The Last Few Days...

Sitting here writing this blog (this is Evan) I'm only three days away from the beginning of my first trip 'alone'. Some of you know from reading our newsletter that I will soon be embarking on a missions trip to teach at a camp in Inner Mongolia, China.

I will be going with the CMCC (Chiang Mai Community Church) youth group and will be staying in China for two weeks. This adds an interesting twist to the whole thing, as I don't attend the youth group and only know two guys (the rest going are girls). Though suffice to say, I'm not all that worried about getting to know people and such.

At long last the China visa is completed, the Thai re-entry permit has been taken to the consulate and there only remains one thing left to do: pack. Yesterday was a full day of shopping and driving around. The re-entry permit was approved and things were bought for the trip. The items bought were a small bag of engraved elephant keychains, to explain to the kids at the camp about Thai culture, and a bag of coffee from the supermarket, to supplement the camp's dwindling supply. Both items were requested by the camp as optional, but we decided that we would help as much as possible.

Today will be spent packing enough clothes for two weeks, and making sure I have everything on the list they sent, ex. towel, flashlight, etc. I am actually hoping and praying that it will be very cold when we get there. It's not in my nature to really enjoy the summer weather, I just can't take the heat as well as I can appreciate the cold.

Please pray for the Lord's provision, safety and sharing opportunities as we embark on this trip. I have never been to China and honestly find it slightly embarassing that I won't be able to speak to a lot of people as I don't know Mandarin or any of the other dialects. Pray for a lot of communication between us and the 'campers' and that we will be able to affect them a lot by radiating God's glory through what we do.