Sunday in Dalian

We all met in the lobby at 8:30 AM and made our way to 3 different churches.  What was quite interesting for the day was that we all loaded up on a city bus and made our way to the different locations.  Ralph spoke at one house church.  He did a manna ministry event with them and they raised enough money for them to purchase over 100 pairs of shoes for children in Burma.  That was exciting.

Molly, Mildred Busch and myself made it to the house church in Dalian pastored by Peter.   I had the privilege to preach for Peter and his people.  We arrived about 35 minutes before the service.  I was a bit nervous going to preach.  It wasn't so bad and then people continued to come up the stairs.  They more they came the more nervous I became.  The service began and the congregation of about 100 began to sing along with their worship leader and other praise singer.  The second or third song that they sang was "God Will Make a Way".  God at that point gave me complete peace and took my nervousness away.  PTL!  He asked me to speak and sing so I spoke for about 35 minutes (Peter interpreted for me).  After I finished I played the keyboard and sang during their prayer time.  I'm not really sure if I went long enough because when I finished Peter spoke for another 15 minutes.  :)  The picture to the left is of me and Molly, Peter and his daughter Christina.

Molly didn't want to have any part of my preaching so she stayed downstairs and worked with the kids.  She was able to communicate with the children via hand signals.  She did really well.  She helped them work on crafts.  The teacher asked Molly during their Bible story time to read the Bible lesson in English.  Molly really loved doing that.  I found out later that Molly was really nervous that I could have been arrested for preaching.  (I found this out reading her journal of the trip.)  She didn't need to worry about that.  So far God has blessed Peter and His church and has smiled upon them.  Two young ladies from Peter's church took us to meet the rest of our group after church.

The other 8 in our group went to worship in an International ministry church at our friends house in Dalian.  God has truly blessed this group.  The people in this ministry are able to encourage one another weekly.

The Journey and the House Church

We woke up early on Saturday and caught a taxi ride to the train station.  (Similar to the MARTA system in Atlanta.)  From there we went north in the city and met Peter.  Peter is a Chinese national pastor.  He had rented four cars for us to take into the village to visit a house church. 

When we arrived we were blown away.  You see this looked nothing like a church building.   When the cars stopped village people started pouring out of the building to greet us.  They were singing a welcome song to greet all of us that were coming to be blessed by their church.  There was such joy on their faces. No question about it they knew who Jesus was and they loved Him.  There were empty wire spools that they were using as chairs.  They probably were no more that 12 inches off of the ground and the top that they sat on could not be more than twelve inches. 

After they finished their song they insisted that we sit down on some old furniture and chairs that they had placed around the room.  When we were seated they began to sing again.  The lady that was leading the music was beating a Chinese drum and there was a man playing a small set of cymbals.  It thought the lady would beat a hole in the drum because she was playing it so hard.  (Apparently she was the leader at this church.  Peter goes out and will preach for them I believe once a month.  This is in addition to his other ministries.  Peter tells me that the old women lead the church because they are afraid of NOTHING.  After meeting them I can believe that.)

Peter asked me to give greetings to the church and I did so.  Every phrase that I spoke they said, “AMEN”!   Chris spoke after I did and then the people sang for us again.  I loved it that the lady leading this time had a megaphone and she was singing through it.  (Remember the room wasn’t very large.  All together there was probably 65- 80 in the room including us.)  She was just a singing away and came over to our group and was like three feet from them blaring out her praise to God right in their face.  I chuckled!

We didn’t stay very long because our friends Chris and Annie that live in Dalian had other things planned for us on that day.  The people followed us out to the cars singing and clapping and thanking us for coming.

Peter stayed around and preached for the people.  I understand that they sang for one hour and that he preached for three hours.  The people are just longing to hear God’s word.  This is a date that is etched in our minds forever.   Remember the people of China that they stay strong in the faith.  Peter told us that November 1^st the arrested the pastor’s at the largest house church in both Beijing and Shanghai.  I believe that he would count it an honor to be arrested for the cause.  Amazing dedication.

We have it easy in the states.   Father please to let me life go back to ordinary status.  I don’t want to ever be the same again.

THE JOURNEY BACK IN DALIAN

Friday morning was pretty much a morning for us to catch up on some rest.  We hit the ground running when we arrived in Dalian from our 25+-hour trip from the states so a little rest was appreciated.

We were very thankful that we could use Skype on our trip.  That was such a huge blessing to be able to call home using that technology.

