Luckily I had a few days to rest before camp which was good since camp always drained a lot of energy because I need to keep up with the teenagers and I wouldn't be getting much sleep that week anyways...
Camp started on a Tuesday... and there were concerns of not being able to go because of the issue with the statewide power outages and people panicking and getting gas. However, when you know that God will provide... you just relax and go with the flow... We soon got on a big bus and headed to Cleveland, Tennessee... on the way there we stopped by a nice family restaurant (sorta like Bob Evans). Right when we came in, I heard a few people sitting there going "oh boy" since there were a lot of youths and probably thought we would be loud and disruptive and rude. However, the kids did well to prove them wrong and we got compliments on how well behaved they were...
We arrived (late) and ate dinner and proceeded towards worship... first days were usually chaotic since we didn't know where we would sit.... but we finally found seats.... in the nosebleed section...
I was mainly in charge of the Middle School boys and it was a huge change for me this year. The previous years I was only a chaperone, however with Brandon and Joyce being in different dorms since the high schoolers and middle schoolers were split, I was the main chaperone along with Anthony Woody. It was interesting how well I got along with Anthony since we were very different... He was usually spontaneous, a bit wild and odd at times while I was a little more serious but calm and relaxed as well... but we got along very well since we both respected each other and our differences in personality.
The main schedule went like this everyday for camp: Breakfast, Morning Worship, family group time, lunch, rec, free time, dinner, evening worship, church group time, back to the dorms, lights out
Day 2 I and two of the other chaperones finally met our family group... what family groups were, are groups that consisted of other churches and we were lucky this year to not get any of our youths... I thoroughly enjoyed my group... while they were easily distracted (like all middle schoolers are) they paid attention to the lessons and were attentive and asked questions. We bonded even more during rec time when I did a lot of different activities with them.
Day 3 consists of basically the same... we did a water day for rec and all my group did was stand around hoping to not get wet... safe to say... that i made sure that didnt happen...
An interesting thing that happened for the evening worship was a huge wind storm went through the city.... knocked down a few trees and a couple of electric lines as well.... oh, and the power went out during worship as well... but everything ended well...
During our church group time the kids prayed and one of them went under deep conviction and accepted Christ that night (WOO!)
Meanwhile back at the dorms, the boys were running up and down the hallways goofing off when suddenly someone from downstairs came up and started yelling at them to go to their rooms... while I wasn't pleased with how he did it... I figured I would be the better man (and Christian) and apologize and tell them to head to their rooms and to be quiet (and thus I would dub this man... Mr. Grumpy)
Day 4 was my last full day with the group... which meant that they got my "last day" message.... which I made up last year and eventually lead someone to accept Christ in the evening... which I did hope would be the case again... What I later found out was that someone rededicated her life to Christ which was awesome! On the way back from free time, I took a little break and stayed in my dorm... I then started to walk towards the bathroom at the end of the hall to discover that one of the students had left his door wide open with his key still in the lock... listening and checking in the bathroom, I figured out that they went ahead to dinner... Anthony also walked by since he'd just got out of the shower and noticed it too... we soon devised a plan to steal all their important stuff and put it in our rooms to teach them a little lesson...
When the kids came back, the two kids started panicking since their stuff was gone... I was doing a survey during the time and they ran into my room and told me the situation...(one stated: "I had a bunch of stuff including my cleats which was $75... everything they took is pretty much $150 and they better give it back!" in which i simply replied "not my problem... should've locked your door") I advised them to ask everyone on the floor including the people in the next hall... when they went over there, we finally put all their stuff back and went back to our rooms... next thing I heard was yelling and laughing and they realized that we got them and that they needed to lock their doors since not everyone there was a Christian.... afterwards, the kids teamed up with the other kids in the hall and started riding mattresses down the stairs... Mr Grumpy came out extremely upset and yelled at the kids and asked the chaperones for the name of the churches since we were "destroying school property".. The kids seemed shaken up but I ensured them that everything was fine and to just go to bed... I'm positive that any complaint Mr Grumpy had against our church was going to be ignored anyways...
(If you treat your fellow brothers in Christ like this, I hate to see how you treat the lost)
Day 5 we did a morning worship and left to go back home... A bit sad to see it end since this was the last event that I was going to do with CLBC for the summer.... but in the end, everything was for the glory of God and hopefully he was pleased with the work that was put in everywhere that I went...
