One Step Closer

The team is now on the last flight of their long journey back to Omaha. It is safe to say that they will be arriving at Eppley Airfield in about an hour.

Almost Home

The China team is at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport at the moment. The flight has been delayed.

last post from China

Hey everyone. Thanks for following our trip. It has been quite an adventure. As I type, we're packing up our clothes and trying to figure out how to fit things like decorative chopsticks, Chinese fans, souvenir mugs, etc. into our already packed suitcases. Besides 1 unreasonably large souvenir that Jordan bought, I'm sure the rest of it will fit fine.

I hope you enjoyed following our expeditions. Hopefully, when we get home, we'll be able to tell you more in person. I feel like we accomplished quite a bit. We made great friendships. We toured a lot of cool sights.
We had a lot of great opportunities to share with people. We were incredibly busy!

And now...it's time to return. Many of us are a little sad to leave, but I'm sure we'll all be happy to sleep in our own beds tomorrow night...all of us except Kelley L that is...she's kind of homeless. We all have a many stories to tell. Ask us about them...after we get time to rest. Speaking of rest, it's about that time. I want plenty of rest to gear up for the 14 hr flight tomorrow.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement. It's been great. See you soon.

BTW, if you want to welcome us home, we'll be flying in to Omaha at 9:48pm on Tuesday night!

Bei Hai Park...and some thoughts from Phil's head

Well, our China trip is wrapping up. It's 11:59pm Saturday night, and we leave sometime on Tuesday. This has been such an awesome, unforgettable experience so far. It's really good to get some perspective on America and our culture by learning about the Chinese and seeing how they live life everyday. Yesterday, we had our final coffee shop encounter/cultural exchange and two of the students turned up today to see Bei Hai Park. This place is close to our hotel, probably a 10 minute drive (in the intense Beijing traffic), really close to the Forbidden City.

The park was pretty sweet. It had a decent sized lake and a hill in the center with an odd shaped monument I believe some Buddhists erected. There were a ton of trees around the lake, mostly weeping willows. First, we climbed to the top of the hill to see the monument up close and personal. Seeing the stairs, the group had terrifying flashbacks of the Great Wall, but after sprinting up the menacing looking stairs, I decided they really didn't compare to the Great Wall's amount of stairs (but still very out of breath).

From their, we stumbled across some "ancient caves." They cost a whole 3 yuan (equivalent to $.44) to enter, and I'd say we got what we paid for (they weren't so ancient or awesome for that matter). After that, we loaded onto two different boats that were definitely the paddle boat's slightly older, but not much more impressive brother. They did not have paddles, but if a paddle boat was going full-steam, I think it would beat ours in a race. Don't get me wrong, it was still famous. Captain Parsons maneuvered our not so seaworthy vessel, and he did well. He almost outran some ducks swimming at a very casual pace. He did a fine job ramming random (and innocent) Chinese paddlers and collided with the other teams boat several times. My first thoughts upon boarding were "bumper boats," so I was very entertained (not like that's very hard).

As the end is nearing, I'm torn between being homesick and really missing people back home and loving Beijing and the people we've met here, not wanting it to be over so soon. It's been so awesome seeing just how far my dad's business stretches. It's really, really awesome to see people that are in the biz here in China and are in it to win it. I think business is booming, too. Another really great part about this trip is getting to know my brothers and sisters much better, seeing as we are almost always together. It's been so cool seeing such a diverse crowd really pull together, despite quite differing personalities. Trust me, it's not any special skill we have that makes this happen. I think comparing us to a body is a pretty strong analogy. I just want to thank everyone who has been thinking about us back in the States, we appreciate it! As things wrap up this weekend, I'm going to try and soak up as much as I can and savor every last bite of this delectable Chinese cuisine.