 

We went to the market and did some pearl shopping on Friday.  After that was over we went to Pizza Hut for lunch.  Let me tell you it was one of the nicest Pizza Huts I have ever been in and the pizza was DELICIOUS!

On Friday evening we met with a group of Chinese students that go to the University for a Thanksgiving get together.  It was so much fun to be able to interact with these students.  Some of their English names that they had given themselves just cracked me up.  There were names like Purple, Spring, etc.  We had Korean food and then we went upstairs and Chris spoke to them about Thanksgiving and the importance of that holiday.  How we would be thankful to God for all He has done.  It was also fun to be able to sing a song about God’s blessings. 

 

After the message was over we had a fun time playing games.  It all started out with BINGO.  They loved that game.  Anita Barnett won one of the games and walked away with a pack of Mentos.  I still not really sure if she cheated or not!  LOL!   We played ping-pong, Uno, cards and another game.  It was so much fun.  After the evening was over we hitched a taxi and went back to our hotel.  We had finished another day of ministry in the beautiful country of China.

Travel Video - Day 1 & 2

Video of our trip to China. (Travel Days)

FROM MOLLY'S JOURNAL - Day Four

Blog From Molly’s Journal on Day 4 of the China Trip

We got to go to a school and teach the kids English today.  Most of them in our class were 13 years old.  One of them said that their favorite singer was Michael Jackson.   (My dad then tried to practice his moon walk and it made the kids laugh.)  My favorite part was getting to jump rope with them.  Ashley, Nicholas, Molly, Mr. Jason and my dad all jumped rope.  Even Sarah did too.

After the school we went and walked on the bridge that separates the two countries.  During the war MacArthur wanted to march into China and take over.  President Truman not wanting that to happen gave the orders and had the bridge blown up.  Because of that MacArthur could not enter China at that location.  After we walked on the bridge we got on a boat and saw North Korea really close up.  Then we took a bus and went back to Dalian and cleaned up.  When we were all clean we ate supper with the General Manager of the hotel.  (By the way we had to walk from the downtown bus station.  It was a long cold walk.)

WE ARE HOME & STILL BLOGGING

We arrived in Pensacola at 1:45 PM today, Wednesday, November 25th.   We spent the night in Seoul, South Korea.  We had the hook up last night.  Our travel agent requested for rooms to be given to us since we arrived in Seoul at midnight.  They agreed to this and gave us six rooms and breakfast for 11 at the Hyatt Regency right at the airport.  WOW!  It was fantastic.  Of course we only spent about 7 hours in the room but we were able to rest and get a good shower before our trip.

We left Seoul at 10:05 AM on Wednesday morning.  That would be 8:05 PM on Tuesday night.  So todays travel only consisted of almost 18 hours.  Needless to say everyone is exhausted.  There are a few of us that have come home sick.  Please pray everyone gets to feeling better.

As you know by know I was not able to blog or do facebook when we arrived in China.  The government cracked down on social media sites this year in preparation for the 65th anniversary of the revolution.  Be watching over the next several days as I will be making post & putting up pictures.  I am also working on videos that I will publish.

So glad to be home!  We have a lot to be thankful for as Americans.

Dandong and the N Korean border

After we left the school we went to the "famous bridge" that overlooked the North Korean border. This bridge sat on the Yalu River. During the war Truman had the bridge bombed. MacArthur wanted to come over the bridge and take over Korea. He and Truman disagreed on that issue and Truman commanded that the bridge to be blown up. I also understand that the Chinese were going over the bridge in great numbers to fight with the North Koreans. Needless to say the bridge that was bombed was still standing next to the new bridge. It is a tourist destination.


We were able to go out on the bridge and stand and remember the people of North Korea. They are in great darkness and need to see the glorious light of the gospel. There is a lot of ministry that needs to be done there. The Father is working in various ways across that country through good organizations. Franklin Graham is able to get in there and minister. Even manna ministry (with our friend Ralph) is able to help work in there taking vitamins to the people.

It was so cold on that bridge. When we came off of the bridge they loaded each of us on a boat and we took a tour up against the coast line of North Korea. We were still in Chinese waters but less than 50 yards away from the North Korean border. We got loads of pictures and we will share them with you as soon as possible. The difference in the two cities right across from each other is stunning.