PS. Brandon can do a good comedy routine with Sally and Shawn... his sock puppets...
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
A look back on my summer marathon: part 3 Indy Trip
To be honest, I wasn't really supposed to go on this trip, however, I think John or Brandon mentioned that one of the people groups that the team was going to be Asians and it was a huge population so I decided that it probably was a good idea to come along on the last minute.... Safe to say, probably wasn't the best idea since I didn't meet any Asians at all.... (but I told people about Jesus nonetheless)
Anyways, the trip up was a bit crowded... every seat was full which was a relief for me and we arrived and sort of rested for the night since we left in the afternoon and it was starting to get dark. The team divided into two, one to work at Emilo, a Spanish church plant, and one to work at a multi-housing site. Both would be involved in doing VBS. Our team was supposed to have "around 100 kids" however, when we got there, the only ones that came were another pastor's kids, which was extremely discouraging for our team. What sort of aggravated me even more was that the pastor that was in charge there didn't seem to be bothered nor surprised by it. oh and dont get me started on his son either...We then went door to door (which should've been done before we got there) and tried to get more kids out. Luckily we ran into some while walking around and invited them to come over, in which we did. As you can tell, I wasn't extremely impressed with the preparation this guy did and rarely spoke to him the entire week... Instead I sort of did my own thing for the week... which was going door to door, talking to people that were walking around the neighborhood and inviting them to VBS....
(NOTE: not complaining about this trip at all... just stating my experience... and to say the least, I did take a lot away from this trip that I know will be helpful in ministry later... mostly on what NOT to do... but helpful nonetheless... and this is the ending point where any negativity towards the dude stops)
After dinner, we went out to the park with some of Emilo's church and fellowship and played soccer with some of the people there. I myself felt a bit useless with the language barrier being there, but I finally found someone that spoke English and even though he claimed he was a Christian, I challenged him a little on his walk with God since he was out of church.
Day 2 the number doubled (but when you had a low number... that's not hard) but it was a better day for everyone since we knew what to expect now. We did our usual thing, go door to door and invited more to come and that was pretty much our day in general. When we got back, we really just rested and be lazy (well most of the kids did... there was a variation of things for me to do that didn't involve a nap). In the evening, we went to downtown Indianapolis and saw some of the sites including Lucas Oil Stadium... home of the disgusting Indianapolis Colts...
Day 3 the number doubled again and the VBS started to actually look like a VBS... There was also a block party planned that night so we advertised that to the kids as well. After going door to door and advertising a bit, I sat in on the VBS classes and was very pleased with how the CLBCers were connecting with the kids. After we were done, we went back and prepared for the evening.
The block part was huge to say the least... A lot of the neighborhood came over to see what was going on and it was a pretty big hit. The team pretty much mingled or tried to with everyone there... Oh, and the EvangeCubes are probably the easiest gateway to witness to someone... just sit down on the grass and start fiddling with it... before long, someone will ask what you're doing and voila... easy...
Afterwards, we started an Ultimate Frisbee game for the rest of the night and that was it for that day... safe to say we were tired...
Day 4 we went to the famous Indianapolis Zoo.... okay.. not so famous but it was alright... The Beijing Zoo definitely blew it out of the water. The dolphin show, although was cute, was slightly disappointing... However, I loved the dog show and some of the stunts that they did. The rest of the animals were interesting... but to say the least, I saw most of them 2 weeks before... however, hanging out with group made the zoo a lot more enjoyable... afterwards, we left for home on the same day and that was it for that trip
PS. Tug of War is a good activity with these kids... as is a foot race... and... Todd Morgan does really good SNL Harry Carey impersonations....
Anyways, the trip up was a bit crowded... every seat was full which was a relief for me and we arrived and sort of rested for the night since we left in the afternoon and it was starting to get dark. The team divided into two, one to work at Emilo, a Spanish church plant, and one to work at a multi-housing site. Both would be involved in doing VBS. Our team was supposed to have "around 100 kids" however, when we got there, the only ones that came were another pastor's kids, which was extremely discouraging for our team. What sort of aggravated me even more was that the pastor that was in charge there didn't seem to be bothered nor surprised by it. oh and dont get me started on his son either...We then went door to door (which should've been done before we got there) and tried to get more kids out. Luckily we ran into some while walking around and invited them to come over, in which we did. As you can tell, I wasn't extremely impressed with the preparation this guy did and rarely spoke to him the entire week... Instead I sort of did my own thing for the week... which was going door to door, talking to people that were walking around the neighborhood and inviting them to VBS....
