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.

Happy Holidays!

Grace and peace to you from G0d our Father and our L0rd and S@vi0r J*s-s Chr*s+!

I will once again begin this post with an apology as I have been very unfaithful in maintaining my blog. Let it suffice to say that I have had very little spare time that went unfilled over the past month or so; consequently, my blog has been seemingly neglected. As it is, I don't believe I've posted since before Thanksgiving, so I guess I have a lot to be thankful for.

I am thankful first and foremost for the true meaning of Chr*stm@s, and I would ask you to join with me and the Ch_rch in China in celebrating this wonderful festival. Marvel with me at the mir@culous mystery: that manger means matchless mercy for mankind, as by G0d's grace He has granted us the greatest gift of all. He sent His  Son to save s*nners, of whom I am the worst. Here in China, we celebrated the holiday with our Chinese friends at a special party on Saturday. It was lots of fun. I got to meet new people, see old friends, and sing some songs. More importantly, we shared the Reason for the season with almost 200 friends, all of whom are in some way or another connected with our work here.

Secondly, I also have been bl*ssed to share this story, the history of the first Xmas with many s0uls who have never heard of it before in China. I am continually in awe of the fact that I have been counted worthy of sharing this g0sp*l, even I, who have been nothing but evil since conception. Still, I know that it is not I who am worthy, but the Lamb who makes me worthy. This provides me great comfort, even while I am far away.

Third, I am thankful for my dear family, who have been supporting me from afar. Mom and Dad, thanks for raising me the way you did. I wouldn't be the man I am today, and I wouldn't be His man today, if you had not provided for me in all the wonderful ways that you did. Cindy, Chris, Carrie--you have all been wonderful older siblings for me (and here in China, I suppose I had better make a distinction between elder and younger siblings). Thanks for being role models throughout the years, for encouraging me when I needed it, and for providing your wisdom when I am not so wise. Ben, I am proud of the man you are becoming. It's been an honor to be your brother. Remember even when you struggle that He is with you. Corey, Cara, Dan--thanks for being such wonderful additions to our family. Aurora, Elijah, Gabriel--thanks for providing our family with so much joy. I suppose I could add Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, but then I would be writing a long time. I love you all very deeply, and I miss you here in China.

Fourth, I am thankful for my friends. Whether my friends at home in the States or here in China, I am thankful for all the people that He has placed in my life. I'm glad that we could meet each other and spur each other on as the Day approaches. I also appreciate the many friendships that I have. Thanks for the good times, and I look forward to more in the future.

Next, I am thankful for my students. I am thankful for both those who come to study the Word and those who study English at my schools. They provide my life with a purpose for the moment. I love them all, and I have been privileged to share with them the story of the first Chr*stm@s here over the last couple weeks. Even in the classroom, I have shared the Luke 2 account, sowing the seed and trusting that He will take care of the rest.

Finally, I am thankful for you, dear reader. I suppose you probably belong to one of the groups above, but those of you who know me understand that I am not simply flattering you; I simply wish to take this opportunity to thank you personally for all that you have done for me. You are a bl*ssing in my life, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

I suppose there are many other details that I could share with you about my life in China. My co-teacher, Ivy, has started an English corner at our college. Essentially, an English corner is an event where the students come together to practice their English a little more freely outside of a classroom setting. Our first night, Ivy and I were joined by my roommate David and Jess Gierach, another FoC teacher from the center of Wuhan.  It seems, however, that I was the star of the show. Many of my students joined us, and they were excited to meet my other American friends and ask me all sorts of questions about my life. I got to share a little bit about what I believe.

The first English corner was such a success (I think we had about 200 students talking to three foreigners and one Chinese teacher) that we decided to repeat it. This time, however, I was the only foreigner who was able to attend, and due to final exams there were far fewer students there. Ivy and I organized some activities, namely an icebreaker, speed-dating (which was an utter failure because after a couple minutes virtually all the girls tried to "speed date" me), and the game telephone. I hope we can organize more events like this in the future, because it gives me an opportunity to answer questions about what I believe and why I believe it.

