Our buddy Darren came to stay with us for a few days. He arrived late on Thursday night, so I didn't get to meet him, but Colonel met up with him and got him checked into the hotel. Colonel talked with the owner before we came and arranged the payments before Darren got here so they wouldn't have to argue about who gets to pay the bill. It's a very Chinese thing to do. We have learned a lot about taking care of folks when they visit with us.
On Friday, we took Darren to eat at our favorite restaurant. Katherine joined us there. She wanted to see him since she'd miss him on Sunday due to traveling for exams and things. That night, we had several people join us at a new place called Olivia's. Colonel's student Jack, a Chinese christian named Rose, our Muslim neighbor (and New Yorker) named Zanab. The food was pretty good and we stayed there several hours just talking about whatever.
The next day, Saturday, we had lunch again. Then Colonel and Darren went to help some students with a video they were making for class. Darren hung out with us at home for a while. I think it was good for Colonel and Darren to talk. I worked on packing the suitcases and cleaning the house while they talked. The night ended with dinner again. We just grabbed some food off the street.
On Sunday, Darren taught the lesson. He continued the series oin prayer, and taught about the Lord's prayer. He did a great job. He was mostly able to translate everything into Chinese. The Chinese girls are very impressed with the single foreign guy who could speak Chinese. There was a lot of girlish giggling.
O fixed a quick lunch of spaghetti and then Darren had to leave us. It was a good trip overall. I'm glad he came to visit us.
Saying Goodbye
We spent the next week saying goodbye to teachers, students, and friends. Roughly 9 teachers left. The FLA students planned a goodbye party for the teachers, but most of the teachers were already gone. It's a good thing anyway because most of the videos and activities were for Colonel. The other teachers got very little or no recognition. I've been in Shangqiu for 3 years and the students managed to not get me into one single picture. They had pictures of Colonel and the kids, but not me. Darren was here for roughly 4 days and the students managed to get him into a picture. I don't understand how that happened. It's okay though.
My students have me a separate going away party. They sang, danced, played games, and brought some traditional foods named zongzi that they usually eat during the Dragon Boat Festival. It was a pretty hot day, but we managed to enjoy our anyway.
Colonel and I both got some interesting gifts and cards. The students were very sad to say goodbye to us. I had several crying students. It surprised me a lot. I was very happy when my student FuChenying said that I taught them so much more than just education knowledge. She said I taught them a certain feeling and caring, a sense of responsibility, and a certain spirit in my classroom. She couldn't get her words the way she really wanted them to be, but her meaning is clear to me. Several students throughout the last 5 years have commented on the feeling in my class. That's the only reason I could understand what she was trying to say. I'll definitely miss that opportunity to share the Bible with my students, but I'm so happy to be moving on to something new.
The Exodus
We planned to leave on Friday. I had to tie up a lot of loose ends. Zanab let her grading papers with me, so I had to turn them in to the dean. I was a little frustrated about that, but I'm glad that I remembered it. Colonel and I finally decided to give of e-bikes away. He gave his to a British teacher. The teacher is pretty old and can't stand the long walks around the campus. He was quite happy to take the bike. I gave mine to Jack, one of Colonel's students. Jack had helped us so much throughout the last 3 years. He's been a good friend to our family. He was quite overwhelmed to get the bike. He said the gift was too big and he didn't deserve it. He was still trying to find a way to sell it and send us the money even after we gave him the keys to the bike. He's such a good guy. He hugged Colonel several times and I thought he was going to start crying. Eventually he left.
Friday morning, we were met by Mr. Yu. He hired a vehicle to take us to the airport. The vehicle was too small. It took 30 minutes to get everything loaded and Aolani had to take the 2 hour trip sitting in the floor of the van. Mr. Yu actually wanted her to sit on my lap, but she's to big for that now and I felt the f loor was safer. Thank God that we got there safely.
Due to China's ridiculous custom of stopping everything from 12-3 pm for lunch, we had to leave at 10 a.m. to arrive at the airport in time for our 2:35 p.m. flight. In the end, our flight was delayed and we were stuck in the airport from 12 p.m. until 6:35 p.m. The airport did give everyone a free dinner because we were there so long. We walked all over that airport because they kept changing off grate number. It was a mess.
At the Beijing airport, we went to get a hotel room. They wanted us to get 2 separate rooms for about 500rmb each. We managed to get them to give us one room with 2 beds for about 389 rmb. They weren't happy about it, but they did it.
The hotel was awful. They have us a room that had a problem with the toilet. When we went to use it, it was clogged up. The custodian brought a plunger and told Colonel to plunge it. He worked on it for a while then told her she needed to do it because it wasn't working. She kept complaining in Chinese. Colonel went to the front desk and asked for a new room.
They have us another room. The kids are already in the bed, so we had to get them up and repack our stuff to go to the next room. A man came up with Colonel and he did at the door while we were packing. Bye started to rush us. I asked Colonel why the man was there, but Colonel didn't know why. The guy started to turn the lights on and off in the room so that we moved even slower because we couldn't see. Finally I got frustrated and I some to him in Chinese. I told him that he can wait. Be responded that he was very busy. I said he wasn't. There was no one at the hotel and it was about 12 a.m. at this point. He asked me if I could understand Chinese. This sort of stumped my brain since we were already talking in Chinese. I said, of course I understand. Then he didn't say anything else and left the room. Finally we moved ourselves. The night was uneventful after that.
