Our Mission Trip was based on working in 3 orphanages in China. However, getting TO the orphanages seemed to be a little exhausting along the way. Looking back now, it’s quite comical and fun to remember. As I woke last night in the middle of the night, I started busting out with laughter, thinking back to our first days of our journey. Getting to our first orphanage was rough…but funny now and worth all the chaos.
Two days before we left for our Mission Trip, I’d physically become run down from all the planning for the trip and developed a sinus infection. Usually when I get a sinus infection, it hits me heavy and hard, I knew to get to the doctor quickly. I thought I was lucky to have my doctor issue a ‘HEAVY DUTY’ antibiotic. Tim, Francine and Carmen were concerned about me, they would say, “Christy are you okay? You look and sound so sick!” I was not sporting any fresh face. Instead, I had the bulging burning eyes and a chapped nose going on. I’d respond “Yes, but I have HEAVY DUTY antibiotic!” that would be my answer to them over and over again. My roommate Tammy, would crack up because I kept saying it. I was sure it would clear up soon, but no, not so much. On our way to San Francisco, we had a connecting flight in San Diego. As we started to land in San Diego, my right ear made a PAINFUL popping vibration, at that point I couldn’t hear anything out of my right ear and my left either.
After hauling 32 HEAVY pieces of luggage onto a shuttle bus, taking them all off and bringing them into a hotel, we discovered we were at the wrong hotel; the comedy of errors had begun. Upon finding this information out, I decided to sit back and relax, due to the fact my throat was on fire, my eyes were burning and I had some mixtures of sudafed/pain medication going on. My roommate Tammy was watching me check in the hotel, the man behind the counter was talking to me and my head was so plugged up I couldn’t hear a thing, I just smiled and nodded “yes”. I looked at her and then looked at him then Tammy and I busted out laughing. Slap happy mode was in full force.
We had one full day in San Francisco to tour and enjoy. It proved to be a great day. We got to meet our other team members: Megan from Nashville; Elyssa from Florida and Mama and daughter team Shawn and Katie from California. My cousin Gail lives in the area and we met for dinner. She gave me a book to read called ‘Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide’ by Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn. This book is EYE-OPENING on sex slavery in 3rd world countries. I’m not finished with it yet, but it’s just unfathomable there is so much evil in this world. I highly recommend this book to all.
Our team leader Shannon had discovered we were missing a bag, after counting and recounting bags, it was still at the airport in the lost and found. We were truly blessed we got ALL luggage to the orphanages due to the fact they were all mismatched, but it took a lot of counting and re-counting. If and when they do this Mission Trip again the luggage will be handled different. It was a learning experience to say the least. We were the guinea pigs for sure!
The flight to Vancouver and then on to Beijing proved to be easy and enjoyable despite my plugged up head. I was NOT going to let that get the best of me. We were going to China for goodness sake!
When we arrived in Beijing we met our final team member, Lori from Ohio. I was really on a China high now. After collecting the entire luggage we met our first translator/guide Kita. As we waited for what seemed a long time to get going, Kita had directed us to the wrong level, this was a painful mistake, for we had a convoy of luggage to push and guide. I was starting to see some frustrating challenges start to rise quickly with Kita. Kita was not so much a prepared guide; she was a sweet, young girl starting out with her first tour; not a good situation with 13 people who were tired and had loads of luggage to deal with. My prayer mode kicked in high gear…the tension was rising, and rightfully so.
We got to our bus and had made it to our first night and hotel in Beijing. Hallelujah! We were getting closer and closer to our opportunity to be used by God!
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