls and to some of our little boys and after a while it was time for us to leave and the children to get to bed. So we finished saying our good nights and headed back to our room.

Beijing Day 4-The Ming Tombs and the Train ride home

The next morning we slept in a little bit then packed up to head back to Changzhou. We gave our keys to the others in our group as they were going to sleep in longer and check out for all of us. As we didn’t want to carry around all of our stuff all day and our hostel provided a luggage room we left all of those things that we didn’t need in the luggage room and then headed out. We hopped on the metro and followed our directions heading to the appropriate metro stop that would take us out to the tombs. Once we got there we headed out and found a marketplace near where we should catch our bus, so a few of us stopped and got some food along the way. After we’d gotten food we headed out to find our bus.

  Problem. The bus we were searching for did not exist. So we went back into the metro station and asked information for help. Multiple times. However, each time we asked for help was less helpful than the last, the language barrier didn’t exactly help the situation. After awhile we just gave up trying to ask them for help and we went out the bus depot where our bus was supposed to be and searched. Still no luck. However, we had a sheet of paper with the bus information on it so one of us asked a couple of the bus drivers and they kept doing the same thing pointing outside of the depot along the street. So outside of the depot we went and we found a bus stop and looked at the buses provided on the sign. Still no luck, after awhile we found someone who spoke English who pointed us in the right direction. Finally we got on the bus, asked if it was the correct one, got the affirmative and were on our way.

          Problem solved right? Wrong! While on the bus the woman who took our money was in a sense passing notes to Lorilei trying to communicate to her that this bus wouldn’t get us to the Ming tombs. After awhile she directed us where we should get off and which bus we should get on to get the Ming tombs. So we got off and got on the bus which she directed us. We were still a little bit skeptical but when we saw a sign for the sacred way we knew we were on the right track. We had also planned on going to see the temple of heaven before we had to leave Beijing but our detour on our way to the Ming tombs sort of destroyed that plan. Eventually we got to the Ming tombs, paid and were in. We spent some time in the tombs exploring and taking pictures. We enjoyed ourselves then were headed out. On the way out we saw a convenience store where we decided to stop for a minute. Inside this convenience store I found a little treasure, Ritz crackers, I got a couple of  packages and I savored them. Once we were done at the convenience store we stopped by the restroom and then headed out to meet the bus. We got on the bus, where we debated stopping at the sacred way but decided against it and off we went.

          After awhile on the bus we realized that the bus wouldn’t stop where we thought so we had to ask for some help. We received some helpful information by a woman who spoke English on the bus, she looked Chinese but spoke English very well and was probably Asian-American visiting China. We got of the bus where she told us to but still had some trouble finding our way. We asked for some help but had some trouble communicating. After some time we found our way and followed the street until we made it to a metro stop. From that metro stop we were able to make it back to the Tiananmen stop and to our hostel. Once at our hostel we got all of our stuff from the luggage room and stopped briefly to get something to eat. We also discovered that rather than taking the metro to the train station a specific bus would be faster. So, once we were done eating we hopped on that bus and headed for the train station. Once at the train station we found out where the waiting area for our train was where we met up with the rest of the people from Changzhou. While I waited I went with Dylan into the McDonald’s and got some Mcnuggets. The time came for us to board the train, there was just one problem. Katelin, Zac, and Madelynn weren’t there yet. I was waiting on Lorilei to board the train, however, Nick was waiting for the other three to arrive and Lorilei had me just board the train. After awhile of wondering if they were going to make it they made it onto the train. We somehow managed to have everyone in cars with the same people they were with on the ride to Beijing so we kept essentially the same sleeping setup. We talked about our weekend with everyone for a little bit and heard about everything then headed back to our own car and slept most of the train ride. When we were nearing Changzhou we packed up what we’d gotten out and got everything ready. Once the train stop we headed off the train and towards the bus stop. We waited for a bus, took the first one that arrived that would drop off near the school, enjoyed the ride, got off the bus and headed back to the school. Closing this particular chapter of the China adventure.