That is, I suppose, a summary of my adventures thus far. I suppose I could write a post twice this long and tell you about my adventures car-shopping with my friend Liang Jun, or about our Thanksgiving parties,or about how I survived Doomsday, or about what I got for Christmas, or about my romantic interests in China (a hot topic, I know). Or I could leave that for those who are interested. If you wish to contact me, you know how to find me. If you're interested, I'll tell you. Here I have detailed the important things. I'm still enjoying my China life, and I am very bl*ssed to be here now.

I have had a wonderful day this Chr*stmas Day, and I wish all of you similarly a very bl*ssed Chr*stmas!

Halloween, Hong Kong, and Hangzhou

Grace and peace to all of you back home!

I should start this post with an apology. I have been rather busy, and as a result I have neglected my blog. This, of course, has a few direct consequences: 1) you have not heard about my exploits much over the last three weeks, and 2) this post will be rather lengthy as I try to pack in all the information from the last few weeks. My apologies, and with that, I hope to jump into this post.

The last week of October was a wonderful time for me. I got to teach my students all about Halloween, and as they had few previous conceptions of the day, their idea of Halloween in the United States is based almost entirely on what I said in class. I also bought candy for my lucky students at Luo Jia College (my students at Wuhan City Vocational College weren't so fortunate--their classes got cancelled that week, so I didn't give them any candy). After all, I figure, what college student wouldn't love to have a piece of candy during class? They were mostly hard candy's similar to Werther's (the caramels), except that they were a Chinese brand and came in various flavors--caramel, milk, coffee, strawberry, raspberry, and mixed berry. I also got a sort of fake Chinese Starbursts, but my students ate them all before I got a chance to try them. They must have been good.

In class, I got to explain the holiday, and I figured that it would be even better reinforced by "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." We didn't get through the whole thing in my class because we simply had too many things to talk about, and I wanted to make sure they understood Halloween in American culture, and I wanted to answer the questions of any curious questions. Still, watching the video made planning my class a little easier.

That Friday, we had a party in Hankou (one of the districts in Wuhan) to celebrate Stephanie Humann's birthday. It was apparently a big day for birthdays, because it was my sister Cindy's birthday too--happy birthday again, Cindy! :) --as well as Brian Gephart's father's birthday. We threw a big party and invited all our Chinese friends to come join us for karaoke, but a costume was a requirement. I spent a while brainstorming for a great costume idea, and I must warn you that this costume may not be safe for small children. My roommate David gave me the suggestion that I should dress like a mental patient, and I manipulated it a bit, but I still looked like someone/something that came out of a psych ward. In fact, it was so scary that between Stephanie's apartment and KTV (where we sing karaoke), I scared a few people to the point that one lady actually jumped when she saw me. Of course, this was probably compounded by the fact that I remained committed to my character during our one-block walk to KTV.

The following week was a short week at school because I had to cancel my classes for my students at Luo Jia College because I needed to change my visa over to a business visa so that I can stay for the remainder of the year. At the time, my visa only allowed me to stay as a tourist for 90 days, and that time would nearly be up. To that end, I traveled to Hong Kong, although not before testing my less fortunate students at Wuhan City Vocational College. I now have the privilege of telling all of you that testing Chinese students is no pleasurable experience for me; it becomes quickly apparent which students take notes, which ones aren't listening in class, and which ones only occasionally attend my class. Many of their tests were less than desirable.

I went to Hong Kong with fellow FoCers Stephanie Humann and Lisa Nickle. My roommate David was also supposed to come along with us, but his school did not fill out his paperwork in time, so he had to cancel his train ticket. We took a soft sleeper (which is the most expensive kind of seat) train to Shenzhen on the border of Hong Kong. We found that what formerly had been David's bed was filled again with a young French woman named Faha (or something like that) who is studying Chinese here in Wuhan at one of the universities in the area. She got to be part of our group for the night and half the morning, and it was interesting to see another person from a Western culture.

