Good Morning from China!

Or Ni Hao, I should say…

We arrived safe and sound Thursday evening – which is Thursday morning in the states. Our trip was smooth and uneventful, albeit long. Thank Him for protection throughout the journey.

As we watched the little plane figure move further and further from the States on the flight map, we got more and more nervous… But, being in an airplane doesn’t allow for many changes of mind – not that we really wanted to do that. I guess the reality of what you are doing only sets in when you are actually doing it.

When we got to Beijing, our driver was a bit late… so we waited a few minutes and almost got to the point of trying to call and check on them. But, we couldn’t figure out how to use the public phones, so scratch that. Thankfully, she arrived, and took us to our new home. It took about an hour to get here.

We are actually out in the country, to some degree. The village is poor with most people working as farmers. Some of them are also taxi drivers in the city, etc. The population is about 40,000, which is very small by China’s standards. Across from our apartment is a farm, and right now they are harvesting corn… which in some places is laid out to dry. It is kind of pretty. There are lots of trees and has a rural feeling, since there aren’t many cars or streetlights.

Our apartment is on the 6th floor and is very comfortable. We will get lots of exercise, as there is no elevator. But, there’s no harm in that. Our walk to work is about 1 km and takes probably 10-15 minutes. Yesterday we had the grand tour of the facilities and learned what our jobs would be. Jacob is going to be helping oversee some new construction and working on IT stuff. I’m going to be writing. Both of us will also help out with the kids – doing preschool, one-on-one English lessons, and playing with them. We really don’t know much more than that right now, but we’ll certainly share more as we learn more. The people are REALLY nice. All the westerners live in the same apartment complex – in fact, our next door neighbors are from the States. So, that will really help with feelings of isolation, as you can tell they are all a big family.

We’re still feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything… Please continue to hold us up to our Father, as to some degree we really feel like we are here more out of obedience than desire right now. Hopefully that will change. :) I think it is mostly due to the fact that the goodbyes of the last few days/weeks are still really fresh, and we don’t completely feel plugged in here yet. It is also difficult to know that we are totally dependent on others to help us with everything. My Dad pointed out before we left that this would be a challenge for us, and the people here told us the same thing. But, they pointed out that as long as we don’t fight it, we won’t find ourselves miserable.

Today we are going to explore our village and tomorrow we are going into Beijing to church and to do some shopping. Sorry I don’t have pictures yet. I want to wait to take pics of our apartment until we have ourselves unpacked. I’ll get pics up soon!

Oh – and Skype works REALLY good here! That has us really excited, so don’t forget – you can add us. Just email me for our Skype name.