Thailand Itinerary

Grace and peace to you all in the name of our L0rd and S@vior J*s-s Chr+st!

As I write this post, I admit that I have not been all that busy over the last few weeks, and I've made almost nothing of my downtime. In Ivy's words, I've spent the last two weeks or so "full-time dating." On the bright side, I've gotten to know her a lot better, but there's not a whole lot that is worthy of a blog post.

Last Monday I performed for the other teachers in my school. To celebrate Chinese New Year, there were several different skits and many teachers from the whole school attended. I had a solo for the song "You Raise Me Up," and I was joined in the chorus by Ivy and a number of my female co-workers (most of whom I had not met before we started rehearsing). My timing was off for the performance, but I have done worse. Mostly the teachers were just impressed with the English, which is really what it was all about. Ivy took pictures, but unfortunately she lost her camera, so I will not be able to put them on this post.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for: my itinerary for my upcoming vacation. I will spend the next three weeks in Thailand, Hong Kong, Guilin (a city in China), and traveling between them. I'm excited and hope to take lots of pictures. I have a total of almost two months off for Chinese New Year, and I'm taking full advantage of them.


Trip Part 1-Northern Thailand!

January 30th: Take a train to HK after school. Overnight train.

January 31st. Arrive in Hong Kong in the morning. Flight to Phuket (Thailand) at 8:25PM. Arrive at 10:55PM, overnight in Phuket at the Canal Resort.

February 1st: Catch flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai at 10:35AM, arrive at 12:30PM and travel to Cave Lodge

February 2nd: Full Day Adventure Caving or Easier cave tour

February 3rd: Full day Hill Tribe Trek

February 4th: One Day Khong River Trip to Susa Waterfalls kayaking.

February 5th: Travel back to Chiang Mai in morning. Afternoon with WELS M*ssion family? Catch 9:45PM flight back to Phuket! Arrive in Phuket 11:50PM. Overnight in the Canal Resort (343 Baht).

Trip Part 2-Southern Thailand!

February 6th: Sleep in, travel to Phuket town, catch short boat ride to Koh Phi Phi Don. Relax on
beach.

February 7th: Beach, sea kayaking?

February 8th: Beachhhhhh oh yeaaaaaahhh!

February 9th: Travel to Koh Lanta via short boat ride. Stay at Kantiang Bay! Elephant Trek? Relax on
Beach.

February 10th: Beach, massage, relaxation, beer. Rent motorbike to explore island?

February 11th: Beach, massage, relaxation, beer, relaxation, more beer, snorkeling?

February 12th: Travel to Phuket from Lanta via boat-3 hours. Go to airport, catch 3:40PM flight to
HK. Arrive in HK in the evening at 7:55pm.


Trip Part 3-FOC Retreat Hong Kong, Guilin!

February 13th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 14th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 15th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 16th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 17th: Travel by train to Guilin, explore, overnight in hostel!

February 18th: 1 Day cruise on the Li River to Yangshuo. Stay overnight at En Attendant Godot Youth Hostel in Yangshuo.

February 19th: Explore Yangshuo, bike ride through the countryside along the mountains? David's birthday!

February 20th: Back to Guilin, catch train to Wuhan!

Those are my plans for the next few weeks! Now I will shamelessly add a plug for why you should come to visit me in Wuhan. I've prepared a top 11 list:
1. Try authentic Chinese food! I'm not talking about the American stuff in the restaurants, either.
2. Practice your chopstick skills.
3. See beautiful Chinese scenery, like East Lake or giant piles of rubble.
4. Throw your trash away...off the roof! This is one of David's favorite activities, and I thoroughly enjoy it as well.
5. Meet the friendly Chinese people! They make Americans feel like superstars here.
6. Experience a new culture. Chinese culture is a little different from American culture, obviously.
7. Play Frogger in real life! Crossing the street here in China is just like playing the game, except you only ever have one life. I apologize to all of you who do not understand this reference. Ask your children!
8. Lose weight! In the past five months, I've lost over 50 pounds. I really think that I should be a poster boy for FoC! (I've lost weight, found a girlfriend, sowed the seed, etc.)
9. Breathe the clean Wuhan air. We don't have any pollution in Wuhan...ever...maybe...I wish...

10. Meet the beautiful Miss Ivy. She's really a wonderful woman, and I think you should all meet her some day. At least, I'm particularly fond of her.
11. See the work we do here in China. We are making friends for eternity. The people here are coming to know the one thing needful, and that makes all the differences.

And there you have it. Come visit me!

I will be traveling for a while, so I likely won't post here again until I return from my trip. I would like to give a shout out now to those February birthdays coming up. But first, my grandmother turns 87 this week, so happy birthday, Grandma! Birthday wishes also to Corey, Elijah, and Cara. I wish you all His blessings over the next year.

Your pr@yers are appreciated. Continue to pray for me and my work. Pr@y also for the Chinese chrch, that He would continue to raise up Chinese people who are willing and able to lead their own chrches, and that the Word would continue to spread and grow in the heart of China.

Greetings to all. I love you all and miss you much. I'm half-way through my stay in China now. I hope to see those of you in America in 5 months or so!

The grace of our L0rd J*s-s Chr+st, the love of G0d our Father, and the fellowship of the H0ly Sp+r+t be with you all.

The Sichuan Sizzle

Grace and peace are yours in richest measure from G0d our Father through our L0rd and S@vi0r J*s-s Chr*st!

