We are here… but why am I here. Am I supposed to learn something? Probably! Am I supposed to show God’s Love to the orphans? Obviously! Is it supposed to be this difficult? All things worth having take work of some kind… So let me back up & give you a little detail-
Almost a year ago I asked Gloria if she would be interested in doing a mission trip. I was really missing the annual mission trip Kevin & I went on with the youth. There is something really amazing about letting go & letting God, about coming out of your comfort zone for God, going places you never expected, doing things you never dreamed, and seeing His works in awesome new ways… I figured we could go to Africa or something, but Gloria asked “what about China?” Well that really threw me. I never dreamed I would go to China (not that I thought Africa would be easier, but China, hmmm). I am too picky of an eater, there is a huge language divide (written & spoken), and China is a long-long distance to travel.
Gloria started sharing with me about an organization that she works with called OCDF (Our Chinese Daughter’s Foundation). It is a non-profit organization based in central Illinois. OCDF has many different venues, but we would use them for sight seeing & working in orphanages. I was intrigued, but the fears starting pouring in. Gloria eased some of my fears by explaining that OCDF will provide an English speaking guide who will be with us all the time (except when we are in our room of course); plus she had been 3 other times. So I agreed, but one day I will learn the truth behind the saying ‘be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.’
To say my trip started 2 days ago is really an understatement because that seems to ignore all the prep work Gloria & I have done, all the knitting done by various donators, the money raised by the ISEs to be used for vitamins for the orphans, my mom’s trip over with all the prep work associated with that, all the prayer support offered by friends & family, the behind the scene work of OCDF, and the list goes on & on. But I will start documenting from travel day forward.
Gloria nor I slept on Wednesday/Thursday night. For me, the biggest hurdle was poor Sophie getting a stomach bug – she was burning up with fever & vomiting. If it wasn’t for Granny I don’t know if I would have left. Also I learned our departure was moved up from 2:30pm to 11:40am. It takes 2 hours minimum with no traffic issues to get from Peterborough to Heathrow, so that meant we needed to be on the road fairly early. When Gloria called the driver to reschedule, the earliest he could pick us up was 8am. So Gloria, Kevin, and I spent the first part of the night trying to come up with options – take the train, drive ourselves, or trust the driver. In the end we decided to trust the expert and you know what, he did it. In the middle of rush hour he was able to get us to the airport in plenty of time. So far so good…
We waltz up to the ticket counter to check in, only to have the clerk say you are 14kg over your limit. You can either pay an overage cost of 25GBP per kg or choose to store some of your stuff here in the airport at 7GBP per day. While I am deciding what to do, Gloria puts her bags up on the scale to discover she is 30kg over the limit. We talk to management, plead our case of more than half the luggage is made up of donations to the orphans, discuss how NOTHING on the ticket alerted us to this strange weight limitation, all to no-avail. After half an hour of talking to a wall, we realize that we are going to have to store a suitcase a piece. We leave the donations
(we’ll figure that out later) and half our clothes behind. We go back up to check-in, get a different person this time, and now have 2kg to spare each – I guess that means we can shop after all (but more about that later).
We fly from Heathrow/London to Amsterdam, have a fairly good lunch, and then board the plane for China. The plane is packed full (Gloria & I are in the minority), we have two of the seats next to the window but are “end-capped” by a sleeping, farting Chinese guy. We sat on the run-way for almost 2 hours ~ they needed to change the tires. To appease everyone during the wait they give us a cookie & juice; I guess they didn’t want us to act like kids J. Once we are off & in the air Gloria and I plan on sleeping – when we get to China we will hit the ground running in an effort to overcome jet lag.
Remember the Chinese guy sitting on the end of the row, well he was nothing compared to the guy sitting behind me. Everytime he got up he would pull & push on my chair; he was constantly putting the tray up & down; he had the loudest voice & felt the need to talk almost the entire flight; he had a very annoying habit of clearing his throat & hacking loudly; he asked Gloria to shut off HER air conditioner vent (it was making him cold), and the list goes on. The TV was tiny and about 8 rows in front of us. We tried, we really tried but there was to be no relaxing & no sleeping on this flight. So after 10 very long hours we landed in Beijing, and the tires worked (so I am glad they changed them).
We got through border control & customs without a hitch, our luggage was waiting for us, David & Mr. Lee (our guide & driver) were waiting for us, I got money easily, we ate at KFC – hey, things are going really well! We went to the Great Wall of China. What an awesome sight! We took a cable car up to the base of the Great Wall but still had to climb many steps & walk a very steep incline.
Almost a year ago I asked Gloria if she would be interested in doing a mission trip. I was really missing the annual mission trip Kevin & I went on with the youth. There is something really amazing about letting go & letting God, about coming out of your comfort zone for God, going places you never expected, doing things you never dreamed, and seeing His works in awesome new ways… I figured we could go to Africa or something, but Gloria asked “what about China?” Well that really threw me. I never dreamed I would go to China (not that I thought Africa would be easier, but China, hmmm). I am too picky of an eater, there is a huge language divide (written & spoken), and China is a long-long distance to travel.