We experienced a lot of Western culture in Hong Kong, however, as the city has a heavy British influence to this day and enjoys many freedoms that the rest of China does not have. We went to the U.S. Consulate, with a lot of help from the natives, who often spoke perfect English, and we discovered there that we actually needed to go to the Chinese Embassy, so we took a taxi there. We filled out our paperwork with some difficulty, and then we went for lunch.

That night we met with Katie Huebner, who graciously allowed us to stay at her apartment during the duration of our stay. She is a fellow Lakeside alumn; even though she is a few years older than I, it was still nice to have someone who can relate to those things. I met many wonderful people in Hong Kong, inluding, but not limited to: 1) Ruby, a young woman who apparently studied at MLC (although I never met her there) and has now moved to the United States where she will live with a young man who is a student at WLS and was an RA at MLC during the time that I was there. 2) Stanley Chan, a WLC grad who is also a student at ALS (and for those of you who don't know, this will be my standard abbreviation for Asia L-ther@n S*min@ry). He was just a joy to talk to, partly because his English, which is perfect, is filled with all sorts of Midwesternisms that just made me laugh. I had a wonderful time in Hong Kong, and I am glad that I will be returning there in the spring (late February) for the FoC retreat, because I was unable to see all the wonderful sites there. What I saw was still excellent. We climbed a peak and saw the city at night, we explored the history museum there, and we did some authentic Hong Kong shopping.

We returned home to Wuhan early Sunday morning. Karl Gurgel was a guest speaker at our Sunday gathering, and he also came to teach at the ALS satellite that was meeting in Wuhan last week. I was glad that I was able to attend one class; the Chinese shepherd candidates and I went through the background and first chapter of the g0sp-l according to Luke under the instruction of Professor Gurgel. It was a wonderfull experience to be able to study with future Chinese shepherds (two of whom are from Wuhan), not to mention that I love being a student.

Then this last weekend, I went with a few other FoC teachers to Hangzhou, China's paradise city. The weather there was a little warmer than Wuhan, but the city was so much cleaner. Both Hong Kong and Hangzhou gave me hope that I might be able to breathe unpolluted air again someday. About 10 of us from Wuhan went there for the marathon, a few to watch but most to run. We were signed up as a team. We ran about 7 kilometers at varying speeds. My roommate David was the only serious teacher among the group, so he came in with a good time (running about 6 minute miles). I ran with my co-teacher, a young Chinese woman named Ivy. We ran around some beautiful scenery, apparently including the most romantic lake in all of China. Hangzhou's West Lake is absolutely gorgeous, although not as big as Wuhan's East Lake. I wasn't able to take any pictures, though, because I was seriously running (unlike some of the Chinese people who stopped, walked, took pictures, and shouted out "foreigner!" in Chinese at whatever point they wanted). I believe among us Wuhaners, Ivy and I took second and third place, respectively. Jess Gierach and Nicole Lehman, my co-workers from central Wuchang (one of the districts of Wuhan) came in after us, rounded out by Kelsey Steffens and Sarah (Sternemann) Koerber. Other FoCers ran in different races, including Hannah Schmiege and Nathan King, both from Hangzhou, who ran the full marathon. I was rather impressed. We made quite a day out of it.

But the thing that gave me the most joy over the weekend was not the race, but the warship. We all got together Saturday night, and there were so many of us we could hardly fit into the apartment. In fact, I was practically sitting on Mike Luedtke's lap (he is a former FoC teacher-turned student who is studying in Beijing). We belted out the pr@ise of our King in a way I haven't heard in a long time. It was a beautiful thing. We talked a little about those who have entered the Kingdom before us and the second coming. It was very encouraging.

