China

It feels like we just got back, but really it's been a week already! Time has been going by so fast. My computer isn't fixed yet, but one of the students is letting me borrow hers so I thought I would use my down time to try and get an update out.

On November 10th. 19 of us headed off to China and the Shan DTS group took off for Wiang Haeng.  China was an adventure from the very start... We thought that we would be staying in the same place that we did last year, but when the person who was leading us told us to get off the bus we discovered that we had to carry all of our luggage quite a ways to a different apartment that he had gotten for us. On the way to the apartment straps on bags broke, people were getting blisters, and almost getting hit by cars flying down the highway almost happened a few times.  But it was so awesome to see the way the students kept helping each other and took care of and looked out for each other.  When we got to the apartment we couldn't help but notice that it was smaller then the one we had been planning to stay in. And there was only two bathrooms... One of them a "Squatty Potty." The bathrooms made for some interesting situations at times, but we made it work and just tried to always have fun.

The first week was amazing. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I, along with Sarah, Lauren, Chelsea, and sometimes Gam, went to a kindergarten and was able to sing kids songs, tell Bible stories, and just help the teacher with whatever she needed. The other days our whole group split into two groups. P'Nit and I were in a group that went to univeristies and did prayer walks and talked to students. We also got to go to a nearby slums area a few times and clean the kids, give them food, play with them, and just love on them. It was such an awesome experience. I had never seen something like that so up close before. It was especialy crazy since only a few yards away was a huge business district and you could see the contrast in such a real way.

The second week was equally as incredible. On Monday we went to the kindergarten again, but after that we had to stop because of the ellections in China would have made it dangerous for us and for the teacher. The other days we did a lot of prayer walking and going to universities to talk to students. On Thursday we got to go to a church that we went to last year and perform our dances. As one of the students put it, it was incredible to see so many Chinese people all worshiping God. The whole service was in Chinese but you could always make out the name of Jesus. It was just amazing. On friday we went even further south, down to a lake. When we were walking on the pier we saw two wedding parties. We decided to walk into a little park area to rest. While there one of the students started playing guitar and some others starting singing worship songs. When people heard it they came to listen and watch. After awhile people just started pouring in! One of the wedding groups even came and wanted to take pictures with us. We even ended up being in their wedding video! It's so cool to think that when they go back and watch that movie of when they were first starting out, they will be able to see and hear us playing worship songs for them.

We left that Saturday. One of the students got sick that day and another got sick on Sunday. Please be praying for them as they continue to recover! I am also sick..
Please also be praying for the students this coming week. They just got through one of the harder lecture topics, and next week is going to be a difficult one for a few of them as well.

We are still trying to figure out where to go for major outreach and whether to be one group or split into two, but we are just listening to God and seeking His will. We feel like He has great things planned for this group of students.