rae of hope: Recap #4 (China): Installment 1

This is going to be the first of two update installments for China. This installment will be about our team's experiences and adventures, and the next one will be about my personal lessons and things that God was speaking to my heart during our time in China. So stay tuned for the next part...

Our time in China was divided into two parts. First we spent a number of days in Beijing, mostly sight-seeing and hanging out. Then we traveled to Xi'an, where we met up with some other fellow YWAMers. China was much more fun than I expected, and I was surprised to find myself sad to leave!

In Beijing we had the opportunity to take in many of the famous sights of China, which was pretty amazing. I had the chance to visit the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, and the Olympic stadium. The team had a pretty fun time being tourists for a few days!

The streets of China

We ate with chopsticks for nearly every meal

Heath, my cutie of a boyfriend

ATW team at the Temple of Heaven

Cuties! Tiska, Maria, and Lydia

Tiananmen Square

Chair lift up to the Great Wall

Great Wall of China!

Maria and Sarah on the way down from the Wall

The Bird's Nest at the Olympic stadium

Tiska, Josh, Heath, and I at the Olympic stadium

In Xi'an, we had a few classes to help finish up our lecture phase and we were able to engage in a few different ministry opportunities as well. Our team went to a couple different orphanages and also attended English Corners, where Chinese people come to hang out and socialize with native English speakers in an effort to practice and improve their conversational English.

One of the orphanages we went to was a home of sorts for children with disabilities. There were two different women who had devoted their lives to taking care of this handful of children. It was such an amazing testament to the faith of these women to believe God to provide for them and these children and to give them the strength, patience, and grace needed to work so hard every single day and to love on these kids.

We stayed with a few different families living in China and working to share God's love there. This was my favorite part of our time there. I was able to stay with our speaker/teacher and his family, and what an amazing blessing they were. He and his wife welcomed me and the other two girls staying there (Maria and Lydia) into their home as if we were really a part of their family. I also loved being able to hang out and play with their two young sons. Spending time in a home and with small kids was such a comfort after being away from home and on the road for so long. Maria, Lydia, and I also spent a lot of time just hanging out with them and having great conversations about God, faith, life, and all of our questions. It was definitely enriching, enlightening, and thought-provoking.