Gloria started sharing with me about an organization that she works with called OCDF (Our Chinese Daughter’s Foundation). It is a non-profit organization based in central Illinois. OCDF has many different venues, but we would use them for sight seeing & working in orphanages. I was intrigued, but the fears starting pouring in. Gloria eased some of my fears by explaining that OCDF will provide an English speaking guide who will be with us all the time (except when we are in our room of course); plus she had been 3 other times. So I agreed, but one day I will learn the truth behind the saying ‘be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.’
To say my trip started 2 days ago is really an understatement because that seems to ignore all the prep work Gloria & I have done, all the knitting done by various donators, the money raised by the ISEs to be used for vitamins for the orphans, my mom’s trip over with all the prep work associated with that, all the prayer support offered by friends & family, the behind the scene work of OCDF, and the list goes on & on. But I will start documenting from travel day forward.
Gloria nor I slept on Wednesday/Thursday night. For me, the biggest hurdle was poor Sophie getting a stomach bug – she was burning up with fever & vomiting. If it wasn’t for Granny I don’t know if I would have left. Also I learned our departure was moved up from 2:30pm to 11:40am. It takes 2 hours minimum with no traffic issues to get from Peterborough to Heathrow, so that meant we needed to be on the road fairly early. When Gloria called the driver to reschedule, the earliest he could pick us up was 8am. So Gloria, Kevin, and I spent the first part of the night trying to come up with options – take the train, drive ourselves, or trust the driver. In the end we decided to trust the expert and you know what, he did it. In the middle of rush hour he was able to get us to the airport in plenty of time. So far so good…
We waltz up to the ticket counter to check in, only to have the clerk say you are 14kg over your limit. You can either pay an overage cost of 25GBP per kg or choose to store some of your stuff here in the airport at 7GBP per day. While I am deciding what to do, Gloria puts her bags up on the scale to discover she is 30kg over the limit. We talk to management, plead our case of more than half the luggage is made up of donations to the orphans, discuss how NOTHING on the ticket alerted us to this strange weight limitation, all to no-avail. After half an hour of talking to a wall, we realize that we are going to have to store a suitcase a piece. We leave the donations
(we’ll figure that out later) and half our clothes behind. We go back up to check-in, get a different person this time, and now have 2kg to spare each – I guess that means we can shop after all (but more about that later).We fly from Heathrow/London to Amsterdam, have a fairly good lunch, and then board the plane for China. The plane is packed full (Gloria & I are in the minority), we have two of the seats next to the window but are “end-capped” by a sleeping, farting Chinese guy. We sat on the run-way for almost 2 hours ~ they needed to change the tires. To appease everyone during the wait they give us a cookie & juice; I guess they didn’t want us to act like kids J. Once we are off & in the air Gloria and I plan on sleeping – when we get to China we will hit the ground running in an effort to overcome jet lag.
Remember the Chinese guy sitting on the end of the row, well he was nothing compared to the guy sitting behind me. Everytime he got up he would pull & push on my chair; he was constantly putting the tray up & down; he had the loudest voice & felt the need to talk almost the entire flight; he had a very annoying habit of clearing his throat & hacking loudly; he asked Gloria to shut off HER air conditioner vent (it was making him cold), and the list goes on. The TV was tiny and about 8 rows in front of us. We tried, we really tried but there was to be no relaxing & no sleeping on this flight. So after 10 very long hours we landed in Beijing, and the tires worked (so I am glad they changed them).
We got through border control & customs without a hitch, our luggage was waiting for us, David & Mr. Lee (our guide & driver) were waiting for us, I got money easily, we ate at KFC – hey, things are going really well! We went to the Great Wall of China. What an awesome sight! We took a cable car up to the base of the Great Wall but still had to climb many steps & walk a very steep incline.
It was now time for the eyes to shut & the body to relax. No matter how much we fought it, we decided it was time to check into the hotel & get ready for bed. Besides, we have a whole day of shopping tomorrow. Remember those 2kg we have to spare in our luggage, might get those filled up :-), and as Gloria pointed out in her blog (see "Gloria & Jim" in my Friend's Blog list to view her blog) we can ship most anything over that doesn’t fit into our luggage.
These first two days of sight seeing & shopping promise to be great! Then it will be off to hold some babies, paint some walls, and clean some rooms. So far the thing I have learned… God is in control even when Satan starts medaling, He will provide, and He is enough!
These first two days of sight seeing & shopping promise to be great! Then it will be off to hold some babies, paint some walls, and clean some rooms. So far the thing I have learned… God is in control even when Satan starts medaling, He will provide, and He is enough!
4 comments:
Glad to hear the you had a safe flight...keep us updated.
wow looks like fun! Praying for you guys!
So very glad to hear you arrived safe and sound with only a few glitches. Please keep us updated on everything you are doing and seeing.
I am still visualizing the farting, Asian guy-LOL! Satan definately works his hardest in times like these when you are really trying to do something worthwhile and good. This is going to be an AMAZING experience. I can't wait to read about the rest of it.
Post a Comment