Dragonwell Tea

Of course, we also had our fair share of fun with our brothers and sisters in Hangzhou as well. The men went to the tea fields while the women went wedding dress shopping. We went to Decathlon, a store that sells all sorts of sports equipment. Among other things, I bought a 70-liter hiking backpack for around $75 U.S. dollars. It's great, and it will be incredibly useful to me when I travel again. We sang some karaoke. A number of them went out to the bar, but it was already late and I had a race the next day, so I opted not to go. Some got to go repelling from the roof of an apartment, but the cops showed up and stopped us just before my turn came. (We'll have to do it again in some other place where people aren't so concerned about it.) I got to attend a Chinese club where it became obvious that my Chinese is very minimal, but I hope that I can continue to learn more. I am taking classes once a week, and maybe we can start up a similar Chinese club in Wuhan.

All too soon, the weekend drew to a close, and it was time for us to leave. And these are, of course just the highlights. I'm sure I can share more pictures with anyone interested once I get back to the states, and maybe I can post more on facebook. Overall, though, I think it was a wonderful experience, and I've come back to Wuhan refreshed for my work here.

Once again, I apologize for my long posts. I suppose that is just the way I write: when I have time, including whatever seems important to me at the time, and rather wordy. Please accept my sincere apologies--unless you prefer to reject them!

China is a wonderful place, and if you're still reading this, I would encourage you to come visit some time. (We have a spare bedroom!)

Love and pr@yers to all who are far away. I miss you all more than you know. May He keep you in His tender care now and always.

Turning over a New Wheel

Grace and peace to you all from China!

Another week has gone by with its own unique events and situations. I now have had by far my most Chinese experience here in China. David and I met with a friend named Liang Jun last weekend. (He does not have an English name.) He made acquaintance with David by simply insisting he speak English with him. As it turns out, Liang Jun really needs to practice English; its very hard for us to understand him because his English is very poor. Last Saturday, we were planning to go out for supper with him, and we had said we would go get some Kung Pao chicken. We know a place that sells it just down the street for cheap, so we thought we would be eating a cheap meal, and we would be home in an hour. Liang Jun, as it turns out, had other plans. We got in a taxi and went in the other direction. He took us to an upper class restaurant/hotel with a massive chandalier haning down in the entry hall. We had to change our shoes for flip-flops, which didn't seem all that unusual to me because we don't wear shoes indoors at people's homes, here; we do, however, still wear them at restaurants, but  I didn't think much of it. Next we went to a locker room, where I was given a locker, and I took off my jacket thinking that this must be an upscale restaurant, and maybe I would be required to wear their jacket. The next thing I remember is turning around and seeing Liang Jun completely unclothed. He told David and me that we would need to bathe, so I figured when in Rome...I took a shower, but when I got out, David and Liang Jun were nowhere to be seen, so I went back to my locker where I toweled off, but still could not find David or Liang Jun. Some of the attendants at this place, who, of course, were all men in the men's locker room, pointed me in the direction of a place where I could put some clothing on. They provided me with what seemed like underwear; it was paper thin. Then Liang Jun found me and brought me to the sauna, where I suppose he and David had been. We sat and sweated for a bit, and then we went to cool off in the pool It was very shallow and full of naked men, so David and I felt a little uncomfortable. After we had sit in there for as long as we could bear (maybe 15 minutes or so), David got out, and Liang Jun and I followed suit. We went back and put on the paper-thin underwear with a similar top; together they made what seemed like pajamas. We continued on upstairs to the dining hall in our pajamas, where we saw many other people (including women, now). Everyone seemed to be wearing similar pajamas, so that made it a little less awkward, although I'm still not sure that the ones I had were "tailored" to fit a man as large as myself. Either way, we ate well there. It was buffet style, and there were some very nice dishes. We had beef, shrimp (which I don't particularly care for), fried bananas, fried noodles, fried rice, and many other dishes. We even had ice cream, although it tasted different from the ice cream we were used to in the U.S. After supper, we went to the game room where David and Liang Jun played ping pong, and we all played pool afterwards. We then proceded to the resting area, where we each had a couch to recline. Liang Jun called for a massage for each of us, which was rather awkward for David and me because we were still in our paper-thin pajamas, and the masseuses here are not afraid to massage uncomfortable areas (such as the upper thighs, hands, hindquarters, etc.). But after we finished our massages David and I convinced Liang Jun that we had to go home, so we got away after that (maybe three and a half hours after we had left).