Signing off,
Phil

A little about what we do in Beijing

A little information about what we do in Beijing.
After a prayer/worship session in Jared's room we move out onto the canary (our mini bus) and start the drive to the “university” which is a word that so far means a coffee shop. We arrive as always to an eager group of college age people. The basic facts about this process are always the same, awkward limp handshakes, an exchanging of names in accents to thick to understand the first couple of times, looking around the place for a bathroom, for me finding a safe place to park the camera gear assessing the light and making sure to convince myself I know what I'm doing, with the camera that is.

The people, that's a different story. Its clear siting down and talking to strangers is a process that's both complicated and addictive. There are a never ending array of questions, what’s your major, where are you from, what kind of music do you listen to? Sometimes the language barrier keeps things to one or two word phrases. Sometimes its as though your talking to a friend from the states.

What we come to discover in one another I think isn't how separate we are but how commonly we are made. how similar we really are. Listening to a Chinese girl tell you about her mother pressuring her to look her best, or a father that just isn’t interested in her beliefs. They are kids, in many cases far from where and what they used to call home, in the big city of Beijing. They are searching and struggling with the same questions and the same problems we all are, but they’re doing it in a land where hope is absent, and faith means as much as luck in a lotto drawing. That leaves people looking for something.

It is great to see that the people here are hungry for answers. It is great to see that their spirits cannot be oppressed. I cannot believe the boldness I have felt in talking with these students. I find myself sharing with them more freely than I do with my own friends. Telling them what I have hope in, and what I believe. They are so grateful that we have come so far. They clearly know that we have come for a great reason.

As we where leaving a coffee shop the other day a student I had been talking with handed me a small figurine of a dog holding a sign in its mouth that said welcome. He said it had been his 17th birthday gift and he wanted us to have it. As he handed it to me he looked me in the eye and said you are all very welcome here. Thank you so much for coming. We need you here.
He was a friend of my fathers and he was very grateful that we spent the day with his friends telling them stories about what that means.

So behind the facade and the language is a real person with the same hopes and fears as me. This is what we have chosen to do about it. Its hard to think about things as loosely as I did before my arrival here. Its tough to think that we have a great number of advantages others do not know and likely never will. I guess its times like these when a person decides what it is they are willing to do for the people around them. How far they are willing to go to offer the help they once needed just as badly.

From here in Beijing looking at those who have benefited from this trip, I can only hope with great hope that our answer is always, as far as he needs me to go.

I will keep you in my heart along with the other things I have stashed away in there. I hope you will do the same.

Good night from Beijing,
Jordan Green

Some More Choice Picures

something bigger than ourselves

Since we've been in China, we've had quite a few interesting stories...many of them quite humorous actually. As a matter of fact, every time we go out w/out a translator is an adventure in itself. Over the past 9 days, we've gotten used to things like not being able to communicate...at all, riding in a mini-bus all day, and using chopsticks to pick up everything on our plate....not always an easy feat.
As we've gotten the chance to settle in, it's been easier to get a grasp on why we're here. Yes, we're here doing cultural exchanges with Chinese university students, and we hope we have great opportunities. We've already been able to share the good news w/ many Chinese students who have never heard it before. That has been a really cool thing...but just like every missions trip, "dad" has something in store for each of us personally.
Yesterday evening, we were able to sit down in our hotel room and sing a little, then share with each other what the Father has revealed to us so far. It was great to hear people sharing about things like a new found passion for evangelism, or a refreshed perspective on missions. Another thing mentioned several times was an increased awareness of our own inadequacies as humans. Being in a foreign culture, interacting in a language other than your own has a tendency to be really humbling...but that's a good thing. It points out that HE is the one doing the work. HE is the one that changes lives. We have a tendency to put so much pressure on ourselves to change peoples lives...and our own lives for that matter. That's not really His plan. Instead, He has called us to be faithful in what we do, being obedient to him along the way. In Him, we are made strong. In Him, we find our identity. This is a pretty common theme, but sometimes you need to travel half way across the world to get a refresher course in Life 101.
We have 5 days left here and we want great things to happen. We would love it if you would continue to think about us as He leads us along the way. We want to make an impact in China, but we also want to come back as changed people.
Thanks for your support so far. We'll be sure and keep you updated!
-Jared K

