China round 2

Well, faithful blog readers and friends, it's that time again! I begin my trek for many miles and many days across the globe to reach my "home" in China for year #2. I leave Kansas City very early on Monday morning, and I should reach Nanchang sometime on Friday or Saturday. It will be a long haul, but it's worth it!

Please keep us in your thoughts as we travel (by cars, planes, trains). Please remember us for safe travels, but also so we wouldn't get quarantined once we reach Beijing.

It's been a wonderful past six or seven weeks--with the right mix of rest, exercise, and being with people. A part of me really wants to stay here, especially to be with my family. Not seeing them for 10 months or more is pretty challenging! But I know that there is still a great purpose for returning to China. Hopefully I can always be mindful of that.

I would still love to stay in touch with you. I've heard that Facebook is blocked now, so the best way to communicate would probably still be through email, Skype, or old-fashioned letters.

Well, I'm off on another adventure. Love you all!!

Creating boundaries

I have had the immense pleasure of getting to read several wonderful books this summer. I've only read one novel, which is strange for me. The rest of the books I read have been more "educational." Here's a couple of the most memorable ones:

The best, most helpful book I've ever read is "Boundaries" by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. I don't even know what to say about it--I actually ended up taking several pages of notes on it, because it was so good and needed. It's basically how to set boundaries (not build walls or let people walk all over you) with people for much healthier relationships. Since I can't explain it very well, just take my word for it, and read it! It's only a couple of dollars on Amazon.

Another powerful, but heart wrenching book is "The Price of Honor," by Jan Goodwin. Goodwin compiled four years' worth of observations from living and traveling in 10 different Middle Eastern countries. She interviewed countless women (and men) about the resurgence of fundamentalist Islam in those countries, which is affecting women in really terrible, negative ways. I appreciated this book, because Goodwin was brutally honest in what she learned and observed. It was also really informative, as she explained each country's history and culture. The Middle East was never my focus when I was in college studying just about every other region in the world.

I don't know why I'm reading so many books about Muslims. (I think my sister has influenced me). I also read a book called, "Miniskirts, Mothers, and Muslims," about a Western believer who has lived in the Middle East for many decades and is married to an Arab. She talks about relating to the Middle Eastern culture in an honoring way. It seems a lot less depressing than the other book, "Price of Honor". But sometimes I did feel that she was sort of sugar-coating how women are viewed and treated in the Muslim cultures.

Overall, it's been a very educational summer. Now only 12 days until China!

Rusty

(Visiting Grandpa)
(Some of our family in Rochester)
(Andrea and my birthday cake)

I'm a little rusty at the blog business lately. After having written for my blog nearly every other day for the past 10 months or so, it is strange not having written for almost a month.

Anyway, life in America has been incredibly blessed these past four or five weeks. I've been spending lots of time with my family and friends, just resting, breathing fresh air, and exercising. I was able to visit Rochester, NY to see a lot of family, and then I also went down to Virginia to visit old friends and my college fellowship there.

I know my life is more fulfilling in China, but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying life here for the moment. On the contrary. It's like I can't get enough of the world on this side of the globe. Kansas seems indescribably beautiful; the people seem indescribably friendly; my family and friends seem indescribably dear and priceless; the sky seems indescribably blue; the country seems indescribably free. (Do you realize how many different fellowships people in America can choose from?) I just want to talk to everybody, look at everything, go everywhere, and eat everything.

Over the past few weeks I've also been able to talk to literally hundreds of people about China and the Father's plans for the nations to know Him. I've shared at several fellowships in Kansas, New York, and Virginia, as well as talking with countless individuals. And I'm just in awe at how other people are also so excited about what He's doing in China and all over the world.

Anyway, He has been good to me, especially as I look at the world through my new lenses of being the ripe old age of 23. I turned 23 just a couple of weeks ago, and I can hardly believe it. Shouldn't I feel wiser and more intelligent? Shouldn't I have a hefty paycheck? Shouldn't I have a serious boyfriend? Shouldn't I have a couple gray hairs sprouting?

Well, maybe not. He has different plans for all of us. And I'm just thankful that I can return to China in a couple of weeks, although it's not exactly the easiest or most glamorous road. But it's all for Him!

Can't get enough of this place

I wasn't going to update my blog for a while, since I'm on a little "furlough" from China for several weeks. However, I just want to write and say how thankful I am to be home. It's like I've been looking at everything through fresh eyes.

Usually I like to poke fun at my hometown, Topeka, for being slow and boring. Whenever I come home to visit, nothing has changed. The people and buildings look the same, and the stories in the tiny city newspaper are the same. Yet this time around I can't help but notice how blessed this place is.

The grass is green. The sky is blue. The air is fresh. The ground is clean. People are extremely friendly. Strangers wave or smile at me nearly all day long. There's hardly any traffic to speak of. Everyone's very supportive of what I'm doing in China...

So, is this place for real? I'm just appreciative that I can rest here for a few weeks. America's not any better than any other country, but having been in several other countries I think I can safely say that America is indeed a very special and blessed nation.

