We are back!

We finally made it to China. Yay! Our flights were really as smooth as they could have been.  I also feel like I slept more on the flights than I usually do.  Of course I barely slept the night before.  When we arrived in Shanghai, we were all VERY tired.  We ate some “dinner” and went to bed.  We were in bed before 7 pm!  We all woke up around 3:30 or 4 AM.  We hung out in the hotel and then we went to eat some breakfast around 6.  Then Hallie and I went to the Embassy (consulate) to get some pages added to my passport.  Then we returned to the airport to take a bus back to Hangzhou.  We finally made it to our apartment with all the bags about 6 and were in bed about 7:30 or 8.  We were tired!

As you read in Josh and Gao Yan’s post, they were somewhat tired and discouraged at the end of last school year.  We did not feel that way at all.  Jon was physically tired and more than ready for a break.  He was working two jobs and traveling about 4 hours 3 days a week.  However, we were really excited about this new area we moved to.  We made some plans and felt like some great things were happening here.  We were ready for our break, but also equally excited about the upcoming year.

Then some things went wrong this summer.  It was pretty discouraging.  We were really excited about Jon’s new job and the great potential there. But they messed up the visa stuff, so we started to have some doubts.  Also, several of the people we were planning on working with here in BJ moved away.  Some moved back to the US, and Heather moved to Shanghai.  There are a couple of contacts we will meet with every week, but every weekend since we got here has been a working weekend or a holiday, so it has been hard to get into a weekend routine. 

We had felt led here, and thought Jon’s job was a huge blessing, but we stared doubting.  Was all this God telling us this was not the place for us, or was it Satan trying to discourage us.  As I write this, I can see, it was probably Satan trying to discourage us.

Slowly, things are getting better, we are getting settled at home more.  The kids have more of a routine now.  The weather has been fantastic lately.  Things at Jon’s job are leveling out some (they are finishing a big project soon).  Hopefully we soon we can see some new contacts to share with.

Pray for our whole team to be excited about God’s work here in Hangzhou!

This is a picture taken from the roof our building.  This is a section of our neighborhood.