Saturday, August 28, 2010

Arriving in China

 

This is my first blog post from China. I will do everything I can to write to this blog at least once a week, if not more. I hope that in this way all my family and friends that want to know how I am doing, and what China is like, will be able to.

I left for China on Monday morning. I must admit that it was pretty hard. Right before I was about to leave I had time to spend extra time with both my family, and several of my friends. Being with them made me realize how much I would miss them while I was in China. Nonetheless this is a journey I needed to take, so at 8:30 PM I headed out.

In LA we had a 15 hour layover, so we headed to Cassi ‘s (a friend of mine) Aunt’s house. It was nice to meet them, and it was fun to see LA, at least the little bit we could see from the car. The next day we took off for China. We actually almost didn’t get let on the place because some lady didn’t understand Drew’s visa, but that got taken care of. Let me tell you, 14 hours flights are as annoying now, as they were the last time I made them. People just aren’t made to sit for that long. Other than the sitting the flight was great, especially since I had Drew and Cassi to pass the time with.

Our first stop in China was Shanghai. When I got of the play I got a good ol’ whiff of China. Luckily it only took me about 30 seconds to get used to the smell again. At the airport we all went to go and each Chinese food. It was rather good, and got me even more excited for the time I was about to spend in China.

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The next leg of our flight had our plane sit on the tarmac for an hour while we waited for clearance to take off. I admit, I could no longer stay awake so I fell asleep. When we got to Nanjing we taxied in, found something to eat and conked out at 2:00 AM. That is until 5:00 AM rolled around. For some reason since I have been in Nanjing I can’t sleep past 5:00. Sun wise their 5:00 is probably about our 6:30, so maybe that is why.

Day number two saw me buying a cell phone, but still not having a SIM card. It made it really hard to actually get a hold of any of the realtors, so I was getting to a slow start buying a house. At night, several other flagship students and I all went to eat hotpot. It was really good seeing them. It also helped me knowing that I had so many close friends close by.

Funny story, when went to get our photos for all the applications we filled in on Thursday, they took our pictures then immediately set to doctor them up. Any blemishes on the body they would remove. No dark eyes, rain spots, or anything else were visible after they were done. They even shrank and widened parts of the photo so we would look better. It was just fun to see how they doctored even photos to be used in applications. It was good fun.

On Friday I have to admit I had a good little case of homesickness in the morning. It only lasted through breakfast, but I think I worried Drew and Cassi. They must have thought I was dying. After breakfast I was able to bury myself in the scriptures and feast on the word of the Lord. That solved everything. It is great how that as we look heavenward and outward, we are able to forget our own problems.

That afternoon I went to go buy a bike with Trevor Cook, another flagship student. We have lived in the FLSR together, so it was just like old times. I ended up buying a pretty nice bike for about $100 dollars. The guy started out at about $140 but I was able to talk him down and convince him to throw in some other stuff. Haggling is so fun. Trevor also got a nice bike. While we were buying bikes it started pouring rain. We waited for about an hour for it to stop but it never did, so we rode our bikes back home. We got absolutely soaked. It was great fun, and was just like the mission all over again.

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In the afternoon my phone was finally activated so I called up a relator. After that I slept for 12 hours. Let me tell you, it felt good J I think that the sleep was also enough to finally get me fully over jet lag. Saturday was a good day, at first I was a little worried that I still hadn’t found an apartment, but in the afternoon I saw a really nice place. It is about $450 a month and really, really, really small, but it is probably the nicest apartment I have seen in China. Everything had just been remodeled a year ago, and I absolutely loved it. I will add pictures of it next week when I have finally moved on.

Saturday I also walked my but off. I must have walked for nearly 12 hours straight that day. I was trying to find houses and such, and it just took forever. At night time Trevor, Drew, Casi, and I went to go sing Karaoke. It was a little expensive but it was really fun. With the price I probably won’t do it too often, but I will certainly find ways to do it as often as possible.

And that brings me up to the present. Sorry for the long blog post, this really won’t be the norm. Now at the end of this blog I am going to do something that I have done every now and then but never enough, I am going to talk about the spiritual side of things. I have realized recently it is sad that we don’t talk enough about the things of the spirit with each other. It is such a wonderful way to grow and help others grow. If anyone is looking for just the travelogue, feel free to not read the rest. I may not do this every week, but whenever I have some thoughts I think are worth writing, I will try to add them to my blog again. And who knows, maybe somebody that really needs to read these words will someday happen across them, and can benefit from the little that I do write.

So leaving for China was especially hard because one the blessings I have been wanting for so long looked like it might actually have a chance of being fulfilled. It made me not want to go to China, but when I prayed about it the Lord made it clear that I needed to go. This was probably one of the hardest times in my life, I saw something I really wanted, I knew that the Lord approved of it, but I couldn’t even try to get it because the Lord wanted me in China. This led me think more about the faith to follow God this week.

Often when I think of the power of faith, I think that when we have faith we can do all things, and they won’t be hard. I am finding now that this is not the case. Abraham had faith in God, but I am still sure that the command to sacrifice his son broke his heart. God knew that Christ sacrifice was necessary, but yet I am sure he wept as his Son and our Savoir made that sacrifice. Faith gives us the power to do all things, but it doesn’t necessary make all things peachy. Nonetheless, the pain we feel as we do this is good, because this pain lifts our gaze heavenward. It allows us to grow even closer to our Father and our Savior.

The other benefit of trials such as these is that we truly learn something about ourselves. In the past I have wondered how I would handle certain challenges in my life. I was pretty sure that I would be able to accept the will of God and keep on going, but now I know that I would. Already being in China has taught me much about my relationship with my father. I now know that I can do anything that he requires of me, and that I will not shrink from his command. It may be hard for me, but I will do it.

In all of this I testify that God lives. I testify that he truly does love us. I know that through him all things are possible. He gives us strength when all we want to do is fall to our knees and weep. He came to earth so that we might have life, true life, life that is filled with joy. And like Elder Holland teaches, it is true that we must all take a step or two on the path of Gethsemane, the savior walked the whole path so that we need not.

I know that the Lord watches over us in our afflictions. I know that all that happens to us is used by the Lord to make us stronger. As long as when the road gets hard we do not turn inward, but rather heavenward, I testify that the power of the atonement is enough to change our lives. I testify that all who will drink of the living water will become people of great stature and power. I testify that as we do these things we prepare ourselves so that when we see him we make be like unto him. It is for this promise that I strive while I am China. This year will be a chance to be molded by the Master’s hand to become more like the Him.