Instead of an apology, this time I would like to begin my post with a thankyou. Thanks to all of you who still care enough about my life to be reading my blog, even though in my mind my posts must be rather long and dull. With that, I once again have a lot to talk about this time, as always, so I'll get started and end my silly preamble. ;)

The last time I posted in my blog was Chr*stmas time, and a lot has happened since then. 2013 has rolled in, and we are none the worse for it. Apparently, the Mayans were wrong about the end of the world. This comes as no surprise to us, though. Personally, I think they probably just got bored. They had already calculated a calendar for thousands of years in the future; why keep going? After all, thousands of years later, we are perfectly capable of finishing it for what we need to.

I for my part celebrated the new year on the road. I wasn't even awake when it came. I knew that I had an early morning the following morning, and there really wasn't anything for me to do. I was on vacation. School gave me a week off for the holiday, and I spent it traveling to Sichuan province with my co-teacher Ivy. She took me there because it was her childhood home, and she knew that I like spicy food. They eat very spicy food in Sichuan, so I enjoyed what they gave me. We also went to the more remote parts of the province, where foreigners almost never go. I was something of a spectacle there. I literally heard the Chinese word waiguoren--foreigner--every new place I went. It was something like being a celebrity, not that I particularly care for such things. Nevertheless, as the honored guest of the many people I was privileged to visit with Ivy, they prepared more meat than usual and gave me special treatment. I appreciate all that they did for me. They were certainly very hospitable. I ate my fill and then some. Don't worry, Mom. Even though they live a very modest/meager life, I was well provided for.

I met some of Ivy's relatives, as that was where her family has come from for generations. I met her grandmother (who is 90 years old and still in excellent health!) as well as some of her aunts and uncles. We went there for the wedding of one of her childhood friends, though, and that was at least enjoyable. I met the bride and groom about 2 days before the wedding in the small city of Zigong (with population of only about 1 million or so, making it small in China). I was not the main feature of the wedding, fortunately, but I did make some waves. Specifically, one young man came up to me and asked me if I remembered him. When I responded that I did not, he proceeded to tell me that he was my cab driver from that morning and that he was very happy to know me (a Chinglish way of saying that he was pleased to meet me/make my acquaintance). He continued to speak to me for about the next 5 or 10 minutes, using, I suppose, all of the English that he could muster. Whenever he didn't know what to say next, he came back to his stock phrases: "I am very happy!" "Are you happy?" "I am so happy!" This experience is descriptive of my entire time in China. The people are delighted to meet foreigners, especially Americans.

On our way back, Ivy and I also stopped in Chongqing, one of China's major cities. We stopped there to meet with some important people. The son of her father's master (trust me, I'm trying to put this as succinctly as possible) is now an official of some sort in the government, and relationships are very important in China. Because she is connected to these people, she could in theory find a better job some day. In other words, Ivy has the right connections in China. Anyhow, this young man and his family also welcomed me (because, by being connected to Ivy, in Chinese culture that also means that I am connected to them). They prepared a meal for me and treated me with the greatest hospitality, giving beyond generosity (although they had more than the poor country people to begin with). Still, it was an enjoyable experience and a memorable night for me. Mom and Dad, this man also said that he hopes to come to America to travel in the summer, and he mentioned that he might stop at our house. Be warned! I have no idea whether or not this will actually come to pass, but don't say I didn't tell you.

We returned to Wuhan that Thursday, and after having supper together, I headed back to my apartment, but not before asking Ivy to marry me! Okay, just kidding. I didn't ask her to marry me; you can stop your heart attacks now. In all seriousness, though, I did ask her out, to which she responded that she wanted some time to think about it. I figured that meant no, but the next morning she surprised me by sending her answer in a text message. She said that we could try it out, and we've been dating for almost two weeks now. (In fact, she's sitting next to me while I type these words.) That, for all of you back home, is probably the biggest news to hear about me in this post.

However, I believe I have even greater news. Two of our friends here in central Wuchang (the part of Wuhan that I live in) joined G0d's family last week through the washing of water with the Word. I was privileged to wash one of my good friends, and my roommate David washed the other. I have chosen to leave their names out of this post to protect them, as it could be dangerous if we were discovered. This is a wonderful experience for me, but more importantly, it shows that the work we are doing here is not without effect. His Word is truly accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it, and I rejoice that we have added a brother and a sister to the family. Please join me in pr@ying for them, that He would give them strength to stand up in times of trouble and remind them daily of this wonderful blessing they have in b@ptism.

School is finished for the semester now, and in two weeks, I will be leaving for a vacation to Thailand and Hong Kong. I look forward to this refreshing time, too, but I suppose I need to prepare for the next semester's classes as well. Additionally, as the only p@st-r candidate in Wuhan besides our actual shepherd, I have been chosen to teach CSI (Chr*st*@n Studies Institute) classes to His people here in Wuhan in the spring semester. This, of course, will be beneficial to me in my m*n*stry some day, and it reminds me that the time is fast approaching when I must decide whether or not I will return to China next year. There are now less than two months to go before I need to make a decision. This choice is all the more difficult for me because I know I am choosing between two good and wonderful things. Please pr@y for me, that He would lead me to the greater decision for building up His Ch-rch.

I would also like to give a shout out here to my brother Ben, who celebrated his 19th birthday between this and my last post. I hope to add one more blog post before I leave for Thailand (as I will not be writing anything after that until I return), but if I don't, I'll also add here that my sister Carrie and my grandma will both be celebrating birthdays later this month. If there's anyone else I should add, I'm sorry, but I either forgot you or don't consider you a part of my immediate family!

The grace of our L0rd J*s-s Chr*s+ be with your sp*rit.