The Great Wall and Flying Chinese Acrobats

Sorry we didn't blog yesterday, we had a longer day than usual and we were all pretty exhausted. It started with an early morning trek out to the Great Wall. It was absolutely gorgeous but I'm not sure that anyone was quite ready for the challenge. The temperature was in the 90s and some parts of the wall were almost 90 degrees - perpendicular to the ground. It was tough but oh so worth the effort. After that we went back to the hotel where we cleaned up and rested for a while. Us girls including Kelley Leidenthal decided to dress up because we felt like feeling pretty. For dinner we went to a Korean restaurant which was crazy delicious. You get a plate of thinly sliced raw meet and you grill it yourself at your table. When it's done you dip it in some sort of seasoned soy sauce type thing. After dinner, we went to a Flying Acrobat show which was very entertaining. It was a bunch of Chinese people in crazy costumes doing all sorts of tricks. There was a guy who balanced on a plank which was on a cylindrical object and put bowls on the end of the plank and flipped them onto his head. There were also a few girls who bent their bodies in ways it should never be bent and guys jumping through hoops and girls on bikes and all sorts of craziness. As exhausting as the day was it was a ton of fun and an experience that will last a life time. We have been fortunate that we have gone this long and not had any incidents and appreciate you keeping us in your thoughts.

~Megan

The Mini Marathon...

So here is the deal... I am going to run over some facts about to today's outings to get you to the epic ending. We went to a coffee shop to visit today, and we learned much about our brothers and sisters here and much about what they have been doing. We got to talk a lot and share a meal with them. We will be able to go with them to the Great Wall tomorrow. Awesome. Once the chats were done, we went to eat at a hong kong restaurant after a siesta. Which is a nap. So we went to eat at this place where we proceeded to spill more than our fair share of noodles and sauce. We then decided it a good idea to find Jared some walking shoes for tomorrow... which is where the epicness begins. We started this idea with trying to get onto a subway... which was fine. We walked to the station, got on, and things where going fairly smoothly except no one could pronounce the street we were heading. We got to where we were going and Jared told us to walk one way because he "knew" where we were going. So we began walking. And walking. And walking. Sweat began to drip. Gimps began to show. Tempers were about to flair. Just at the time, after we had walked almost to Mongolia, was when Jared finally said "we're lost." It is this time when Gabe decided to ask a women who had married father time when he was in his twenties. She and her buddy were old. We only had the name in chinese of the place we wanted to go on a sheet of paper. So we pointed to it and they mumbled Mandarin and pointed in directions as they were leading towards the market. However, we then were again mumbled at and told to walk down a dark alley way. This brought the team together. Imminent death often does. This alley way was dark, scary and different. It appeared to have no end when all of a sudden the women pointed and mumbled yet again in a different direction and we followed her. It looked as if the market was in sight, when she suddenly wanted us to cross an interstate of traffic. It was incredibly intense. When we had crossed the street after almost six accounts of near death at the hands of these women, they proceed to stop at a bus stop. No joke. They led us through a scary corridor and insane traffic to a bus stop. It was here where Jared said "I quit." We gave up the search and headed back home at a speedy pace because all we wanted was this to be over. We finally got back to our original subway and street and finally to our hotel. But that was a most grand ending to a splendid day. So ends Monday, May the 18th, 2009, for our intrepid explorers in Beijing China.

-Jared Parsons

Adventures in Bejing

Not too long ago, we just got back from taking a rather long walk after taking the subway to find the Pearl Market that we went to on saturday. We walked and walked but ended up not finding it, even after trying to ask around, which is hard with the language barrier. At least we got a little exercise and burned off some calories, so it really wasn't all that bad, only that we didn't know we would be walking that far and flip-flops definitely aren't the way to go. Moving on to the earlier events of today...

