Six Days Til China

(From Jay)
Wednesday night, I sat up late and lamented in my blog post. I was and am nervous…I admit it. But its amazing what God can do in a day…its amazing what God can do in the blink of an eye!

I don’t have all my questions answered today, nor do we have all of our funds resolved yet, but I feel God has given us the boost we needed.

I mentioned in our last post our $3,600 deficit.  Based on an unforeseen real estate closing, and the generosity of some
dear friends, our deficit was reduced to about $1,400…in less than 48 hours. On Thursday (the day after my blog post) when I found out about the closing…I texted Camille about it…and she simply replied with
the words, “see-don’t ever doubt”.

I can also say that we were blessed to pick up our UPS package with our returned passports with the Chinese entry visas on Friday! Hoorah! Thank you Jesus for speeding them here and keeping them safe!

So now we enter the final stretch…this coming Friday night we will be heading up to St. Louis to spend the night preparing for our early Saturday flight to Chicago and on to China. People ask me repeatedly if I am nervous about the trip. And honestly, I have to say ‘not yet’. Of course, that’s because it seems like there are a million things to do before we go: getting my work to a good stopping point, completing the nesting in our home, filling sheet orders, wrapping up taxes, paying bills, finishing the last week of wrestling practice for the boys and basketball practice for Annie, and just getting all the paperwork ready for the trip. We’ve been scurrying around looking for backpacks and carry-on bags and voltage adapters and small shampoo bottles…there’s no time to be nervous yet.

But I’m sure when I sit down in that plane, the reality will begin to creep in. I started feeling the weight of leadership in just the nature of the trip itself. Camille has never flown internationally, and the girls have never flown anywhere. As we travel by plane, car, and train across our country and China, I pray that God allows me to lead the trip wisely and calmly, and that we move from place to place smoothly. I’m not nervous about the big stuff…it’s the little things that will cause me to be anxious like finding baggage claim in a Chinese airport, hailing taxis, checking into hotels, and exchanging our dollars for yuan. I truly hope that God blesses us with a large amount of English-speaking people in China.

I just pray that it all just passes by simply and effortlessly, and we are just able to focus on our blessed little girl and having opportunities to spread the gospel while in China.

To all of you that pray, that encourage, that love on us, that support us, that bought sheets…please know that you are greatly appreciated! You have been and continue to be a blessing to our family.