A Birthday Abroad

While we were in China I (Katie) celebrated my 22nd birthday.  According to Chinese customs, it was really my 23rd birthday (you're one when you're born).  So I went to China 21 and, three weeks later, came home 23.

Some of the students had heard it was my birthday, and they brought me gifts like an adorable wallet, a good luck charm handmade by the student's grandmother ("I don't know if it works in other countries," her card read), and a buddha to hang from my rear view mirror to bring me luck and safety (not quite sure what I'll be doing with it...).  From my team I got cards, Juanita's purple scissors, and cucumber potato chips.  Mike gave me the last of his M&Ms!

A group of students treated us to lunch at Pizza Hut.  Chinese Pizza Hut is a little different than American Pizza Hut, but the cheese pizza was the same and they had forks!  Our friends also bought me a cake with a variety of fruits and chocolate.  (Some fruits we recognized; some we didn't).  It was the most home-like food we had the whole time we were in China.  Oh, and I had my first (and what I hoped to be my last) experience with Chinese candles.

At the end of the day, Jori and I were called into Mike's room for a "meeting."  (I knew it wasn't a meeting).  They'd gathered all of the students together and made me wear a crown while they sang happy birthday to me.  In China they don't sing the, "Happy birthday, dear Katie" like we would in the States, but I wasn't paying enough attention to figure out what they did sing.  I was just too excited: I've never had so many people at my birthday party before!  And everyone wanted pictures... I felt famous, honestly. 

We also had a delicious, traditional cake, but before we could eat it I had to blow out another terrifying candle.

Kind of a little known fact: I'm scared of fire.  I fell into a campfire as a child and have the scars to prove it.  Ever since then... well, I have been known to blow out decorative candles in others' homes...  Birthdays in China are not good for pyro-phobes.

That's the candle I had to blow out twice.  It does not go on top of the cake (we learned that the hard way).  You do not light those little candles... We didn't know that, and neither did the forty Chinese people at my birthday party.  Instead you light the red dot, it explodes and lights the little candles, the flower then sings the birthday song repeatedly while blooming.

I mostly just stood there saying, "Can I blow it out now?  Can I please blow it out now?"

Eventually they let me blow out the candle (after we melted the plastic), but before I could enjoy the cake I needed some smashed in my face... It was Amber's idea, but she knows better.  Jori did the honors.

One of our friends invited us out to dinner with two of her male friends who "wanted to practice their English."  I think that really just meant they wanted to buy dinner for two American girls.  The food was good, though!

Apparently in China for birthdays you're given a bowl of noodles and you have to slurp the noodles for as long a you can (and as loud as you can).  The longer you slurp, the longer you're going to live.  Really, I think the longer you slurp, the sooner you're going to die because you choke. 

But when in China, do it the Chinese way... so I slurped my noodle (and almost choked).  The guys said slurped for a long time, so I'll take their word for it.  Yes, Amber got video.  But that's going to have to be a facebook special because... well... I want a job one day.

After team devotions, I used Curt's computer to call my parents, and we talked for our classic seven minutes.  ;-)

It definitely was a birthday unlike any other!  I'm so grateful for my friends who made it happen!
<>< Katie

We're Home! August 8, 2011

August 6, 2011

August 5, 2011

Intros of our fearless leaders

July 26, 2011

July 20, 2011

Home!

Hey, friends!  I just wanted to let you know that we made it back to the States safely!

 

I (Katie) am home unpacking and doing laundry.

 

Amber is sitting at the airport waiting for her final flight home.  Our last flight was the first one delayed.  Of all flights to be delayed, this one is the best. 

1. Because I'm not on it... just kidding, a little.

2. If she gets stuck here too long, it'll be easy for me to go pick her up again and bring her home.  She won't be stranded in some random city.

3. Her original arrival time was in the middle of rush hour.  Now they get to miss the traffic!

 

We realized from Friday morning until Monday-Round Two (we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner before our plane landed at 8am and then we had to do the whole day over again) we slept 15 hours (that's a generous estimate).  Last night between Monday-Round Two and Tuesday we slept 16 hours.  No middle-of-the-night swimming or sunrise on the Lake... and no complaining about it!

 

We are slowly going through and adding pictures to the previous posts where we mentioned photos.  (Slowly because we had a little mishap with a camera card... it involved my dad trying to help, some tweezers, a trip to Best Buy, and my computer being in the technology hospital for the night... that story is in our final video blog update).  We've also got stories to tell that have not yet been told and video blog updates from throughout our trip.  SO this blog is far from being closed down!  Even though we're back, keep checking for updates, video blogs, stories, and photos.