Finally it was time to eat. We loaded our bus from the school and had our first taste of KFC. :-) Finger lickin' good! The school leaders took us to the bus station from there and we loaded our bus for our four hour trip back to Dalian. That was an experience in itself. When we arrived at the station downtown it was too hard to get a taxi so we headed out on foot for our hotel. It was cold and a long way from where we got off of the bus. After almost a 45 minute walk we made it to our hotel just in time to freshen our faces and head downstairs for supper with the General Manager of our hotel. He treated the whole team to a lovely meal and they gave each of us gifts. By the time the night was over we were exhausted. Our first ministry trip of the week was over. Tomorrow would bring a new day!

The Journey continues -Dandong and the school

We woke up to a cold morning in Dandong on Thursday. I imagine the temperature was around 10-15 degrees outside. The view from our hotel was beautiful. The sun rose over the country of North Korea and things in the city of Dandong came to life. After breakfast at the hotel (each hotel serves a western breakfast but personally I think there are more Chinese items on the buffet than western ones) we loaded the bus for the school. The gate was opened to this school for us and we drove across the campus to the main building. The campus consisted of one large school building that was 4 stories tall and one dormitory it looked to be 3 or 4 stories tall also. The dorms were for students that lived in the surrounding villages. Dandong is a city of around 3 million people.


As we arrived at this beautiful school we were immediately taken up to the fourth floor conference room. They had water set out around for all of us. We meet with a couple leaders from the school and then the time came for ministry. They broke us up into three teams and we went into the class rooms. We had the 7th, 8th & 9th grade classes. We I stepped into my class I was shocked at how well they knew English. They were also extremely polite. I began by making small talk and introductions of the group and then we broke into asking them different questions and we let them respond. It was so much fun. They were as interested in learning about us as we were them. Molly & Nicholas were in our group and these kids were just two years older than them. They wanted to know what life was like for them in the states also. Two of our groups led fun songs for the kids to sing along. It taught them words they didn't know but also broke down barriers.

Anita Barnett was in one group taking pictures in a class and they teacher asked if she would go to another class and work by herself. She was a trooper and went right along with her and began to work. You see sometimes we are taken out of our "comfort zone" before we are able to minister the way that the Father would have us. She later told us that if she would have known that was going to happen she would have gotten no sleep the night before. :-)

After our hour was up with the children we were able to go back to the conference room and present the principal and English teachers with the supplies of English books and candy bags that we sent to the students. They were thrilled with the gifts.

We went downstairs for a group picture with the leaders and noticed a group out on the playground playing basketball & jumping rope. Immediately the younger kids in our group went over and started jumping doubles with them. It was so much fun to be able to see barriers of communication being broken down through sports.

Our time at the school was finally over. We were able to take that last photo as a group and get in the bus. We each left a piece of our heart in that school and they left a piece of themselves with us. One of the last questions that I received from a student before we left the class room was, "Will you come back and see us again?" I pray that one day I will be able to do exactly that!

The Journey to Dandong

The trip to Dandong started later than we expected on Wednesday. We finally arrived in Dalian from Beijing late on Tuesday night. Our flight was cancelled so we were practically jogging through the Beijing Capital Airport to catch a flight to Dalian that had been delayed. The only problem was a big problem. We were missing 22 pieces of luggage. Everyone on the trip brought a personal suitcase and a suitcase filled with supplies. We finally got to our rooms around 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning with just our carryon bags. We had been traveling up to that point for 29 hours.


We received a call the next morning that the luggage had arrived. Around 11:30 AM Ralph, myself and three people from the hotel travel to Dalian airport to pick up our luggage. When we arrived back at the hotel we had around 45 minutes to pack our personal overnight bags and get our supplies of books and candy pouches ready for the school in Dandong.

The hotel took us in their bus to the bus station for our trip to Dandong. (We are not talking Greyhound here.) It was quite an experience. When we arrived in Dandong it was at night and there were people all over with signs and the were yelling out at people and trying to pull at arms of the passengers. There were trying to get the bus passengers to stay at their hotels. Needless to say Molly did not like that. (I believe that the trip to Dandong made her realize at how blessed she is to have a family that loves her and that she is living in America.)

We checked into a nice hotel right across from the bridge that leads into North Korea. It was total darkness on the North Korean side of the river. After we checked in we went out to have a "Korean BBQ with the principal of the school. The former principal was there also. The food was delicious and we enjoyed ourselves. We had a debriefing meeting for the evening and went to bed. Will blog more later.