(NOTE: not complaining about this trip at all... just stating my experience... and to say the least, I did take a lot away from this trip that I know will be helpful in ministry later... mostly on what NOT to do... but helpful nonetheless... and this is the ending point where any negativity towards the dude stops)
After dinner, we went out to the park with some of Emilo's church and fellowship and played soccer with some of the people there. I myself felt a bit useless with the language barrier being there, but I finally found someone that spoke English and even though he claimed he was a Christian, I challenged him a little on his walk with God since he was out of church.
Day 2 the number doubled (but when you had a low number... that's not hard) but it was a better day for everyone since we knew what to expect now. We did our usual thing, go door to door and invited more to come and that was pretty much our day in general. When we got back, we really just rested and be lazy (well most of the kids did... there was a variation of things for me to do that didn't involve a nap). In the evening, we went to downtown Indianapolis and saw some of the sites including Lucas Oil Stadium... home of the disgusting Indianapolis Colts...
Day 3 the number doubled again and the VBS started to actually look like a VBS... There was also a block party planned that night so we advertised that to the kids as well. After going door to door and advertising a bit, I sat in on the VBS classes and was very pleased with how the CLBCers were connecting with the kids. After we were done, we went back and prepared for the evening.
The block part was huge to say the least... A lot of the neighborhood came over to see what was going on and it was a pretty big hit. The team pretty much mingled or tried to with everyone there... Oh, and the EvangeCubes are probably the easiest gateway to witness to someone... just sit down on the grass and start fiddling with it... before long, someone will ask what you're doing and voila... easy...
Afterwards, we started an Ultimate Frisbee game for the rest of the night and that was it for that day... safe to say we were tired...
Day 4 we went to the famous Indianapolis Zoo.... okay.. not so famous but it was alright... The Beijing Zoo definitely blew it out of the water. The dolphin show, although was cute, was slightly disappointing... However, I loved the dog show and some of the stunts that they did. The rest of the animals were interesting... but to say the least, I saw most of them 2 weeks before... however, hanging out with group made the zoo a lot more enjoyable... afterwards, we left for home on the same day and that was it for that trip
PS. Tug of War is a good activity with these kids... as is a foot race... and... Todd Morgan does really good SNL Harry Carey impersonations....
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A look back on my summer marathon: part 2 Southern Baptist Convention
2 days after I got off the plane, I got back on another heading to New Orleans for the Southern Baptist Convention. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, but I was excited since I always wanted to attend one of these meetings (you could even say it was on my bucket list). I was also signed up for a class that gave me 3 credit hours if I attended (and read books.. and wrote a huge report on it) Monday was the Pastor's Conference in where an array of very popular pastors ranging from Charles Stanley to David Platt and all of them delivered good sermons. The surprise preacher was Herb Reavis, whom Brandon was very excited to hear from. Safe to say, Reavis was just as good, if not better than the other popular preachers that preached that day. An important thing to note was that he preached right after David Platt. While the room was absolutely filled for Platt's sermon, it got cut in half when it was Reavis's turn to preach. Little did I know that this would be an ongoing issue that I would have a problem with for the week.
Tuesday through Thursday was when the whole business aspect of the SBC was discussed. The entire meeting was very interesting when they presented an issue and people on the floor had the opportunity to go up to the mics nearby to discuss the issue and why or why not they would vote for it to pass. A memorable moment was when a college student went up and instead of discussing the present case that was being discuss, he wanted to discuss something else (which was common among the people that went up). Right when he said he was a college student he got cut off before he could say another word (an embarrassing moment for him that he'll probably remember for the rest of his life.)