I also would like to talk about the work we are doing here in Wuhan. At school last week, I got to explain the story of John 4 to one of my students who was asking me about the Book. Another student told me that she is Chr*stian, but she doesn't believe in G0d. Our Tuesday and Wednesday studies are growing, though. We had a new friend join us at song study on Tuesday, and she returned for our Romans study on Wednesday. We had another new friend at Romans study, where many of our friends told us they had learned a lot during our study of Romans 6. Next week, we hope to go through Romans 8.

Other than that, I have a couple personal stories to share. Earlier today, David and I went with Liang Jun (who seems in the habit of inviting us to extravagant events) to a wedding. We didn't know the bride and groom, and Liang Jun's English is very poor. That made it somewhat uncomfortable, compounded by the fact that the people we sat with didn't speak English, so David and I could only really communicate with each other. We were treated as honored guests, however. We tried many traditional Chinese dishes, or so we were told, and the bride and groom came over to our table for a mini-toast. The groom even shook my hand (and he didn't shake those of other members of the table) to thank us for attending their wedding, I think. This all took place at some sort of fancy hotel/restaurant, where an emcee may have performed the marriage, but I'm just not really sure. It may just have been a wedding banquet.

Finally, I have been riding my bike to school this week. It's about 35 minutes or so by bike, so it's far away, but I would also say that the ride is very exhilarating. The problem was that, on my way the first day, I discovered that my tire was flat, and I was going extraordinarily slow. Fortunately, my co-teacher was riding to school with me, so we stopped at a bike repair shop and had it fixed up. The real problem came in that night, when I discovered that my tire was flat again and the inner tube tire was off the track. I was alone this time. I had to be back home by a certain time, and I was supposed to ride my bike again to school the next day with my co-teacher (and it wouldn't be safe to leave it there overnight), so I walked my bike for about half an hour or so until the tire was back on its track. Then I rode it home the rest of the way, probably to the detriment of my tire. Needless to say, the next day I had to buy a new tire for my bike, and I rode to school without problems. That night, however, my other tire was flat, so I had to get a new inner tire for that. Fortunately, this time my co-teacher had waited around to ride back with me, so she helped me find another repair shop and with the Chinese again. Hopefully, that will resolve my bike problems for a while.

That's the last two weeks in review! Hopefully next time I'll have some new stories to share. Until then, you are in my thoughts and pr@yers. Please pr@y also for us here, that He would prosper our work.

Peace be with you all.

Desert Storm

Grace and peace to you all from G0d our Father and our L0rd and S@vi0r J-s-s Chr*s+.

I know this is coming a bit late, but my internet was down during the free part of my week this week, and I am publishing this as soon as I can.

I promised that I would fill you all in on the details of my vacation, so here goes.

David, my roommate and I, left our apartment early Saturday afternoon to go to the train station. It was very busy, and all the buses were overly crowded. We had just decided that we should go in a taxi instead when we managed to squeeze on the bus, even with our huge bags. We met up with some other FOC teachers going on the trip with us, and we left on the train to Zhengzhou.

We only had standing tickets for our first train, so we spent six hours on our feet, trying to keep each other entertained into the early hours of the morning. The train was so crowded when new people came on. Sometimes we thought we would be squished to death. But we made it off at about 1 in the morning, and we stayed the night in the hotel, where we met up with some more of our friends from Wuhan.