Return from the Far East

(Fruit vendor in Beijing).
(The airport people gave us face-masks at the Beijing airport. I only wore mine for 2 seconds).
(We had to capture this moment. Jodi received mail in LA from the U.S. postman).
(My first American meal in many months. It was also a momentous occasion).
(Saying goodbye to my team in LA at a Chinese restaurant).

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Did anyone ever notice that America is amazing? After having been gone for 10 months, I'm overwhelmed by the order, the cleanliness, the lack of pollution, the extremely well-fed (perhaps over-fed) people, the plenty, and the beauty of the land and the people. It's like having woken up from a coma for a year, and finding things really different, but still rather the same. And for now I'm unable to see signs of an economic crisis. I'm pretty sure America's terms of "poor" are vastly different than the most of the world's. If someone has a roof over their head and something to eat, then they are pretty well-off.

I won't go into explaining all the differences between China and America. They are like two completely different planets that you can't even begin to describe. I'll just say that I still love China, but I'm so thankful I can rest in this country for several weeks before going back. My head is just spinning with everything I see and experience and eat here. It's like China never happened or existed, except I know that somehow I've become a very changed person.

It was indeed a long journey to get home to Kansas. We spent several days in Beijing, which gets more Western and well-mannered by the day, it seems. I've been there four different times now.

Beijing and much of China is scared to death about swine flu, even though there have been probably less than 100 cases. The hotel we were going to stay at kicked us out, because they said the "government needed it." When I walked by there a few days ago, it was being used as a quarantine hotel. China is forcibly quarantining whole planes of people coming from the Western countries if even one person has a little cough or fever. They think it must be swine flu, and they immediately quarantine 300 people in a hotel for one week. This is happening all over the big Chinese cities. No wonder the tourist spots were empty.

This particular hotel I walked by had guards in face masks surrounding the hotel. Nobody went in or out of the hotel. The doors were barricaded, then taped, then barricaded. The entire perimeter of the hotel had off-limits tape. It was like people with the plague were in there or something. It seemed a bit... extreme. But China is China, and it can do whatever it wants, I suppose.

After we finally flew back to America, I stayed in LA for a couple of days with a few of my teammates who live there. Then when I flew to Kansas City yesterday I sat by a guy who actually is going to visit China next week for a vacation. He asked a lot of questions about China, so I got to tell him some good stories. He thought everything was either really amazing or funny. He was only a couple of years older than I am, and he works long hours as an accountant in LA making good money. But he flat out told me, "I envy you. I wouldn't have the guts."

That made me realize that I'm really blessed to be able to live in China, even though it's extremely difficult at the same time. Lots of people think I'm brave. But I'm not. The Father's the one who has given me the courage and the love for those people. One of the biggest things I've come to realize this year is how completely inadequate I'm on my own. But with Him (and your tireless support), I can accomplish some crazy things!

Well, that's about all the reflections I have for the moment. I'm just relishing being here. I may have more to report later.

THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING 10 MONTHS, my faithful friends, family and supporters!!

HOME

I'm back in Meiguo (America!) More details to come soon...

Homeward Bound

(Saying goodbye to the "Watermelon Lady")
(Farewell lunch with some of our Chinese friends)

It is mid-afternoon on Wednesday, and we have just said farewell to some of our closest Chinese friends. Half of my team had to say good-bye to them probably for good. I'm glad I just had to say "see you again!" I'm only leaving for 2 months, and then I'll return to this now very familiar place that has slowly been turning into my home.

We have just been packing, cleaning, and saying good-bye to friends and neighbors on the back street (like the noodle people and watermelon lady). The majority of my students left a long time ago, so I don't have to think about finding them and saying good-bye. Currently I'm packing a suitcase to take home. The rest of my stuff will be migrating downstairs to the 4th floor, where I'll live next school year.

We also have to make this apartment look spotless for next year's teachers. Chinese apartments get dirtier than most, at a much faster pace. I scrubbed and scrubbed the kitchen, for example, and the warped cupboards and chipped floors can't really ever look decent no matter what I do. The walls around the propane stove are also permanently blackened. And I discovered that there is wood rotting under our kitchen sink, bringing lots of nice bugs with it.

Okay, I should get back to cleaning and packing! I'm excited to be headed back to the U.S. for at least a few weeks. And I'm glad I don't have to say good-bye to this school and city forever, because I'll be back!

This is probably my last blog for a while. Tomorrow we actually get to fly to Beijing (taking an airplane, instead of the train, is a rare opportunity in China). I joke that we are flying on China Duct-Tape Airlines. The few times I've been on an airplane in China, I was pretty sure the plane was held together by tape or staples. Then we fly to LA on the 30th on China Scotch-Tape Airlines (actually China Eastern, but close enough). :) I'll arrive in Kansas on the 2nd. Please think of us, as we have a lot of meetings and traveling ahead of us for the next week.

This is all for now, folks! Thanks for tuning in for so many months! You have been incredibly faithful in your encouragement and support.