Boarding our next flight went off without a hitch. There were no delays. Our was on the flight where we had problems. Our Chinese stewardess had it out for me. Throughout the flight, she continued to tell me pointless things and annoy me. First, she fussed at me because the kids would use a plastic cup to drink before the meal, then get a new cup after the meal was over. I couldn't understand her issue since everyone on the plane was doing this and she wasn't fussing at them. It caught me off guard, so I didn't respond. So, and decided to repay her statement again. I told her that I heard her and then she left. Some hours later, she brought everyone sandwiches. For some reason, she told me not to take the sandwiches off the plane. Third also over heated my brain. There were still several hours until we got off the plane. Why did she think I was going to take them off the plane? I just stared at her, not comprehending this new attack on my thinking ability. She said that the sandwich had chicken and ham on it, so I shouldn't take it off the plane. I will didn't get it, but I just said okay. I watched as she gave others their sandwiches and issued no such warnings of comments to them. Why was this lady bothering me so much? A few hours later, we were about 2 hours away from landing and I decided to pull out my cellphone. It's an old phone that doesn't have a SIM card, so it doesn't make phone calls. I had some audio books on it that I wanted to listen to. And saw me using the phone and stopped me. She said I shouldn't be using the phone. I explained about the card and such, but she didn't care. She said cellphone batteries corrode on the plane and can cause an explosion, sell I shouldn't even turn it on. I looked around at the other people who were using their phones and once again, my brain locked up. I was pretty frustrated at this point. I put the phone away but I admit that I did it with an attitude. She was irritating me to no end. I saw a guy who had been using his tablet during the whole trip to play plants vs. zombies. I finally decided to pull out my tablet and listen to the audiobooks that were on it. I decided in my heart that if this lady complained about this, I was going to make a fuss because I felt like I was being targeted for some reason. Thankfully, she never bothered me after that. Later, I learned from Colonel that the stewardess started to bother the lady that was sitting by him. I guess that stewardess just needed a hug or something.
In the end, we landed safely. Customs was a breeze with the new passport scanning system. It took all of 3 minutes. Getting off bags was rough, but we managed it. Then we tried to meet up with my mom. We couldn't get to each other for a minute. When she finally found us, the guard wouldn't let Alex still the can to get us. We had to wait while he drove around again. Then mom begged a guard to let Alex pull over to get us. He agreed. There was a large group of extremely rude Americans waiting for their bus. They kept telling at us to move so their bus could come. Mom was getting impatient with them. I just ignored them as we waited for Alex to park. Then another man from that group said we needed to move so their bus could get them. I told the man that we already know that since the whole group is yelling at us. I also asked him to please be patient since we'd been waiting for a long time and our driver had to drive around at least 2 times already. The old man just continued to fuss. Sometimes period can just be so rude. There was just the 2 of us. It would only take us about 10 minutes to load up. Their large group would have taken at least 20-30 minutes. I don't understand their rush or their rudeness. It was just the icing on a very ugly cake. I made it out of there without losing my temper and I managed to help mom stay calm too. Why do people act so ridiculous when traveling? It's already a tough situation. Why make it worse by getting angry? Wouldn't it be easier to stay calm and be kind to others? I guess we all get a little angry and selfish when traveling.
We managed to get home safely despite the terrible storms we had to drive through. Mom and Alex did a great job. Thank God for holding off the worst of the weather.
Thus end our journey to America and our life in China. This has been our exofus, but I'm learning that every exodus is just the genesis of a new exodus. Who knows what God has in store for us. We're just going to keep moving ahead and keep praying for God's guidance.
Advice
Nowadays, everyone has some advice to give. I've learned that you really shouldn't give advice unless it's asked for, but that doesn't stop people. Lately many people keep telling us to seek God's guidance and not just do what we want to do. This is great advice, but it always feels like the people who say this are being critical because they don't like the decisions we make. I wish folks could see the amount of prayer, searching, researching, introspection, advice, thinking, Bible reading, studying, etc. that goes into every decision we make. For the record, most of the things we decided were not things we wanted to do. Instead, they were things we didn't want to do and we felt God was l eading us to do them in spite of what we actually wanted to do. If we did what we wanted, we would have spent the last 5 years of our lives in Japan, not China. So, I want everyone to know that we are open to serving God in whatever way he desires. This doesn't change. Wherever he leads, we will follow. I believe there is a job out there where the needs of our family can be met while we are serving God. That is our desire, but we will still give that up if some opportunity to teach people arises in our lives. If a church were to call us today and ask us to ship off to some new position, we'd pray about it, and be willing to do it.
Blog Wrap Up
This is not the end of our blog. I will still be talking about the things God is using our family to do. I will move this blog about our China journey to a different area on this website and use this blog for our new journey. I will also be continuing to update this website and add more information. Please look for updates and additions to this site.
Thanks to everyone who was involved in this outreach. Thanks to everyone who supported us with prayers, encouragement, emails, advice, and money. I pray that God will bless everyone in the same ways that they've blessed us. Please continue to stay in touch.