But the main entertainment during the meeting was a man called Richard Tribble. Not only was he a man that was a bit behind the times, but he was a extremely rude to the people on the panel, the president and pretty much everyone around him. I felt a bit insulted whenever he came up to the mic, and he wasn't even calling me out. Safe to say, he became the butt of the joke for the entire week... and he asked for it too.. I'm pretty sure he was up there to hear himself talk most of the time.... Something interesting to note was that he was a intern pastor for a church when I looked him up during the convention. A week later, when I wrote the paper, I looked him up again and found out that he's been replaced... hmmmm....
In the room beside where the convention was held was a huge room where books were sold by Lifeway and also tables and booths were assigned for Christian schools, seminaries and companies. While Brandon and I were around the Dallas Theological Seminary booth we heard a student ask "so.... where's Dallas Seminary at?" and the representative there had a stupefied look on his face and answered "...Dallas?"
The main event for the whole convention was Fred Luter being elected president of the Convention. The reason why this is so relevant was because he was the first African American to be nominated and ran unopposed. However, there were also plenty of other issues that were relevant that needed to be discussed as well such as the Sinner's Prayer and the name change of Southern Baptist. While I'm entitled to my opinion and it is my blog, I'll refrain from stating it because you can probably Google the subjects and be much more educated from it.
However, the mindset of the people at the convention really frustrated me. As stated above, Reavis only received half the audience that Platt did, and also, there was a IMB report where only probably a quarter of Platt's audience was there. I really can't figure out why people would like to hear the ideas of being giving up your life for God and being a missionary, but not put it in practice. At least attend the IMB meeting and listen to those that are the actual examples of what Platt preached...
Overall, the convention was pretty good and it was great hanging out with the pastors. Probably wouldn't attend another one since it cost a fortune to be there (and I don't have another class). But it was a nice experience in the end.
Closing note: Jet lag hit at times during the convention and I dozed off a few times. Wondered if anyone judged me for it.... are they in for a big surprise when God tells them where I was just at... :P
PS. No crying babies on the way there or back... streak breaks.. however, it still holds strong for "international plane trips"
Tuesday through Thursday was when the whole business aspect of the SBC was discussed. The entire meeting was very interesting when they presented an issue and people on the floor had the opportunity to go up to the mics nearby to discuss the issue and why or why not they would vote for it to pass. A memorable moment was when a college student went up and instead of discussing the present case that was being discuss, he wanted to discuss something else (which was common among the people that went up). Right when he said he was a college student he got cut off before he could say another word (an embarrassing moment for him that he'll probably remember for the rest of his life.)
But the main entertainment during the meeting was a man called Richard Tribble. Not only was he a man that was a bit behind the times, but he was a extremely rude to the people on the panel, the president and pretty much everyone around him. I felt a bit insulted whenever he came up to the mic, and he wasn't even calling me out. Safe to say, he became the butt of the joke for the entire week... and he asked for it too.. I'm pretty sure he was up there to hear himself talk most of the time.... Something interesting to note was that he was a intern pastor for a church when I looked him up during the convention. A week later, when I wrote the paper, I looked him up again and found out that he's been replaced... hmmmm....
In the room beside where the convention was held was a huge room where books were sold by Lifeway and also tables and booths were assigned for Christian schools, seminaries and companies. While Brandon and I were around the Dallas Theological Seminary booth we heard a student ask "so.... where's Dallas Seminary at?" and the representative there had a stupefied look on his face and answered "...Dallas?"
The main event for the whole convention was Fred Luter being elected president of the Convention. The reason why this is so relevant was because he was the first African American to be nominated and ran unopposed. However, there were also plenty of other issues that were relevant that needed to be discussed as well such as the Sinner's Prayer and the name change of Southern Baptist. While I'm entitled to my opinion and it is my blog, I'll refrain from stating it because you can probably Google the subjects and be much more educated from it.
However, the mindset of the people at the convention really frustrated me. As stated above, Reavis only received half the audience that Platt did, and also, there was a IMB report where only probably a quarter of Platt's audience was there. I really can't figure out why people would like to hear the ideas of being giving up your life for God and being a missionary, but not put it in practice. At least attend the IMB meeting and listen to those that are the actual examples of what Platt preached...
Overall, the convention was pretty good and it was great hanging out with the pastors. Probably wouldn't attend another one since it cost a fortune to be there (and I don't have another class). But it was a nice experience in the end.
