Teachable Moments From My Savior: Our Journey to Caleb 2007

Our Journey - Day 4, May 6, 2007

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Good Morning! Well I am glad to say that it is 5:30 am and I am the only one up. We are getting our bodies on China time. We were so exhausted last night so we slept great! It didn't even get too hot in our room this time. We found out that they cut the air conditioning off at night. That is why we were so hot. They said that it is still springtime and they like to feel warm. Well I guess after all of floor 15 complained about the hot rooms, they kept that AC running strong last night. It was wonderful! I woke up with scripture going through my head this morning.

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Ps. 118:24

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Ps. 46:10.

Today is Sunday and we will be going to the International church service. It is amazing to me that they will hold a church service for tourist, but their own people are not allowed to attend. We have to take copies of our passports to show proof that we are foreign passport holders. Our guides are not even allowed to go in with us. Although we will greatly miss our church, we are anticipating a church service in a different country. What an experience we are in for! Our guides are so sweet, but we are not sure if they know Christ. Please be in prayer for us as we form relationships with these wonderful ladies and that we will be able to share the greatest message with them. Enjoy your day at church! Worship and praise our Lord and be thankful you live in a country where this is possible. So many times we take for granted things like going to church every week. I urge you today to go and celebrate this independence you have; first of all in Christ. Those who know the Lord are alive in Christ and have eternal salvation. Secondly, that you live in a country where you can freely worship! Our God is so good! We give him the glory and honor he deserves! We love you all and pray you have a wonderful day in the Lord!

Matt, Allison, Ben, & Callie

(Part 2)

Today was another unbelievable day! After breakfast we had some time before boarding the bus, so we decided to walk to Starbucks! That was wonderful! Stephanie, I had a Mocha Frappacino in your honor. It tasted just like home! We then headed to the church service. On the way there, our guide, Maggie, shared with us about religions in China. There are 5 legal religions in China. Christianity being the last. She said that it is legal for them to go to church but if you wanted to build a church, you would have to take a class and get regulated. Sounds like free Christianity doesn't it? I have to say that the church service was awesome! It is held in a convention center and is only open to foreign passport holders and they check them at the door. Once inside, you are together with people from all over the world. The service was so much like home! There was praise and worship time and they would sing in Chinese and English. Hearing the familiar praise and worship songs sung in Chinese and seeing everyone together worshipping and raising hands to the Lord was very emotional. Just thinking about everyone there from different countries, different denominations, different languages, but serving one God; the ONLY God! I was so overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit! Benjamin told me after the service that it was awesome! We all agree! We were able to talk to a few people that were in the service and it was such a neat experience. I am so glad that we were able to worship there today! We serve an awesome God!

After the service, we went for more Chinese food (shocker) and then to the Pearl Market. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the pearls and seeing how they put them together. As we talked to some of the workers, they were of course trying to sell us lots of things. They knew we were all adopting children and they wanted to honor us by giving us a very good deal. They are very appreciative of the Americans adopting their orphans. The lady helping us was trying to sell us pearls for our adopted daughter and when we told her that we were adopting a boy, she was shocked. At first she didn't believe us but then she called more girls over and told them. She said "his parents didn't want him?" They find it so hard to believe that someone would abandon a boy, but not a girl. Then they just kept telling us, "lucky boy, lucky boy".

Then it was off to Summer Palace! It is a beautiful place. The mountains are breathtaking! Callie was again the celebrity as people would stop and stare and take pictures and some would just want to walk up and touch her hair. This has been the first foreigner that some of the Chinese have seen. It was again very crowded and we were shocked to see parents stopping right in the middle of the sidewalk where people were walking and letting their toddler go to the bathroom. We saw it twice in just that little bit of time. At least one parent held their child over the storm drain to go. Needless to say it was very nasty! Noone seemed to be shocked except for us. I guess this is pretty common here. Ha! As we approached the next storm drain, one of the guys in the group asked if anyone else needed to go! We all declined!

We were able to come back to the hotel for about an hour before we left for our duck dinner. We are all about ready for a big, juicy hamburger and french fries! Matt has now taken the kids down to the bowling alley for a little bit while I update everyone on our journey. I do want to say that today was very moving for us. Some things are very hard to see, but very necessary for us. We want to experience what Caleb's homeland is like; the good and the bad. God has a purpose for his sweet little life and I cannot wait to see it unfold!

Tomorrow we will be going to the Great Wall and doing some shopping. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers! We have so enjoyed reading your messages! Have a wonderful evening!

We love you all!

Matt, Allison, Ben, & Callie