 

Correction: In an earlier blog I made the comment that there are no international churches in China.  That's wrong.  I misunderstood.  There ARE international churches in China, but an international passport is required for entrance to the church.  Chinese people cannot worship at international churches.  Some foreigners go to international church to worship and some go just to interact with other foreigners.  My confusion came from the fact that foreigners cannot minister in China.  Well, foreigners cannot minister or lead worship in Chinese churches not in all of China.  I think I understand it now, even though it's a bit confusing, so feel free to ask questions for clarifications.

 

Ping An,

<>< Katie

Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey

Tomorrow is our last day teaching before we head to do some touristy things like see The Great Wall (of China, of course).  We fly back to the States on Monday.  As with these last few days, it's going to be a loooooonnnggg weekend.  However, we look forward to telling some great stories once we get home.  With pictures even!  Thanks for your prayers!

 

Wo ai ni,

<>< Katie and Amber

God's Lesson Plan

One of the ways God has blessed us with an open door to speak about His goodness is through the teaching of different holidays.  Last week Junanita and Amber taught Easter, and God did some amazing things.  This morning Curt was set to teach Christmas.  Since Curt's class comes to Jori's and my (Katie) class next, we prayerfully realized that we may be called upon to answer questions regarding the real Christmas story.

 

That un-folded in a way that we could never have fathomed.  Vernon (the other college student; Curt's TA) came into our room and said due to unforeseen circumstances they didn't finish the Christmas story.  Could we just sumarize the end and field questions?  Of course.  Our planned lesson had flopped first period anyway.

 

So I quickly skimmed the reader's theater script they had been doing and asked the students where they got in the story: Jesus had been born and the magi were asking Harold where they could find this new king.

 

So I sumarized the ending, being relatively brief figuring we had a whole different lesson to teach but not being too brief to as to miss the point.  Then Jori and I welcomed questions.  Boy did the questions come!  We did not even touch on our planned lesson but rather spent the entire class time answering questions.

 

What happened next?

Why did God choose Mary?

Was Jesus a king?

So were Mary and Joseph His real parents?

Joseph was king, right?

Jesus was killed, right?

So Jesus is a god?

Three Gods?

Does God still speak through dreams?

My mom prayed for her toothache to go away and it went away.  She try to persuade me, but I am not persuaded.

How do you make decisions?

Did Jesus talk to special people?

Was Jesus rich?

How do you believe something you don't understand?

What is faith?

There are some people at my school who have that same religion like you.  They're different.  I can see it.  They're calm, generous, and loving.  Always calm.

 

We were flabbergasted.  So many questions don't have pat answers.  So many questions were answered directly by the Holy Spirit speaking through us.  As soon as the class left, Jori and I joined hands and prayed until tears filled our eyes.  It was all an incredibly humbling experience we were excited to share with our team at lunch.

 

But God wasn't done.

 

A short while later in my (Amber's) class, without knowledge of anything that had occured earlier, Juanita and I held what we thought would be a normal class.

 

We were talking about love languages and were discussing the love language of gifts. Juanita had an empty gift bag which she used to ask the students what they most hoped was in the bag. Some said money, food, books, pictures, etc. However, we had one girl in the last class that said she wished a Bible would be in the bag. I immediately was on the edge of my chair, just waiting for the end of class.

 

I had been given a New Testiment in Chinese/English to give out. I knew it was for her. As soon as class was over, I walked up to her and asked her again if she was serious. When I confirmed she was serious about wanting a Bible, I handed her my NT. She at first refused because she felt bad. But after I insisted, she got misty eyed and accepted it with the biggest smile I have ever seen. She was so grateful and so excited. I also connected her with another woman who attends the local church here. It was amazing!

 

Today, the rain has been almost nonstop. Therefore, our group sat around one classroom waiting for the rain to stop. This is when God put the puzzle pieces together, revealing himself to us. I told my story from class and the gift of the NT. When I showed Katie and Jori the picture of the girl and I, those two became giddy! Katie proceeded to explain their class. We were praising God together! It had been a rough morning for some and we defintiely felt Satan trying to attack our team. However, God trumped Satan and made today an AMAZING day!!!

 

God is good all the time.

 

Love,

Katie and Amber (with Jori, of course)