Closing note: Jet lag hit at times during the convention and I dozed off a few times. Wondered if anyone judged me for it.... are they in for a big surprise when God tells them where I was just at... :P
PS. No crying babies on the way there or back... streak breaks.. however, it still holds strong for "international plane trips"
Monday, July 23, 2012
A look back on my summer marathon: part 1 EA Trip
We set off for EA on the first day of June, stopping in NY, Canada, and finally in EA (Vern nearly crossed the Canadian border which might've been trouble for him... -.-) While in EA we would be working alongside of an English school in the area. When I say English school, keep in mind that this isn't a main school for the kids. It's sort of like an after school school that parents need to apply for and it's pretty prestigious. The main idea was that we'd go to the school to help, based on a previous team being there. However, the headmaster (we'll just call him Liu) had plans for us to do an English Festival. Liu basically watched over us the entire trip... from paying for our expenses there to driving us everywhere. The catch for Liu was that he was going to generate money from this, since the festivals would be in a central part of each town we would be at and it would compel the parents to sign their kids up for a pretty good fee. Our role was basically be ourselves, many of these people have never seen an American before, and we had a diverse team. Pseth (unlike PZone from pizza hut) was over 6ft tall and towered over everyone there. NaNa was an American kid, but was taller than most of them and was mostly the center of attention for teenage girls. Vern had white hair like Santa and Jan....et.. had blond hair... so everyone sorta stood out... which people would stare whenever we walked the street. (funny thing i liked to do was sorta step aside and stare at the group as well... whenever someone from the team asked what i was doing... i told them to be quiet since i was trying to blend it with everyone else). Anyways, we would generate a lot of attention wherever we went... especially the festival that Liu had for us to go to which was fine since this was our way to spread the good word. For the parents, it looks like the school is a very good school since they were willing to get Americans to come over and help. For us, we used this as a gateway to spread the good word to whomever was open to it.
As for the English Festivals it was basically a bunch of kids showing off what they learned in class, which included singing English songs and doing little games which we joined in on in front of the parents. Afterwards the team (excluding me) would be surrounded by people asking them to pose for them and try to talk to us in English.
One of the events that were a bit odd were kids doing a fashion show, which basically was kids doing a fashion show. (I made the comment that if this was the US... someone would be calling the cops). The catch was that a local clothing store probably struck a deal with Liu and they agreed to advertise their clothing at the event... which was probably already to going to be huge due to the advertisements around town and it being in a central area of the town. We eventually calculated it up and decided that Liu was making really good money off of these festivals... despite having to rent the stage, sound system and other small things, since we saw many people signing up for the schools right where we were.
An important thing to note is that in the Chinese culture there in terms of this is that the host will pay for everything. While you may be able to state your case that "you shouldn't have" there isn't much to say since the host will do it anyways. One final note from me is: translating is HARD! It's one thing when I talk to someone since it's just a normal conversation (like when someone says dog. The brain won't go 狗->(english)dog->DOG, it goes 狗=DOG... when translating it goes 狗->DOG->(translate english) dog) ... so it takes a few steps before properly translating a word (now think how hard it is to do a sentence ;).... and it's even harder to do it the other way around). Even though it was challenging, it was a good learning experience for sure.
Flight took a total of around 30 hours... the flight from Canada to EA was around 16 if i remember correctly... My streak of crying babies continued as there was one a few rows behind me and one in front of me... What made it worse was there was something lodged in the headset jack so there was no way i could've watched a movie (well... i could watched it, but no sound would come out)... So 18 hours of either reading or listening to music. Sleeping for me wasn't an option due to it would already be night when we arrived. So as you may guess... pure... boredom.... and babies shrieking... sigh.. (but i did talk to the other members of the team)
Anyways, when we arrived we stopped in a major city close to our city of focus which was where our M also lived. We rested at a hotel (believe me we needed it after the flight) and went got up early to catch a bus to our city of focus. There, we met Liu who recognized me from last year and went on to our hotel from there (since the bus ride was around 4 hours). We ate a good dinner and decided to rest up for the coming week.
