[Please Note: My posting schedule here is all messed up due to my trip, jet lag, etc. I hope to get back on schedule next week, till then hang in there with me okay?]

I’m going to have to be vague about the details on this one as you will understand as you read it. But it’s just too good not to pass on to everyone as an encouragement to pray and not give up!

A very good friend of mine has been going through some really hard times for quite a while now. She is not a Christian, but for the last year or so she has been asking me to pray for things for her, and has even said one prayer (out loud) herself!

Well this week was another crisis situation for her as they were going to court to redress a very unjust situation. I prayed with her about it Tuesday evening, and encouraged her to trust God and believe that He was with her and would see things through.

I didn’t hear anything from her on Wednesday, and knew that wasn’t a good sign. She finally called me last night, and it was a disasterous day for her. Things looked very bleak, and she was deeply depressed. To make things worse, one person on the other side was lying in his testimony, and he just happens to be a prominent Christian, well known in his community.  She pointed that out to me and was very discouraged by that as well.

We prayed again. I asked God for justice and that He would get ahold of that little lying child of His and take care of him. She was very depressed, and I was down, discouraged and angry too.

Cut to this morning as I’m about to unlock the door to my office. The old cell phone rings, and it’s her.

Guess what?  The other side called her lawyer and has agreed to settle for the minium amount they were looking for! Whoooooo Hoooooo!

Overnight things went from darkness to light!  She wanted me to say a prayer of thanksgiving, and you can bet I did so!

Just a little reminder that this is usual pattern for miracles in the Bible. Things get bad, then worse, then seem hopeless, and then God acts and everything turns around!

Thanks be to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Just remember – keep praying and don’t you dare quit!

Here’s my new FaceBook address:

www.facebook.com/AZGungho

Go forth and enjoy!

Yes, I’m back from China and super, duper Jet Lagged to boot!

All as expected however!

I’m in the office right now trying to get some work done, and feel that my brain is slooooowly starting to function again.

Welcome home brain!

More tomorrow – maybe!

Hello out there!  We’re back in Beijing for two nights, and then it’s off to home again.

It’s been an amazing trip for many reasons. Over the next few weeks I’ll continue to do a few China posts along with my usual kind of blogging. Once I get over the old Jetlag of course!  Today we flew into Beijing, and most went shopping, a few stayed at the hotel and three of us, along with two guides, went to the Forbidden City.

Wanna guess which group I was in?

The Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square group of course! Here’s a few pics for you enjoyment.

Okay – the good news is that not only is Google back online here in China – but I clearly deserve credit due to my powerful open letter, which you can see right below this one!

Isn’t the power of blogging amazing?  (Can you smell the sarcasm?)

Okay – today we went to two museums, one dedicated to the 8th Route Army, which wasn’t all that exciting. The other is all about the history of this province and it was amazing! Normally I’d be posting several pictures from it, but today was anything but a normal day.

Because today we saw the Terracotta Warriors.

They are quite simply stunning.  I was reminded of the Grand Canyon as I looked at them. There’s no way any picture can possibly capture the scale of the thousands of these warriors, and the thousands more they are in the process of digging up!

So, let’s start off with just one picture from the museum (which by the way has quite a few Terracotta Warriors in it as well).

These are mini guardians of an Emporer, not warriors this time, but wise men, priests, etc.

Up next, an over view of the amazing Terracotta Warriors. Pictures are hard to take in the hall due to size and low light, but hopefully these will give you some idea of what it’s like.

Now for the obligatory shot of me, standing before some of the Warriors.

And finally, have you been wondering how I really feel about this trip?  And have you ever wondered, as I have, how the “self portrait” setting on my new camera works?  Well you are about to find out!  Enjoy and I’ll try and be back tomorrow for some more fun!

Dear China and Google,

I have no idea what the problem you are having is, but I do have one piece of advice.  It’s free and like all free advice it’s probably neither welcome nor effective. Never-the-less I offer it in the spirit of international harmony, peace and good well, and my own personal sanity as well.

FIX IT – NOW!!

Thank you very kindly for your consideration.

In Christ,

Louie Marsh
Lead Pastor
Kingman Christian Church

Hey everyone,

I made it to Xian and will go to see the Terracotta Warriors today.

The bad news is – I can’t get to Google from here yet, so not e-mail!  This shouldn’t be happening as I know Google works with China, so I’m confused!

More tonight I hope.

It was a slow day for picture taking today as we were mostly traveling in the bus. So I only took about 170 or so!!  We left Datong and drove the four or so hours to Wutai. Along the way we stopped at the Wooden Tower, which are the pictures I’ll be showing you below.

We drove through impressive mountains on very narrow roads. I have discovered that Chinese bus drivers pass around blind turns all the time, but they do blow their horns for “safety!” I also found out that when they are working on the roads they just leave debris in the road, and it’s up to the drivers not to hit it!  We found that out just after coming around a blind corner!  Nice!

Anyway, here’s the tower – it’s 1500 years old or so, has a slight lean to it, and you can only climb up to the 3rd floor. The stairs are classic Asian stairs, very steep with low ceilings for us westerners!

This final shot is of a statue of Buddha from the side. He’s smiling, but his pal in the background sure isn’t!  I liked the contrast.

This has been one long day!  It started at 4:30 AM (and yes, I was awake before then) and it is now 8:30 PM or so, and I’m still up!

We left Beijing this morning and flew to Datong, and then toured the day out!  Without a doubt, the two biggest sites for me was the 9 Dragon Wall, and the Grottoes.

Here’s two pictures from the wall. We were only there about a half hour, which is too bad as it’s really beautiful, but we had places to go and people to see, so we don’t have any time to waste on this trip!

That group shot was painful! I was kneeling on those hard bricks, while every camera in the group was used to take pictures!  Whew!  I survive however, and kneeling next to Yu Zu made all the difference!! 

After lunch we drove out the grottoes, about which I basically knew nothing. It’s a truly breath taking site, as you look all the work and devotion that went into the carving of this giant statues of Buddha.  I bought a book with pictures in it because you aren’t allowed to use your camera inside most of the caves. The two pictures below will give you some idea of the scale of the place, plus yet another annoying shot of me!  Hey – owning your own blog gives you the privilege of being as obnoxious with pictures as you want too!

I like this shot because it gives you an idea of just how huge these things really are. Note the people and how small they are?  Yeah – it’s really that big.

More tomorrow I hope!

Well we finally got there, to one section of the wall anyway. I have a video explaing this much better, but don’t have time to put it up now. I will however once I’m home, and you will love it!

Okay, it’s picture time! The first one is of myself, and two of our guides, “Karen” and “Regina.” These are not their real Chinese names, but the English ones they adopt to make it easier to work with us Westerners. Karen’s name is actually Ye Zi (pronounced: “Yu Zu”.) As you can tell from the picture, I’m having fun over here!

Next is an uphill shot of the wall leading to a fort. The forts were used to light signals to warn of approaching enemies. As you may notice, there’s not a lot of level places on the Wall, in this area at least!

Here I am outside the fort, about to go inside.

And finally, here a shot of me inside the fort with Ye Zi and Eric, our other guide.

Tomorrow we’re up at 4:30 AM to fly to Datong – more good stuff coming, so keep checking back in!  I’m not sure if I can get internet there or not, only time will tell!