A God Thing

As most of you probably already know, I have been to China the past 2 years to be the hands and feet of Jesus in orphanages there. The first year I went with my mom, not knowing anyone, and then last year I went back on my own with one of my friends, Megan, that also went the first year. Those 4 weeks in China have been some of the best weeks of my life. They definitely had their ups and downs but in the end it was truly amazing to travel to China and love on the people and orphans there.

This past year was a very busy one for me… I went to England with my family and I also went on a school/mission trip to Costa Rica. With this being said, I didn’t think that I would be able to go back to China, let alone that God was calling me back to go. I knew that China would always have a special place in my heart, but I felt like God was telling me to stay here this year and pray and support the team instead…all until the end of May, a little over a month until the trip.

At the end of May, I felt like I was really being called by God to go back…this year! I prayed a lot about it and then eventually I talked to my parents and asked them to pray about it too. The money was the biggest issue at the time and I wasn’t sure how I would raise over $4000 in about a month; however, I knew that God would provide if it was in his will, and He sure did! I am now finishing up last minute things for my trip and preparing to leave Friday morning. I can’t believe that I am going for the 3^rd year in a row, and more importantly I cannot believe how God has provided almost all of the money for my trip. It is truly a God thing.

Thank you so so so much to everyone who has prayed and supported me while I have been preparing for my trip, I can never thank you enough.

Also, as some of you may know… blogging while I’m in China is one of the hardest things for me. It’s not that I don’t want to blog, because I definitely do. It’s the fact that I have SO much to say and so many thoughts going through my head that it is just so hard to type it out and put it into words. However, I am really going to try my best to blog as much as possible this year, because I love reading through my past posts and I know people would like to hear how the trip is going. With that being said, the 12 hour time change from Florida to China is very tolling and I become very exhausted, so no judging my grammar or spelling on any of my posts…half of the time I don’t even have the energy to read back through it.

I leave Friday morning at noon and arrive in Detroit, MI, one hour before my flight to Shanghai leaves. Please pray that my flight from Orlando is not delayed and that I will have plenty of time to get to my next flight and meet up with my team.

Thank you all again, I love you and will miss you while I’m gone, but please feel free to email me while I am there. All social networking is blocked in China, including Facebook and Twitter, so email or an occasional text will be the best way to reach me or just say hi! Also if you have my Skype feel free to Skype me or if you don’t have it message me and I’ll give it to you. It’s sometimes hard with the time change, but I occasionally am able to talk!

Here is my itinerary while in China:

Friday, July 6: Depart Orlando at 12:00 & arrive in Detroit to meet up with the team and then board our 15 hour flight to Shanghai at 3:45.

Saturday, July 7: Arrive in Shanghai at 6:40 PM and check-in to our hotel.

Sunday/ Monday, July 8-9: Tour Shanghai and possibly visit an orphanage in Shanghai.

Tuesday, July 10: Travel to Chenzhou. 1-2 hour flight and then a 5-hour bus ride.

July, 11-17: Chenzhou Orphanage Days.

Wednesday, July 18: Travel to Hong Kong on the bullet train and then by bus.

Thursday, July 19: Tour Hong Kong.

Friday, July 20: Travel back to Orlando. Leave Hong Kong at 10:25 AM (10:25 PM July 19 EST) and arrive back in Orlando late Friday night.