What Update am I on?

Last night we watched the original Back to the Future movie with S&J. I was so tired that I slept through about half of the movie. Laurel and I both slept really well last night without the aid of any sleeping pills. I think we are finally getting over jet lag, which is a blessing.

This morning I went a different way on my walk. I went past an important university in this city and found a little restaurant down the street. I ate bao zi this morning instead of jiao zi (dumplings). Bao zi are meat filled steamed buns. They can be large or quite small and the ones I ate were on the small side. I got ten of them for 2RMB, which is about 33 cents. They were OK but can't compare to dumplings.

I drank my second bottle of hong cha (red tea) on the way home. I also began drinking the jasmine tea I bought yesterday with Stephen. It has a great flavor that will forever remind me of my days in East Asia.

The temperature today was really cold. Actually, the temp isn't all that cold compared to the States, but there is just a difference. I think that on the whole, East Asia seems much colder in the winter than America for several reasons.

First, here in East Asia, people spend more time outside than in the States. People walk a lot more and it takes longer to get places since most people don't have cars. Second, even when people are inside, the heat isn't as warm as it is in the States. Most of the shops I have been in don't have heat and people just wear their jackets and coats inside. Third, even when people are traveling from place to place, most taxis and buses don't use heat. Taking all of these factors into account, it just seems colder here.

This morning, we met with the team for some worship, time in the Word, and prayer. It was a good time of fellowship as we discussed 2 Peter chapter 3.

As good as it was, I couldn't help but miss Third Avenue Baptist Church back in Louisville. If there is one bad thing about traveling, it is that we miss our church and fellow members back home. I have said it before and I will say it until I die, Third Avenue has been the BIGGEST blessing during our time in Louisville. When we are gone, we realize how much our church means to us. We prayed for our church this morning, and will continue to do so as they meet on this Lord's Day.

At the same time, gathering with the team here was special and now I think that we will remember them even more in our prayers when we return home.

After we gathered, we had an awesome lunch with the team. It continues to be wonderful to get to know the people S&J work with here.

Following Lunch, Laurel and I went to the giant walking street I mentioned yesterday. We planned to spent a couple of hours looking around, but we got side tracked trying to take some goofy pictures in one of those little photo booths. It was WAY more complicated than we thought and took WAY longer than we planned. Nevertheless, it was fun and now we have some new pictures to remember our time here.

Tomorrow will be a big day for us as we will meet with several people. In the morning, we are meeting Annie Tracy to meet some of her students (she is a teacher) and have lunch. Pray for opportunities to share the news as we visit with them. In the evening, we are going to the coffee shop to visit with people and hopefully meet Stephen. Again, please pray that the Father would provide the opportunity to share the news.

Again, thank you for your prayers. The Lord continues to bless our time here. It is hard to believe that we only have 2 days left. We fly out on Wednesday at noon. In the mean time, look for another update soon. By the way, if you have any specific questions about our trip, or want me to give more information about anything, just leave a comment or shoot me an email. There will be many pictures coming when we get home. While you wait, please enjoy this photo of Laurel taken during her CCTV 9 days when she visited the Northeast.