The Journey - Dandong

On Wednesday morning we received our luggage from Beijing. Ralph, myself and three people from our hotel took us to the airport to pick up the luggage. Everything arrived and that made everyone happy. CLEAN CLOTHES!


We had a "bus experience" in China yesterday. They purchased us all seats on the bus to Dandong. The trip was about 3 hours. It was an experience in itself. We stopped about an hour out of Dandong at a "Rest Stop". It was quite funny. It was dark outside and we began to walk into the restrooms and they made the men detour outside...that was our restroom. :) The ladies room was the typically Chinese toilet. Needless to say Molly didn't have to go anymore. I think most of our ladies thought the same thing.

The bus stop was on a side street in the middle of Dandong. It was Crazy getting off of the bus. People were standing there yelling at us. (I understand now that they wanted us to go to their hotel! It was a frightening experience if you didn't know what was going on.

We checked into our hotel. The Zhong Lian Hotel. It is right across from the bridge that leads to North Korea. It is a beautiful view.

We met up with the school principal and the former principal for Korean BBQ. Actually it was quite tasty.

The Journey continues... Part 2

The team made it to our hotel at 12:30 am Wednesday morning (China time).  It has been quite an experience to say the least.  When we were getting ready to leave S Korea headed to Beijing, a representative of  Korean airlines contacted us and told us we would be missing our connection in Beijing.  (We did not realize they had cancelled the last flight of the day to Dalian.)  When we arrived in Beijing by the time we got to the gate someone from the airline was waiting on us to tell us that they were going to try and connect to another flight.  We only had 25 minutes to get across the airport and go through INT customs.  We were able to meet up w/ our friend Ralp Done once we got to the domestic gates.  We sprinted from there to the plane.  Once we were on the plane they immediately closed the gate.  (Just in the nick of time!)  We arrived in Dalian but our luggage did not.  They told us we would have it by morning.  We are to leave once our luggage arrives and head to the school.  This will be a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to get to the school which is in DanDong on the N Korean boarder.   We will meet with the Principal tonight (Wednesday night) and work with the children tomorrow (Thursday).  Will post pics when possible.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Today has been such a long day so far and it is still not over for us.  We left our house in Pensacola at 4 AM on 11/16 and it is now 23 hours later and we are safely in Seoul, South Korea.

It was fun meeting up with our team going to the Dominican Republic.  We were able to take a group photo with them.  ***Mickey Price...this is a PASSPORT HOLDER not a MAN PURSE! :-)***

We were on our flight from Atlanta to Seoul for 15 1/2 hours.  We are thankful that the airport here in Seoul has Wi-Fi so we can get on facebook and our blogs to let people know we are safe.  We will be leaving for Beijing in about 1 hour.  This leg of our journey is a little over 2 hours.  Our friend will meet us in Beijing and travel with us to Dalian later tonight.  Remember each of us because we are all tired.  If I am not mistaken we still have about 6 hours before we get to our hotel and our final destination for this leg of the trip.

After a short rest tonight, we will get our supplies ready that we are taking to the school on the North Korean border get on a bus and travel again tomorrow.  We are all blessed to be on this trip.  The journey continues!  May we never be the same again!

YOU NEVER LET GO

I love the song "You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman.  I really had to trust those lyrics last night.  "O no you never let go through the calm and through the storm..."  A physical storm came my way last night.  With less than 36 hours until we were to leave for China I had a kidney stone attack.  (And I was so sick!)  Got some medication from a doctor last night to help with the pain.  Finally at 12:30 AM this morning I got enough relief to lay down in bed to get some sleep.  At 5:27 AM this morning I gave birth to probably the largest kidney stone I have ever passed.  (Makes 15+ now over the years.  They don't get any easier.)

God truly answered my prayers last night.  We leave for China in less than 24 hours and I couldn't imagine getting on the airplane with the pain that I was experiencing.  GOD IS SO GOOD!  Actually, He is good through the calm and through the storm.   "Lord, you never let go of me!"

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

What do I take and what do I leave?  First of all our "ministry" suitcase was too small so I borrowed one.  The person delivered it to me Wednesday night and before they got it to me the pull handle broke off of it.  On Thursday we had borrowed new ones.  We can only take 50 lbs in each bag and the suitcase itself weighed 11 lbs.  Finally we made a decision.  I am carrying a big duffle bag that was given to me on Thursday and I found an additional duffle bag today.  They weigh a lot less so I will be able to get more supplies in it.  I suggested it to a few other of our trip mates and they are changing some of their bags out.  We want to take as much as we can to China.  The English books are making everything weigh heavy.  That's what they need so that's what they will get.  We will use extra space in our personal luggage as we take some food supplies to our "friends" in China.  They requested light brown sugar, crystal light tea, good seasoning dressing packets and a few other things.  We will be able to give them a little taste of home by giving them some things off of their "want list".

