Northbound (Our team) went to China after Russia. We were on the Trans-Siberian train for 4 days and used the great opportunity to reflect on our busy time in Russia. We arrived in Beijing at the main train station and was shocked to see so many thousands of people. It was very hot and the smog (low hanging smoke) was very bad. We couldn't go out of our hostel without returning wet because of the heat.
Beijing
In Beijing we could get physically and spiritually ready for our time in China. We ate in restaurants all the time because it was cheaper than making our own food. I loved the Chines food.
When you are hungry you learn to eat with chopsticks very quickly! In the restaurants it was custom to order about 8 different dishes the our group of 10 people would share it. Their sweet and sour pork sih and also the eggplant dish was some of our favourites. The was also some strange food. The one time we went to a restaurant to eat chicken and potatoes. In the bowls there was Chicken heads, feet, hearts and most of the meat had bones in. The Chinese believe that the meat around the bones is the best part of the chicken and to eat this with chopsticks was a mission!
Rough travelling
After spending a few days in Beijing we travelled to Xinning. We realised that we were at the wrong train station just 45 minutes before our train would leave. We raced outside the station with our heavy bags and struggled to get a taxi. When we found one we loaded our bags and jumped in in a jiffy. It dropped us at a very bad place at the next station, so we had to run through traffic and many busy streets. It was very hot and our bags was heavy. Running with our bags was exhausting. We had 10
minutes left a still a few hundred meters to go. When we arrived at the station with pounding hearts we were devastated to see that our train was delayed by 6 hours. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We sat on the floor with our bags in the overcrowded train station. After 6 long hours of waiting at the station we were standing in line to get trough the gates and then the news came that the train was delayed by another 5 hours. We inflated our mattresses and went to sleep. It was so noisy and hot and people climbed over us and bumped us. A drunk guy was also trying to lay with me on my mattress. It was very awkward. So when we woke up at 01:45 the train was delayed to the next morning 8 o'clock. The situation was getting ridiculous. We laughed and settled down for the night.
The next morning we got onto the crowded train and there was little space to store our bags. People were sitting everywhere ; in the Isles, in front of the bathrooms and on seats meant for 2
people there was always 3 people on. A 30 hour journey laid ahead of us with no beds. Later in the night some of us climbed under the seats and got some sleep.
After this exhausting trip we finally arrived in Xinning and met up with missionaries.
Villages
The silver and red team split up. We went to different villages and stayed there for 2 weeks. We worked in a
restaurant in a Buddhist village. We talked to a lot of tourists in the restaurant and shared the Gospel with them.
We had lots of time to think about the Gospel and how to effectively carry it over to people.
Me Andre and Estelle also went to climb mountains. We realized how much more beautiful nature scenes appealed to our souls than big skyscrapers or old buildings. We learned many lessons about the Gospel in this village and also got more acquainted with being a waiter.
Goat attack
One night me and Andre was bored. Wee saw a wild billy-goat chasing people earlier the day and wondered if we could find it. A small Tibetan boy that was about 7 years old came with us. He had 2 glowing toy horns on his head and a plastic sword. We saw the goat standing behind a fence in the dark. To our amazement the small boy started poking the goat through the fence and we had to shout at him so that he would stop. It was too late! Suddenly the goat ran around the piece of fence and me and the Tibetan boy were right in its path! We ran up a flight of stairs of the building where the restaurant was and thought that we were save. In disbelief we saw the furious looking goat running up the stairs with little effort at all. I grabbed the boy by the arm and we started running. Heart-racing seconds went by and the goat was gaining on us. When
there was just a meter between the goat and us, while we were still running, I shook the boy out of the goats way and grabbed it by the horns. The customers at the restaurant was all looking through the window at me wrestling with this goat. I turned the blowing goat around and shoved it down the stairs. Immediately it chased our Chinese friend into the darkness and Andre was holding his belly and wiping his tears because of laughter. Finally the goat stopped chasing our friend and we just laughed! I only had small cuts on my hand but it was all worth the laugh.
Weird and funny things
In this village we noticed a lot of interesting Chinese habits:
-To see and hear Chinese spitting every 10 minutes was not unusual.
-Guys walked with their T-shirts pulled up to their necks so that their tummies could cool down because of the intense heat.
-Small children wore special pants that had a hole at the back so that the could do their things on side-walks, staircases and in front of shops while their on-looking parents was showing no signs of discomfort
-Waste from shops was just thrown intro water drains and next to the road.
We were shocked to see these things that was just a part of normal life in the villages.
Bread and breadcrumbs
Our 2 weeks in the villages came to and end. We travelled by train from Xinning to Lanzhou. We had bread (Chinese bibles) and breadcrumbs (Gospel
tracks) with us in 2 suitcases. We had to meet someone, drop it and get onto the next train. Our first train was running late and we were running out of time. As time passed by we knew that if we could not deliver it that there was no way that we could take it further along with us and post it or something. We just had to deliver it. So we arrived at the train station and by forming 2 rows at the 2 exits we could quickly get our luggage out of the train. We had to be quick because we had only 25 minutes to deliver the bread, breadcrumbs and to get on the next train. We rushed through the people in search of a short foreigner. Finally he came up to us, took the 2 suitcases and soon again disappeared into the crowds. We just made it in time for the next trains departure. On this train we travelled for another 42 hours down to Ganghzou with only seats, NO beds! In Ganghzou we took a bullet train travelling at 200 km/h to Hong Kong.
Visiting family
We stayed with my Uncle and Aunt in Hong Kong for 2 days. They rally spoiled with braaivleis (BBQ), Ms. Balls Chutney and played Afrikaans music. It was like being in South Africa again fr 2 days and this gave us new strength for the next part of the journey. I had the chance to spend time with my two cousins and rebuild some family relations. My uncle took us on a tour through Hong Kong and it was enormous! Big skyscrapers, very clean and lots of natural growths in the city made Hong Kong my favourite metropolis!
We had a blessed time in China. China was the strangest and most different country we have visited up to date by looking at its culture. But although it was so different there was something similar in the love Christians had towards us and between each other..
Thank you for reading my blog. I have a GCEX blog on www.Gcex.org
where you can find more details.
Please pray for:
-That God would protect the missionaries and their families ,that we have met, from persecution
-That the Lord of the harvest will send more workers into China.
Blessings!
Albie.legrange@
hotmail.com
(Visit my personal blogsite at http://AlbieOnGlobalchallenge.blogspot.com/ )