We spent the following morning in Zhengzhou, ate lunch, and then got on the train for our destination: Yinchuan, a city in Northwestern China. Our train ride was about 19 hours this time, but this time we had hard sleeper tickets. A hard sleeper provides you with a bed. It's fairly firm, and I guess that's where they get the name "hard" sleeper, but it was actually very comfortable for me. They stack three hard sleepers like bunk beds, one above the other, but they provide even me with enough room to sit up, so they really aren't bad. I got to talk to some of the other teachers on the way, and we played some card games, too.

We arrived in Yinchuan on Monday morning, and we explored the city a little. It is a much smaller city than Wuhan, with only about 1 or 2 million people. The air seemed cleaner, which was nice, but there were two things that defined Yinchuan for me. First of all, perhaps because it was a national holiday, we were the only foreigners there. In Wuhan, I can see other Americans or people from other nations on a somewhat regular basis, but in Yinchuan, all eyes were on us. What's more, I learned that the city has a large Muslim presence. I saw that street signs had Arabic in addition to Chinese and English. We explored the city for two days, visiting sites that our friends from Yinchuan recommended, including the city square, which had what seemed like a temple to Mao Zedong, who is absolutely everywhere in China.

Tristan the camel

After our time in Yinchuan, we went with some other FoC teachers to the desert. We thought that we were going to the Gobi Desert, but as it turns out, we went in the opposite direction, so we have no idea which desert we actually visited. I got acquainted with some of the other teachers that I didn't know on the 3-hour bus ride there. Once we arrived in the desert, we met our camel friends, the main attraction of our desert trip. We got on our camels fairly quickly, and many of us starting giving names to our camels. I named mine Tristan, after the knight of the Round Table, because mine seemed to have a certain lordly gait about him. We quickly realized, however, that riding on a camel for an hour wasn't as pleasurable as we had hoped. I should rather say that it was fun, but at the end of an hour, I was ready to get off because my legs were sore. In fact, the saddle rubbed against the back of my legs in such a way that it ripped the hair off my skin, leaving a large red rash in its place. I am, however, recovered, but I still don't have the hair on the back of my legs.

The desert was very scenic, for the most part, and far more bearable than I ever imagined as a child. We had a supply of water, of course, and our guides made sure we never wandered too far from the city (where they got our food), but we enjoyed the real desert experience. We played ultimate frisbee the first night of our stay, and we gathered around a campfire for devotion and songs. We drank beer and Chinese liquor (which is basically everclear) to keep warm, and we settled down for the night. I planned for it to be very cold at night, but unfortunately, I was still not warm enough. I woke up at about three in the morning, and I didn't fall asleep again because I was simply too cold. I finally got up at six to watch the sunrise, but it didn't come up for another hour after that. I spent my time shivering until our guides made a fire for breakfast.

The second day went pretty easy. We had breakfast, set out late, took a nap in the afternoon after lunch time, and enjoyed some writing in the sand. We didn't spend any more time on the camels the second day than we did the first, but I think the group in general had had enough of the camel riding and just wanted to enjoy the desert scenery. We decided to take some group photos (which can be seen on Facebook, courtesy of my roommate David Blumer), and that was when we saw the storm coming up on the horizon. We could see rain and lightning in the distance, which never reached us of course, seeing as we were in the desert, but the storm did make its way into our path. We had to tie down our tents well into the side of a dune to provide protection from the wind, which blasted sand all over our faces.

That night, we split our devotions into the men and the women. I can't speak for the women, but the men had a blast. We had little success lighting a fire by digging a deeper hole and using matches, but we managed to get the fire going with a makeshift flamethrower made out of a can of spray-deodorant and a lighter. We talked openly as men of courage, and I say with some confidence that we were all strengthened by the experience.

That night I discovered that our tent (I shared a tent with Olli, a young Chinese man from Wuhan) did not have a working door, so I zipped it up as best I could. Fortunately, we had been given more blankets than the previous night, and the air temperature seemed to be a bit warmer, but at the same time sand kept blowing in because of the storm. I think we all were trying to get the sand out of our hair and ears and everywhere else the following morning.