We are only about 40 hours away from the first leg of our journey!  Please remember each of us to the Father.  May we never be the same again when we return.

Happy Birthday Molly!

Today marks Molly's 11th birthday.  Time sure does pass quickly.  It is hard for us to believe that she has been a part of our family for 10 years now.  We are so blessed.

In about 60 hours we will be leaving on a journey that she will remember forever.  We (Molly & Brent) will be going to the land of her birth.  I am thrilled that Molly will be able to work in an orphanage.  She spent 13 months in an orphanage before we adopted her.  I know this will be an event that will move her heart.  (After visiting the orphanage she will probably begin praying that we will adopt another baby.  Please being praying now for that not to happen.)  :-)  We want to say thank you again to those of you who helped support both of us financially so that we could make this trip to China a possibility.  We are forever grateful!

Please remember the beautiful people of China and please remember us as we travel.

5 Days

Everyone is final packing stages for our China trip.  (at least we should be in the final stages of packing.)  It is hard to believe that we are just five days away from leaving for China.  PTL...we have loads of items to take to China.  We have been able to supply a lot of things that was specifically requested by the school and orphanage in China.  I know that God will bless every item that has been given.  Thanks to all of you who have played a part by donating items or money to help one of our team members on this trip.

There is another mission team from MPBC that is leaving next week for the Dominican Republic.  That means 16 people from our church will be on mission at the same time.

"Father, go before each of us and help us be an encouragement to others...and change our lives!"

God is Good!

We found out this morning that we will not be charged a baggage fee for our trip.  I didn't even realize that was a possiblity until we met with a TSA representative last night.  God worked another one out for us.

Also....Hurricane Ida is now tropical storm Ida.  The storm has moved a bit to the west but technically that puts us on the bad side of the storm but we are okay.  We will take a tropical storm anyday over a hurricane!

This time next week we will be on our Korean air flight headed to China!

This is Insane!

Tonight we packed our "ministry" suitcases for our China trip.  Everyone is allowed two suitcases on the trip but we are using one of them for supplies for the school and orphanage.  It looks like we had a lot more supplies than I originally thought.  We are going to have to spread out additional items in our regular luggage.  That's awesome!

What is insane about that?  Well really nothing...what is insane is that while we were meeting tonight we found out that school was going to be cancelled Monday and Tuesday this week because of Hurricane Ida. Yes, Hurricane Ida.  That is totally insane.  We are in the middle of November and we have a hurricane headed directly towards us in Pensacola.  All of the charts are tightening up and it looks like we will take a hit.  Right now it is a hurricane 2 at 105 mph.  By the time it hits here it will be downgraded to a hurricane 1.  Please be praying for all of our families as well as our community that God keeps us safe.  We leave in one week.












  



God is in control and we are TRUSTING HIM ALONE!

T Minus 10 Days

I'm sure the next ten days will fly by for each of us going on this trip.  Everyone is making last minute preparations and getting ready to leave in just over one week.  


We live in Florida and don't have much of a winter.  While we are away we will be experiencing some cold temperatures.   I think when we arrive in Beijing at 10 PM on November 17th the temperature is suppose to be in the low twenties dropping into the teens.  That is cold for us!  :-)  Molly and I have gone out to purchase us some additional clothing that we will need on the trip.


There are 11 people on the team from all walks of life that will be impacted in a great way on this trip.  Three middle school students, one senior in high school, one college student, one electrician, one musician, two stay at home moms, one retired lady and one lady that works full time at her job.  All walks of life with one purpose and that is to be a blessing to the beautiful people of China.


Three weeks from now our trip will be history and we will be back in our everyday lives here in Pensacola.  I just pray the reality of the trip will shake us to where we will never be normal again!

It's getting closer!

It is getting closer to leaving time!  On November 16th we will board our plane leaving out of Pensacola.  It will be a long day.  We fly from Pensacola - Atlanta - Seoul, South Korea - Beijing, China - Dalian, China....all in one day!  Remember to pray for us and our families that will still be at home.