The second day we went to the Bamboo Sea with some of the teachers that we were going to work with and explored. The Bamboo Sea was a big tourist attraction for the area due to it's beautiful scenery and souvenirs. Most people bought souvenir from the place, since... most everything there was made of bamboo and everything was very unique. There was no doubt that we walked literally miles that day. Afterwards, we got dropped off at a park/plaza where we would be doing the festival that night. What's significant about the park is that you could see where two rivers would converge into the Yangtze River which is the longest river in Asia and 3rd longest in the world.
The third day we went to an old city a little bit from where we were staying where we would be having our second festival. The second festival came and went like the first one. However, since it was in a smaller part of the city, the crowd wasn't as big... However, it probably was a good turnout considering the amount of people in the city. In the evening we threw Pseth a big surprise birthday, since Pseth foolishly made me translate that he was turning a year older today to a child the previous day. The M, Na and I coordinated everything along with Liu on where it was at and when to buy the cake. To be honest, watching Pseth walk into that room was extremely entertaining.... sorta like watching a mouse walk into a trap.
The fourth day we went to another major English school that wasn't associated with Liu's schools. I'm betting money was probably exchanged under the table for us to be there, but nonetheless, we did most of our usual thing there and hung out with the kids and parents there. Since this was a smaller setting, we gave most of our giveaways there. One of the most interesting things about it was that they had a huge electronic scrolling billboard outside that faced the highway so anyone traveling could see it and our names were on it. Later, we traveled a little more what seemed like the outskirts of the city. There was a "ski lift" up to where we would see a lot of Buddhist temples and also the highest point of the city where we could see everything. We PR over the city while Liu watched from afar. Later he said he was very touched to hear us do that. We later went to another park setting (keep in mind that these cities are big and that they have different sections to them) and did a festival there. We also noticed that they did sorta of a Chinese Zumba there and there were A LOT of them. We saw some doing it on the second day... but not as many people doing it here. Jan also joined it which was a bit entertaining. She later told me that it was good exercise (and she was tired from it)
The fifth day we rested a bit and went out to see a fellowship, there we kind of looked around and prayed over the place. It was very interesting to be inside a fellowship in EA where we were... We then went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and also to write cards to each teacher that was with us for the week and went onto our final site which was a walk away from where we stayed. With this being the biggest crowd, we pretty much pulled out all the stops in making it successful. Afterwards, we hung around with the people in the area. We also said our goodbyes to the teachers and gave them a card which had some very inspiring words inside. Afterwards, we ate dinner and went back to the hotel since we were leaving the next day.
The trip back was a bit of a pain... traffic was at a standstill for 4 hours and we needed to be back to see some work study students from last year. We later met up with them and ate and hung out with them. The following day we left on the plane to go to the capital city to do some touring... but to be honest... it would probably be better if you saw the pictures on Facebook instead of letting me describe it...
In the end, the trip was a great trip. We were very blessed not having rain every night considering almost every morning it rained... We are also PRing for Liu as he gradually understand our father's saving grace. He showed signs that he was interested, such as asking how i became an xtian and believing in one father. We also PR for the teachers as well, as they also wonder about if there is anything beyond this life.
I think that's it for this segment... part II coming tomorrow!
PS. Baby sat behind me and was viciously crying.... streak continues...
As for the English Festivals it was basically a bunch of kids showing off what they learned in class, which included singing English songs and doing little games which we joined in on in front of the parents. Afterwards the team (excluding me) would be surrounded by people asking them to pose for them and try to talk to us in English.
One of the events that were a bit odd were kids doing a fashion show, which basically was kids doing a fashion show. (I made the comment that if this was the US... someone would be calling the cops). The catch was that a local clothing store probably struck a deal with Liu and they agreed to advertise their clothing at the event... which was probably already to going to be huge due to the advertisements around town and it being in a central area of the town. We eventually calculated it up and decided that Liu was making really good money off of these festivals... despite having to rent the stage, sound system and other small things, since we saw many people signing up for the schools right where we were.
An important thing to note is that in the Chinese culture there in terms of this is that the host will pay for everything. While you may be able to state your case that "you shouldn't have" there isn't much to say since the host will do it anyways. One final note from me is: translating is HARD! It's one thing when I talk to someone since it's just a normal conversation (like when someone says dog. The brain won't go 狗->(english)dog->DOG, it goes 狗=DOG... when translating it goes 狗->DOG->(translate english) dog) ... so it takes a few steps before properly translating a word (now think how hard it is to do a sentence ;).... and it's even harder to do it the other way around). Even though it was challenging, it was a good learning experience for sure.
