#1

Good Morning all.

In quotes is a portion of an email I wrote to B.J. I chose to include it because I think it says well how I am feeling.

“It’s 6 am here. I have been up since 4:30 because of jetlag. I actually am so grateful for jetlag because every morning I have been able to get up and journal and spend some super sweet time with the Lord. I cannot wait to get back and tell you what he has taught me. But basically it has been about converting my heavy and weighty emotions into something He can use. When I surrender missing you to Him, then he can convert those crazy emotions into a drive for excellence. I know that if I sulk all day and only think of you, time will pass slowly, I won’t learn the language or make friends and when I get back home I will be bitter, dependant on you, and I will hate China. But if I can trust God and His plans, if I can surrender my emotions then I will push towards excellence in my language studies, in my relationships with teammates and Chinese friends, and most importantly in m relationship with God. With that I know that when I get back I will have blessed and have been blessed. I will have used the gift of this trip to my advantage and benefitted greatly. I will be grateful and my heart will be able to come back to this place (which I want.)

This is not easy though. My first thoughts in the morning are always, “what is B.J. doing right now?” Most of the time I know you are work and all I want to do is walk around the corner of Heb and see you sitting there at IBC. I know your face would light up. I really want to make your face light up. It’s hard to do from China. But I trust the Lord. He can make your face light up.”

So, I am doing well. I miss yall though. It is really hard to not have my heart in the states.

Story time.

So, I am a really good bargainer. Yesterday we were shopping in the old Korean district of Qingdao and I found some really nice Hugo Boss ties that I want all of our ushers to wear at the wedding. So I asked the lady shopkeeper how much they were in Chinese and she told me 45 quai a piece. That is like 5 bucks a piece, which is really good. I knew I could do better. I smiled and bargained and got the price down to 25 a piece and I bought 8. So I got 8 three dollar ties while my team and all of these Chinese and Koreans watched. Everybody had a great time, especially me. Being a bride makes me a little more pushy when shopping I think. I have to protect the budget ;)