The next day we needed to head out early. The FoC teachers were splitting up again later in the day. Those of us from Wuhan had to catch trains. I had the opportunity to lead the devotion on the way back to the city. I used the words of Psalm 121, but I also noticed that just about everyone seemed too tired to pay much attention. Back in Yinchuan, we had lunch, showered off, cleaned up, and left for the train station.

Of the 10 of us Wuhaners, 8 stopped in Xian on the way back. Five of us (Kelsey Steffens, Hannah Klusmeyer, Lisa Nickle, David Blumer, and yours truly) stayed there for two days. We made good use of our time. We explored the city a little, but on the first day we visited the Terracotta Warriors while the other three (Lyrica Zhang, Nathan and Sarah Koerber) were still with us. There was a lot of history to see in a little time. The five of us who were staying for two days bid the other three farewell and stayed the night at a hostel, where we had some nice beer with a couple of young German men who were traveling in China.

The following day we visited a shop we had heard about from one of our fellow teachers in Wuhan, Stephanie Humann. There we met a lady named Helen who sold scrolls. We heard her story, which I will not tell here for security reasons, but needless to say we were overjoyed to meet her. I bought a couple of scrolls. One was so beautiful that I had to get it. It has the words of Psalm 27:4 written in Chinese, with the illustration of a man rowing a boat into the fog on a large river surrounded by cliffs. (I recommend you look the passage up if you don't know it off hand--I'd rather not share it here). All in all, I think the five of us agreed that meeting Helen, not seeing the Terracotta Warriors, was the highlight of our stay in Xian. We also walked on top of the wall in Xian and saw some sights from there, but then we had to move on to the train.

The ride back presented me with an opportunity. Lisa Nickle and I sat next to a young man whose English name was Alan. He was eager to practice English with us, and over the course of our time on the train (we were on for about 14 hours overnight), we got to share the message with him. I have no idea whether he believed or not; in fact, I very much doubt it, but perhaps we planted a seed that He will use on His time.

When David and I returned to our apartment, we found that the internet was not working, which is the reason this post was so delayed. There are many more things I could add now, but I suppose this will have to add them in future posts due to the length of this one.

Pr@yers go out to all of you. Please ask our Father to give His aid to our work here, to prosper and grow the flock of believers, and to give His workers patience, wisdom, and the courage to get out there and speak His message. Greetings to all, especially to the brothers and sisters from L*rd of Love!

The grace of our L*rd J-s-s Chr*s+ be with your spir-t.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Grace and peace to you in abundance through J-s-s Chr*s+ our S@vi0r.

I will write in a rush this week because I have to leave for the train soon. This next week is Mid-Autumn Festival, combined with Chinese National Day. I was told the Mid-Autumn Festival is the 2nd biggest holiday in all of China, rivaled only by the Spring Festival (which I think may be Chinese New Year, but I'm not 100% sure at this point). It's a holiday about family. Most of my students are going back home, but we had to have class on Saturday to make up for the classes we will be missing next week. (I conveniently postponed some of my Saturday classes so I could make the train.) The festival, as it's been explained to me, is about family togetherness and unity. There are also some legends about the moon falling in love with a young man on earth, but their romance was forbidden by the moon's mother (and that's all the farther I got into the story before I had to start class again--sorry). Long story short, families here eat cake in the shape of a moon to celebrate their unity.

I mentioned the train. I will be traveling to Yinchuan this week for the vacation. I will go through the Gobi Desert on camel and get together with some of the other FoC teachers. I'm sorry, but due to time constraints, I will not be attaching any pictures to this post. Look for pictures next week; I should have lots of pictures of my travels to Yinchuan, which is in the northwestern part of China.

Pr@yers for all of you. May the All Mighty keep you all safe. I love and miss you all. Pr@y also for me, that my vacation may be restful and help me as I continue my service here when I return.

Peace to all.