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.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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.
Monday, May 25, 2009
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!
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!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
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
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
Friday, May 22, 2009
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
Thursday, May 21, 2009
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
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
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