Today we met with more university students at yet another coffee shop, which is kind of a nice setting actually. We sat around and discussed our likes and our cultures while even getting into deeper conversation if we saw fit. And because music is a big part of their culture as well, Jared and Gabe play and sing some songs, one of which they taught today was "Home On The Range". Kelley also had a fun activity for us and it ended up being the Hokey Pokey, good times. We noticed this time around that a lot of the students didn't know english as well as the first group we met with, so it made talking with them more difficult. Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and just relaxed for a while before going out to dinner, which was good to have since we're always just going until after dinner most days. Tomorrow we're heading off to the infamous Great Wall and invited the students in more organized fashion than when we went to the Temple of Heaven, so it should be a great time!

-Kira

Freedom. Liberation. Openness. . . . . these are words that describe what I found in China. . . .it is funny tho to think of freedom in seclusion. . . . and liberation in the fact that you have run out of options. . . . my friends. . . . my family. . .I am talking about none other than the infamous four syllable phrase. . . Squatty . . . . Potty. . . . one of the beast thing in China is this contraption. . . it is much like an American toilet with out any of the restraints . . . . all the purpose + no restraints = awesome

thoughts from fast phil...

Well, I'm in Beijing (and have no clue where to start). I have got to say, for literally being halfway around the world and in a country who's language is about as different from English as it gets, I'm oddly at home. Upon first arriving, a few things really stuck out: on the highways they have a ton of flowers in almost all of the medians and tall trees along most of the road; there are huge, 30-story apartment buildings in clusters scattered all throughout Beijing, in just about every part of town; the city doesn't have very much litter at all and people are out in the streets cleaning in the wee hours of the night (I heard from a student they started making efforts to pick up trash a couple years ago).

Overall, the Chinese I have encountered have been very friendly (if they can speak English). It seems like they are used just going from point A to point B without any interaction with each other. For the most part, people are just walking (lots and lots of people) with this solemn, emotionless look on their face. Whenever we say hi or interact with somebody, their face lights up, especially if they can speak English. It is really, really easy to talk to people here, too. Obviously, because we're from America is part of it, but people seem really happy to engage and talk, just randomly on the street. I think that the people like to be out and about, compared to Omaha where my friends generally hang out with each other at homes, in private places. It has been very interesting trying to interact with the Chinese, especially those that don't speak English.

Gabe is a people magnet with his fro. At least once an hour, we'll see some Chinese women either staring at his hair or just cracking up. They all wonder if it's real. I wonder if they've seen an afro before.

Yesterday we had our first cultural exchange at Peking University. There were about 20 students there, and they all had a million questions, as did we. There's probably about 10 coming with us today to the Temple of Heaven. Yesterday we had some awesome dialogue, a lot of conversations going into more than just the shallow, surface level stuff. They seemed pretty curious, and I'm very curious to see where the conversations go today. It's really awesome to get to know Chinese college students--they speak English really well and are really, really friendly. I'm very excited to see where our new friendships lead today. We having stuff planned for every day, but then at night we can build relationships and hang out with the people we met. Tonight we may go with some to a coffee shop or maybe a gym and play some sort of sport.

Overall, Beijing is a very dark place. There is good news though--there is some light and some very curious people. I'm very optimistic about Beijing's and China's future.
-Phil

p.s. this blog entry doesn't flow at all, I sat down 4 different times to write it

A Day With the Students

First I'd like to thank you all for your prayers and support. They are definitely felt by all. Yesterday we spent the day with some college students. I wasn't able to write last night because we weren't able to get on but it's all good now. Basically the day did not go how we expected but it went well anyway. We met the students at Central park Cafe and we just hung out for the most part. These people are good at english and were very curious. We also got to play a few mixer games, Phil shared his testimony, Jared and Gabe played a few songs, and a couple Chinese guys performed for us as well. After lunch we went and walked through Perking University which is HUGE! compared to UNO at least, but absolutely gorgeous. They even had a lake on their campus. There were a lot of good conversations and we have invited some to come to visit the Temple of Heaven with us today. We're praying for a good turn out. We also got to drive past the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. For dinner we went to a place called Chinese Restaurant which was good and had food more like we are used to. Afterwords we wandered around the shopping strip which is close to our hotel. This is where Jordan ate scorpion on a stick and Jared K. and Jordan found a vendor selling spinning tops and they had fun with those. We also went to a street filled with vendors selling trinkets. That was a crazy experience. You can't linger too long because they will latch onto you and will not let go. Yesterday was a great experience and we are excited to see what else will unfold and again thank you so much for your continuing support.