         

Beijing Day 3-The Great Wall & Peking Opera

          We woke up to the start of another beautiful day and got dressed and ready packing what we needed for the day. Once we were ready we headed down to the lobby to buy water and to meet up with the rest of our group. The Great wall is the one thing on our trip to Beijing all 8 of us did together. After waiting for a few minutes our tour guide showed up to meet us at our hostel. We waited for a few minutes for our van then got in and paid our guide for our tour. As we did so our driver headed for our great wall tour starting point. While we drove out there which was about a 3 hour drive our tour guide asked us what we knew about the great wall and told us some interesting tidbits and information about it. At one point along the way we stopped and were given the opportunity to go to the restroom. The bathroom that we stopped at is probably the most disgusting restroom I’ve ever been in, in my entire life and I hope never to encounter on that bad again. Once we were given that opportunity we headed back into the van, while we continued our drive our tour guide handed out our lunches to pack away for later when we were on  the wall. After a bit longer we reached our starting point and headed out of the van. Our starting point was in someone’s backyard in a small Chinese village, from here we started up the hill towards the wall. It wasn’t an easy hike but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We worked our way up and about an hour or so later we made it to our starting point, one of the old watch towers from the non-restored section of the wall. We spent a few minutes there exploring and resting and then we went along our way again, hiking the wall.

          The non-restored section of the wall was somewhat crumbling with various plants growing through the middle of it. We hiked along trying to avoid the cracked segments and dodging around trees and bushes. While we were along this section of the wall, our tour guide, lee, let us know how they held the wall together. The Chinese used rice as a kind of mortar. They baked the heck out of rice, mixed it with water, ash, and various other minerals and used that as a mortar to hold together the wall. This information was something that I found rather interesting. We hiked along the non-restored section for awhile longer going through a couple of watchtowers then eventually at one of the watchtowers we stopped. People spent a little bit of time eating and we took a bunch of pictures, including some group jumping pictures. After a little while we continued onward. We took a shortcut for awhile that wasn’t on the wall as our tour guide let us know that the portion of the wall directly in front of us was too dangerous and would take too long to hike. After we’d been off the wall for a little while we found our way back onto the wall and continued on. Not long after we had returned to the wall we came to the crossroads, where the non-restored section of the great wall met the restored section. So of we went onto the restored section of the wall. We came across our first tower of the restored section and spent some time taking pictures, while the first vendor we came across tried to get our attention, however, Lee, our tour guide helped us to avoid the vendor and off we went.

          We continued along the wall, on and on. We made our way through several watch towers, past several vendors, and up and down tons and tons of steps. Hiking along the wall was quite something. All of the steps along the wall varied, some were very steep, while others were very shallow, along all of them we went as we continued along. As we headed along the wall we made various stops to take pictures and take in all of the scenery. Enjoying the fall colors and looking from side to side at China on the one side, with Mongolia on the other. We continued along and reveled in one of the seven manmade wonders of the world. We continued along down the wall making it through several watch towers, on we went. After awhile we came across an area of the wall with a few signs and some information where we stopped, read, and took some pictures before we moved on. We continued on through the watch towers, eventually hitting the last watch tower we would go through. We all opted to pay the little bit of extra money and we took the toboggan slides down off of the wall. We took toboggans on wheels and steered our way down the wall, it was a ton of fun and we all made it safely to the bottom. Once at the bottom there were many a vendor. I stopped at one and bartered them down to 20 Yuan for a print of the great wall, they’ll try to tell you it’s painted, never believe them. I knew it wasn’t real, but I wanted my souvenir from the great wall and I figure roughly $3 is a small price to pay. Afterward we found our way out and as most of us had something else planned for the evening rather than spending time walking around the town we had Lee take us back for our tour van and we began the 3 hour drive home.  

          Once we got home we went up to our hostel rooms for a moment and put away those things that we wouldn’t need for the evening. Then we met down in the lobby to wait for our car to the opera. Six of us went and it was something that was offered by our hostel so we also paid for transport there. We headed to the Opera after dropping off some others to go see the acrobats. Once we got there our driver got out, walked us in, and purchased our tickets. After we had our tickets we went in. After we had found our seats and when we knew when the show started we made a detour down to the souvenir shop and looked around for a bit. Once we were done looking we made our way back to our seats and just talked until the show started. The show was at a Peking opera themed hotel and rather than have a single opera they did 4 scenes from various operas. It wasn’t as entertaining or interesting as it could have been but it gave us a glimpse of a different culture. They also had a couple of displays up above on either side of the stage which translated the Chinese so that you could read what was being said. We made it through the opera, with most of us finding one scene to be the most interesting and entertaining. Once it was over we decided to walk back to our hostel as it wasn’t far. So we headed back, talking, various conversations of interest going on along the way. We made it back to the hostel and we called it a night, giving us some time to sleep before the next day.

