Mission trip 2010 - part 1

Well I have been back for exactly one week and in that time I have become very good at describing to people the trip, but the great thing is that each time I talk to someone about the trip, I dont feel like Im just repeating the same details. There was so many amazing experiences all throughout the trip, so I never get tired of talking about the trip. Also I God is using me to reach out to people, so its important I just allow God to use me, even now Im back in Melbourne.

So today I begin my review of the trip...drawing from my daily notes.


Friday 2nd April

This was my first time flying with Cathay and I had been given contrasting opinions prior to the flight, but they turned out to be a great airline. I flew out of Melbourne at 9:30am and I was seated next to a middle age Chinese guy. Now Im one of those annoying people who likes to strike up a conversation...I mean we are going to be sitting next to each other for the next 10 hours...might as well have a chat. Turned out this guy actually works across the road from me in a coffee shop!! We had a good chat at different points throughout the flight.

Arrived in HK just before 4pm and was greeted with extremely overcast weather. Caught the express train into city, checked in at my hotel and then met up with my HK friend Liz.

From there we did a bit of sight seeing around TST and Central, before heading over to Mongkok for dinner in one of the street food kind of places. Food was seafood varieties, really awesome. From there we headed back to my hotel and it was bed time for me!

Saturday 3rd April

Got up early and had breakfast in the hotel. Being they Hyatt, the breakfast was a western style buffet, with a few Chinese foods thrown in. Not bad, especially since they were serving pancakes!!

Checked out of the hotel and it was time to head down to the YMCA to meet the team. I cant pretend I wasnt feeling anxious at this point. But I just cast all my concerns on God and headed down there. When I look back now, I realise just how silly I was to have any concerns.

I was the second person from the team to arrive, the first being Sophak. We started chatting briefly and as we did, more and more people began to arrive. My first impression was...man this team is diverse! Chinese, Korean, Canadian, US, Australia, Singapore, UK and Ireland...all ages.

After we had all arrived we went up to a room for a introduction meeting. The team had officially begun! After a short meeting as a group, we went and got lunch at TGIF which was close to the YMCA. The team leader Bruce was in need of a western hamburger so this was the best place to get one close by.

After lunch we had some time to talk amongst ourselves before heading out to the airport to fly to Xian. We had a bit of free time after we checked in at the airport, so again we were free to look around the airport and do what we liked. I spent the time talking with Sophak and Jean, two people have been on a number of short term trips like this.

On the flight to Xian I was sitting with Anni and Jenny...although Jenny was quite sick during the flight so she didnt do much besides sleep. During the 3 hour flight to Xian, I had a great chat with Anni, in between her jokes at my "fear" of flying....although I still deny any fear...!

Once we arrived in Xian, it was straight to the hotel and to bed!

This was the view from our hotel (above) and our hotel room (below)