~Megan

Thursday's In The Past

Hey All!
We are just wrapping up our Thursday. It's been a great day. Everyone is healthy and the team morale is good as well. We are all relying on our adrenaline to get us through this time change. Our day started out at the orphanage. We spent some quality time with the children by leading some songs, playing some rousing games of Duck, Duck, Goose, and revealing our artistic abilities via coloring book pages. We were having such a great time; they even allowed the children to skip their nap time! After the orphanage we headed to a school to hang out with some of our Brothers and Sisters. It was cool to see what's going on in the school. We shared a bit about our culture as a college student in the U.S. and in return they shared with us about their lives and culture as well. Better get rested up for tomorrow. It's going to be our first day in the Universities and we are excited to see great things happen! Thanks for all your prayers and support! Goodnight!

Kelly

We made it!

I'll keep this short and sweet...because it's Wednesday evening in China and I haven't gotten good sleep since Sunday night. We made it to Beijing. The trip was almost seamless, except for an hour-long delay in the Beijing airport with the quaratine facility. Kira was running a very mild temperature, and that seemed to be a good enough reason to keep her in a small room for an hour. Once Kira rejoined us, we headed to the baggage claim to find our bags in the lost and found. From there, we were picked up by a couple of friends who took us to our hotel...only to be greeted by our old friend Kelley! She graciously helped us check in to our hotel and find some authentic Chinese food to eat. After all that....we're all extremely tired! Hopefully we can get some good rest and gear up before we head out for a full day tomorrow.
It's official. I need to go to bed. More detailed updates coming later...
-Jared

Boarding the jet for Beijing China.

We will be boarding any minute now for a 14 hour flight to Beijing.
Next update will likely be in Beijing.
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China trip flight update

We left Omaha on schedule. We are now taxiing off the runway In Chicago
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IMG00062.jpg

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Tuesday morning

We have arrived at the air port we checked in the bags and gabes tired. Already.
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Test

This post means mobile blogging is working and should let us blogg almost anytime we want. For whatever reason.
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Less than a week!

It's official. The 8 beautiful faces you see below are headed to Beijing in less than a week. Between raising support, figuring out what to pack, memorizing skits, working, failing finals...i mean...taking finals, and wondering what we're actually going to be doing when we arrive....things are getting a bit stressful. I would say, however, that the excitement is definitely outweighing the stress. A week from now, we could be eating Peking Duck or fried scorpions on a stick! How can that not make you excited?
If you haven't been given the full rundown of the mission of our trip, let me fill you in:
We're going to be spending 2 weeks in Beijing. We will be spending most of our time on 4 different university campuses, doing something they call a "cultural exchange." As a team we have prepared testimonies, skits, mixer games, ice-breakers, songs, and many more things. We will be sharing these things with Chinese university students(who speak English) to give them a feel for what life is like as an American college student. In turn, we will listen and observe as the Chinese students present to us what their life looks like. The goal of this is to learn of the other's culture. It will also serve the Chinese students as great practice for their English language skills. We're excited because through our program, we're going to be able to share (in vague language) the hope that is in us. What a cool opportunity!
While we're in Beijing, we'll also spend time seeing famous sights(the Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven) with the university students we meet. I'm sure we'll be doing many more things, but in order to figure that out, you will have to stay tuned...we'll be posting(including pictures) everyday while we're in Beijing so you can keep up with our crazy adventure.
We're excited to go! We would love your "encouragement" and your support. Thanks for checking out our blog.
-Jared

the 2009 China Team. 

from Left to right

Kelly, Gabe, Jared P, Jared k, Kira, Phil, Megan, and Jordan.