I had the opportunity recently to return to China for the third time within the year. I love this place and was so glad to be back! This trip was different than the previous ones, but it was still very interesting with lots of high points. I would love to fill you in on all the details, but I'll keep things more general and at the tourist level on this blog.
We enjoyed our time in Beijing. For the 1.5 half days we were there at the beginning of the trip, the weather was absolutely beautiful which was certainly an answer to prayer. This was a perfect day for seeing the wonderful cultural and historical sites of this city. Forbidden City was a great place to start.
The view of Tiananmen Square from the famous balcony. Mao's picture is just to the right, but you can't stand right above it because there's an armed guard there.
Inside was beautiful. Look at the murals and fresh flowers!
The Temple to Heaven was lovely as well. I love the colors used.
At the end of our day, we had our first of two experiences with Hot Pot. This is an interesting experience to say the least. Each person gets their own individual bowl of boiling hot water with herbs and spices in it. You drop pieces of meat (beef or lamb in our case) or vegetables (lotus and others that I don't remember) or dumplings in to let them cook. When you pull them out, you can dip them in the sesame paste. Glad I tried this, but in all honesty, not my favorite meal.
Our group. In the front is Helen, Bill and me. Claire, Abby (our tour guide) and Dustin.
Yeah, we did a lot of walking that day.
After Beijing, we flew on to Chengdu. While here, we held a couple of business presentations. Dustin presented on personal branding and I presented on budgeting skills. This is a picture of me with Rita after my presentation; she did an excellent job of translating for me.
Over the following few days after our presentations, we each had meetings with individuals who wanted to sign up for one on one (with translators if needed). This was a great time of sharing some business knowledge and encouraging them in various ways.
While there, we also got to see a Sichuan Opera. It was really fascinating! The costumes were beautiful and there were some very fun acts with lovely dancing and cool acrobats.
Helen, Claire and I went to a great bookstore one day. Even with everything in Chinese, I could spend hours there! We found one small part in the children's section that had books in both English and Chinese. I thought they were really cool, so I bought four for the girls. As Mia's phonetic spelling below indicates, she wasn't as impressed.
While in Chengdu, we were able to encourage one group of individuals on how to keep their priorities in order, and we were able to talk with another group looking to learn more about their purpose and life's purpose. Both of these gatherings were incredible and were the high points of the trip for me.
I am so grateful that I had this opportunity. I would love to tell you more about the trip or the work going on in China if you're interested. It's a fascinating place, and God is doing an amazing work there!
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