Flight took a total of around 30 hours... the flight from Canada to EA was around 16 if i remember correctly... My streak of crying babies continued as there was one a few rows behind me and one in front of me... What made it worse was there was something lodged in the headset jack so there was no way i could've watched a movie (well... i could watched it, but no sound would come out)... So 18 hours of either reading or listening to music. Sleeping for me wasn't an option due to it would already be night when we arrived. So as you may guess... pure... boredom.... and babies shrieking... sigh.. (but i did talk to the other members of the team)
Anyways, when we arrived we stopped in a major city close to our city of focus which was where our M also lived. We rested at a hotel (believe me we needed it after the flight) and went got up early to catch a bus to our city of focus. There, we met Liu who recognized me from last year and went on to our hotel from there (since the bus ride was around 4 hours). We ate a good dinner and decided to rest up for the coming week.
The second day we went to the Bamboo Sea with some of the teachers that we were going to work with and explored. The Bamboo Sea was a big tourist attraction for the area due to it's beautiful scenery and souvenirs. Most people bought souvenir from the place, since... most everything there was made of bamboo and everything was very unique. There was no doubt that we walked literally miles that day. Afterwards, we got dropped off at a park/plaza where we would be doing the festival that night. What's significant about the park is that you could see where two rivers would converge into the Yangtze River which is the longest river in Asia and 3rd longest in the world.
The third day we went to an old city a little bit from where we were staying where we would be having our second festival. The second festival came and went like the first one. However, since it was in a smaller part of the city, the crowd wasn't as big... However, it probably was a good turnout considering the amount of people in the city. In the evening we threw Pseth a big surprise birthday, since Pseth foolishly made me translate that he was turning a year older today to a child the previous day. The M, Na and I coordinated everything along with Liu on where it was at and when to buy the cake. To be honest, watching Pseth walk into that room was extremely entertaining.... sorta like watching a mouse walk into a trap.
The fourth day we went to another major English school that wasn't associated with Liu's schools. I'm betting money was probably exchanged under the table for us to be there, but nonetheless, we did most of our usual thing there and hung out with the kids and parents there. Since this was a smaller setting, we gave most of our giveaways there. One of the most interesting things about it was that they had a huge electronic scrolling billboard outside that faced the highway so anyone traveling could see it and our names were on it. Later, we traveled a little more what seemed like the outskirts of the city. There was a "ski lift" up to where we would see a lot of Buddhist temples and also the highest point of the city where we could see everything. We PR over the city while Liu watched from afar. Later he said he was very touched to hear us do that. We later went to another park setting (keep in mind that these cities are big and that they have different sections to them) and did a festival there. We also noticed that they did sorta of a Chinese Zumba there and there were A LOT of them. We saw some doing it on the second day... but not as many people doing it here. Jan also joined it which was a bit entertaining. She later told me that it was good exercise (and she was tired from it)
The fifth day we rested a bit and went out to see a fellowship, there we kind of looked around and prayed over the place. It was very interesting to be inside a fellowship in EA where we were... We then went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and also to write cards to each teacher that was with us for the week and went onto our final site which was a walk away from where we stayed. With this being the biggest crowd, we pretty much pulled out all the stops in making it successful. Afterwards, we hung around with the people in the area. We also said our goodbyes to the teachers and gave them a card which had some very inspiring words inside. Afterwards, we ate dinner and went back to the hotel since we were leaving the next day.
The trip back was a bit of a pain... traffic was at a standstill for 4 hours and we needed to be back to see some work study students from last year. We later met up with them and ate and hung out with them. The following day we left on the plane to go to the capital city to do some touring... but to be honest... it would probably be better if you saw the pictures on Facebook instead of letting me describe it...
In the end, the trip was a great trip. We were very blessed not having rain every night considering almost every morning it rained... We are also PRing for Liu as he gradually understand our father's saving grace. He showed signs that he was interested, such as asking how i became an xtian and believing in one father. We also PR for the teachers as well, as they also wonder about if there is anything beyond this life.
I think that's it for this segment... part II coming tomorrow!
PS. Baby sat behind me and was viciously crying.... streak continues...
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