As I write this, I lie in a sleeper train car from Beijing to Hefei, settling in for a 9 hour ride. At least we will be sleeping most of the way and so the trip should happen quickly. While Lisa and the kids have their own stateroom. I am sharing with three others. One cool thing, while waiting for our train in the waiting area, Charis made friends with a young lady who wanted to practice English. This young lady was so touched by Charis that she gave her a special wooden fan.

Anhui is the province where Charis was born. We look forward to seeing the locations of he humble beginnings as we take a short break from our visits with students. Even there we will see the nephew of a recent student and he will take us around. For our time at the orphanage we hires a guide and a driver with a company that specializes in adoption return trips.

Our time in Beijing was very special. The students we visited truly showed us the best of Beijing. Of course, to me the best of Beijing was them. We were blessed to live in central Beijing with Willy. We were blessed to eat some of Beijing’s best foods, eating like kings, no little emperors. We shopped like locals. We worshiped at a very old church. We were truly blessed.

Of course to see our student friends in their element was a thing to behold. Friends we goofed around with in Texas ended up as upstanding and incredibly successful business people. Who knew. Yet all of them treasured their time in Texas and seemed to remember the time fondly. They saw Je$us lived out and were changed because of it and seeing us seemed to remind them of that. I am so thankful for our time here in Beijing.

Well off to Anhui, then Guangzhou where we connect with the first student we were a host family with in Texas.

Roy

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