OK. So I'm going to bed tonight on a blanket on the floor in a gradeschool classroom. I have ten roommates...and there are 11 more in the next classroom. Plus all the guys down the hall... All of us girls are sharing one bathroom and shower, which is quite the interesting experience. But it's good... WE ARE IN HUALIEN!!! I guess the excitement of certain people (ahem, you know who you are...) has rubbed off on me. Plus, somehow I feel that God is going to do great things here in the lives of the kids.
Tomorrow our camp is starting. Here we are not actually doing it along with seminars, we are basically holding a three-day camp for the children. This is the first time a CI team has come to Hualien to teach. It is a very special opportunity. Especially as many of the
se children have little-to-no Christian background and many come from broken families, etc. But anyway...in just over seven hours we need to be up, ready for the day, and done with breakfast... Plus we still have some of the craft and lesson preparation to do. The camp technically starts at 9:00, but the children will start arriving around 8:00, so we will need to be ready before then.* * * * * * * * * *
I actually started writing this yesterday night in my journal...now we are done with the first day of the camp...but the privilege of writing about today has been taken by someone else...hehe. So I won't say anything about today.
A little more about yesterday though...we attended the morning service at the church that hosted the seminars and CI. I really enjoyed church, and it was cool to see some people again for the last time before leaving Kaohsiung. That was sad...but if we hadn't left, we wouldn't be here now. A couple of my CI children who attend that church saw me after church and greeted me. That made me smile. :)
As soon as we finished church and got thebus loaded, we began our bus ride. We stopped for a really late lunch at about 4:30...so basically it was our supper. Other than sleeping and enjoying the view outside the window, we planned for our Hualien and had some time of worship and prayer. To make a long bus ride short, we arrived in Hualien at like 9:00...It might have been after, I'm sort of forgetting now.
But no, we couldn't go straight to bed. We had to unload the bus, have some orientation, move into our classroom-dorms, set up our team rooms for camp, start preparing our crafts since we would have like no time this morning for that, get a few showers in (or several...), and then finally...bed. :)
So, it was in interesting experience. The scenery here is be-a-u-ti-ful... and being here in a more country-type, poorer place reminds me of the many times my family visited people in the countrysides of China when I was young.I know this isn't a very eloquent post. I have had trouble finding time to do enough journaling these days...when there is so much to journal about. But thanks to all of you who are keeping up with our blog and especially those of you who have been praying for our team. We need all the prayer we can get.
Just wanted to end with this verse that came to mind last night and has been with me today too. :) Familiar...but something good to really think about again. "For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11-13.
Hannah Ruth