The picture is just me and Molly having some fun with the computer.  BTW, Molly will be 11 years old, next Friday, November 13th!  : )

Another Small Miracle

Yesterday we found out that a school we will be visiting in China had 200 more students than we anticipated.  This school is located on the North Korea/C border.  We originally thought that there would only be 75 -100 students in this particular school.  One of our ladies had planned on taking treats to the children but then we realized this was way more than we planned.  One of my friends called Publix Supermarket here in Pensacola today and arranged for me to pick up all of the candy treats that we needed for the children free of charge.  Wow!  PTL!  Now we have to get all of that candy to China without eating it!  :)  Thank you Publix for your generous donation.

Don't Eat the Snow!

 Someone please remind me not to eat the snow in China.  They had their first snow of the season artificially induced!  The link below tells about chemicals they shot up in the clouds to make it snow!   Wow! http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20091101/tap-china-weather-beijing-snow-8d4ea94.html

Two Weeks & Counting!

What were we thinking when we decided to take a trip to Northern China in mid November?  It is really funny to think about that now.  It's just a little too late.  They are calling for snow in Beijing on November 11th.  http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/CHXX0008?from=36hr_topnav_business  We arrive on in Beijing on the 17th.  It would be nice to see some snow while we are there.  I hope we have good heat in our hotels!  :)  Maybe it will be a degree or two warmer in Dalian.  This is the city where will be staying for half of our trip.  

Tonight we had a great meeting with our team.  (minus one member who was in Mississippi today)  We have a great group of friends who will be joining us on our venture into China.  The team pulled out all of our supplies that have been given to us for this trip so far.  (Diapers, formula, wet wipes, cleaning supplies, tooth brushes, english books, clothes and the list goes on.)  God willing we will be able to take 550 lbs of items to China.  We will be giving the books to a school on the North Korean border.  We are excited that we will eat supper one night with the principal.  The next day we will go into the school and be in the class rooms with the children.  We will eat lunch with the teachers that day!

There are many special things planned with our hosts in China.  (We will share as many events as we can.  Some of the events we will tell you about when we get back home.)  We are grateful for their support and help to each of us on the team.  Please remember us as we make our final preparations to leave in the next two weeks.  It seems like we just started talking about this trip.  That was 19 months ago.

What a journey it will be!

Learning Chinese

It is hard for me to believe but we are just 3 weeks away from our trip to the beautiful country of China. We are trying to learn some basic Chinese so we can communicate better. I'm not learning as much as Molly. She has made a Keynote (power point) presentation with all of the things we need to learn. Here are a few of the items she has written. Of course everything is spelled phonetically.

• Hello- Nee how
• How are you- Nee how ma
• How are you guys?- Nee men how ma
• I’m fine- Wo hen how
• Nice to meet you- Hung gow shing zen si nee
• Good Morning- Zow un
• Good Afternoon/Night- Wo Un

28 Days and Counting

After 18 months + of planning and praying, our trip to China is just 28 days away. We are in the last stages of collecting supplies to take to the school and the orphanage. Special thanks to my brother and sister-in-laws small group in Georgia that brought us a box of supplies for the trip.

I'm sure this is going to be a life changing event for our entire group. I'm excited that Molly and two friends her age, that she grown up with, are going on the trip also. I really can't wait to see how they will respond to the trip.

Please pray that God will keep each of us healthy. Molly had a bout last week with the flu, strep throat, an ear infection and the beginnings of pneumonia. She is back on track this week feeling much better. Pray for the entire team that God will keep each of us healthy.

China or Bust

We are just one month away from our trip to China. I am really excited that my 10 year old daughter Molly will be joining me on this trip. She has been raising her money so she can join me on this trip. (She is thrilled!) There are 11 people in our group! Remember to pray for us. We leave on Monday, November 16. Here is our route: Pensacola - Atlanta - Seoul, South Korea - Beijing, China - Dalian, China. It will definitely be a trip! :) We will arrive in Dalian on Tuesday evening around midnight!

I am most excited about two different events on this trip:

1. The opportunity to work in an orphanage. Just to get to love on these children is exciting to me. I think about my three children living in orphanages in China. I would love to know if a group got to visit with them, love on them & play with them. I can't wait!

2. We are also visiting a minority primary school in Dandong. This school is on the North Korean border. We are taking english books to this school and we will be doing english clubs in their school.

Thank you for your support for our trip. This trip would not be possible without your prayers and financial support!