Beijing Day 2-The Summer Palace and Xiangshan Park

We started a beautiful second day in our hostel getting ready and eventually heading down to see if Lorilei was ready to head out for the day. The divide that had started on day one due to hunger continued on as we let the other 3 see the forbidden city which they had never gotten to the day before. Once everyone was ready we met up and headed for the metro. We used our trusty map and picked the appropriate metro stop for the summer palace. Once we had gotten our tickets we hopped the metro and headed out. After we got of the metro we started our search for the entrance to the park. Once we had been ambushed by a couple of tour guys who we promptly turned down it was fairly obvious where the entrance was so we headed into the park. The summer palace was huge and gorgeous. A large portion of it was water which provided some beautiful views and great picture taking opportunities. Once in the park we headed along exploring the area with all of its historic properties, informational signs, and beauty. We wandered for awhile talking as we went and taking pictures as we headed along. After awhile we found an area which was home to a grand hallway that was very long and displayed several beautiful images along the whole thing. We were able to capture several images that were painted along it and take in the beauty of this hall, along with the beauty surrounding it as it was an outdoor hallway and also had excellent views of the waterfront.

          After we had been wandering and enjoying for awhile once we had seen many of the buildings and much of the history we started looking for our way out. Along the way we ran across a man who was doing water calligraphy. He had a giant brush and would use just water to write on the walk and once the water dried the calligraphy would go away and the sidewalk would be good as new. We spent a minute watching him and enjoying then we headed along. Also along our path we ran into another man who had a type of game with two sticks of wood and a spinner where you would try to flip the spinner off of the wood and catch it again. We stayed there for a few minutes as Lorilei and Dayna tried it out then headed on. After a few more minutes we found our way out and found a bus that would take us up to Xiangshan park. We hopped the bus and were on our way. It was a bit of a long bus ride but we talked or slept along the way.

          Once we got off the bus we searched for the park. It took us a few minutes and asking someone where the park might be but we found it and headed up. Just outside of the park there were many vendors so we stopped for a minute as some of us found something to eat and then we headed into the park. We hiked around for a bit and took plenty of pictures, however, after awhile Dayna’s foot started to hurt her so she and Ashley decided to stay down at the bottom. Looking at the clock Nick, Lorilei, and I decided we wanted to try and amble to the top then back down before we had to head back to our hostel for our plans for the evening. So up we went as quickly as we could go, trying to make the best time we could. After awhile Nick let us know where we were regarding the time. We didn’t want to hold him back as we weren’t sure if we’d make it to the top so I passed off my camera to him while we kept Lorilei’s camera and we sent him on his way, with plans to meet at the top. Lorilei and I ambled up the mountain, Trying to race to the top, climbing numerous stairs, some steeper than others. At one point along our way we got stopped by some Chinese men to take some pictures with them. After a few Lorilei got away but I got stuck with them for a little longer then finally was let free. Once I was free I could still see Lorilei but barely so I continued to amble up. After a bit I had lost Lorilei close to the top, eventually I found her though and we took a couple of pictures at the top and searched for Nick. After a few minutes unable to find him we headed down the mountain climbing down numerous stairs and jogging along for the bottom. After a little while we finally made it to the bottom and a few minutes later we found Nick. After waiting for a few minutes Ashley and Dana came along so we were ready to head out. We let Lorilei and Nick head off for a minute as Lorilei wanted one of the medallions they were selling at the park. After waiting for them for about 15 minutes they finally emerged and we headed for the buses in a bit of a hurry. Of course the bus they were starting for us made an awful sound, so after waiting for a bit we tried to get a taxi to a metro stop, but to no avail. We headed out and found another bus which we took to the metro which we took back to Tiananmen square and then ran to our hostel from there. However, by the time we got back it was too late for our night plans, luckily, we were able to reschedule them to the next night.

          After our long days adventure we headed out in search of some food. We found some food and filled up. Later Lorilei, Nick, and I decided we wanted some ice cream. As we headed out we ran into Luis and Dylan and they showed us a different area than the one we were used to and we went there for ice cream. After ice cream a challenged was issued and a piggyback race ensued with Nick on Lorilei’s back and Luis on Ashley’s. The race started and it looked promising until down Lorilei went flat into the cement, all of this caught on video. After this another race ensued with Lorilei on Nick’s back and Ashley on Luis’s. The race started and before Nick could make it all the way up from getting Lorilei on his back down he went to with Lorilei tumbling over his shoulder, tucking and rolling, unfortunately not caught on film. Needless to say Luis and Ashley won both races. The physical tax from running up and down a mountain that day had just been too much for Nick and Lorilei. After that we decided to call it a night so we headed back to the hostel to turn in so that we could wake up to another day in Beijing.