Update and Prayer

Please be in prayer for the China team. They have been experiencing some issues with security over the last week or so. They are safe and not in any danger, but have not been able to do their intended work so far. Because of their current situation, we will be bringing them home on July 22nd instead of their original return date of mid-August. Please pray for continued safety and provision, for traveling mercies as they change locations over the next few days, and that the long term work in China would not be affected by the current circumstances.

Peace,
Emily Johnston
(Simpson Missions Coordinator)

HELLO ALL! We have offically finished our first week in China and are now finally used to the time change. 15 hours difference takes quite a long time to get used to. This past week we have been getting to know our local team and been working with them on planning out a training schedule for this next week. We have been working tirelessly on finding just the right information and cirriculum for the upcoming English camps that we will be running as well. This weekend (July 5th) we will be traveling into a small village where we will set up and prepare for a week of training the local village people in how to run an English camp. WE plan to be training them for most of the day. PLease pray that the training goes well, and that the people understand the information we are teaching them and that they find it useful for the future. ALso pray for the safety of our team as we have to register with the local authorities because we are foreigners. Recently we felt an earthquake here in the city and we found out that the center of the earthquake was in the village we will be traveling to this weekend. PLease pray for no more earthquakes as the people there in the village were effected tremendously by the earthquake last summer, and can not afford another large earthquake. One of our team members has been very sick and sadly been put into a type of quarentine. She is now feeling better and is eager to get back out there and start working again. PLease pray for her health as well as the health for the rest of our team. It has been a great first week of getting to know the locals and easing into the Chinese style of life. Culture Shock has not yet set in although we are sure to be in for a shock once we travel into the village. When we travel to the village we will be doing one week of training followed by three weeks of English camps. We will be running two English camps a week to give us a total of 6 camps at the end of the summer. As we have not yet traveled into the village yet, we are unsure what our internet access will look like. So from now on blog posts could be few and far between.
 We are getting anxious and excited to get out and start running the camps. Things we could use prayer for: Health, Safety, homesickness, and wisdom..pray that we have the words to speak to the people, and the hearts to care for them.. THank you all for your constant encouragement and prayers. WE love you all and miss you.

God Bless

China Team

Hello we made it! We're safe and tired. Our flight from SF to HK was 13 hours and 30 minutes give or take a few minutes. We landed about 5am local time and it was 85 degrees! we're debating about what Greenwich Mean Time is and we got free socks. cathay pacific rocks! Our flight from HK to Chengdu went well it was two and a half hours and before we were let off the Quarantine Team came on board and used temperature guns and pointed it at our heads but thankfully we all passed! We've had several very interesting experiences here with the drivers and traffic in general. No one follows the traffic lights or crosswalk blinker things so imagine trying to cross safely! So in conclusion we're pretty tired so please keep our health and our safety in your prayers as we try to adjust to the culture and humidity quickly. And pray for the people we are about to work with and who we come in contact with. 

God bless,
China Team

Going, Going, Gone.....

June 24th China Team will officially be departing for China! We were just informed a few days ago that our visas did indeed come through! Praise God...he is so so good! This will be the last blog that we will post until we arrive in China. Please pray that our multiple flights go well and that we arrive safely to our final destination. Once we arrive in China we will be posting a blog hopefully once a week, although our plans have changed quite dramatically from the start of our trip.
I thank you so much for all your prayers for our visas they were heard and answered!

We are very excited and anxious as we are only 4 days away from leaving. We are currently enjoying food and family as our great journey is about to begin!

please continue to lift us up in prayer. Especially for safety and health as those are our main concerns right now! Please pray that we have the words to say and the hearts to serve, that God prepares us these last couple of days for the journeys we have ahead of us!!

God Bless,

China Team

Visas

Please keep our team in prayer as our visas have not yet gone through...pray that with everything going on they are approved quickly as we are due to leave on the 24th. Thanks and God Bless

Just a few weeks away......!!!!

Here we are June 1 which means we're only about 3 weeks away from leaving for our amazing journey in China. We are very excited as the day quickly approaches. AS a team we went through team training at Simpson University. During the one week of training our team learned so many things from God as well as things about each other. It was a very good experience and i am proud to say that we did very well despite all the obstacles thrown at us.
We're very excited about the ministry that we will be doing in China. THe first few weeks we are there we will be training Christian college students in the local community in how to create, set up and run their own vacation bible schools. We will also be teaching them how to incorporate an English aspect to the vbs. We are so excited to form relationships with the students there and to learn how their lives differ from ours. THen the following weeks we will be running vacation bible schools in various local communities. Although, we are a little nervous about the language barrier we have all been studying up on our Mandarin!
As the weeks grow closer we ask that you keep us in your prayers. We ask that you pray for our nerves, for our ministry and especially for our health before we leave. AS many of you know swine flu is an epedemic that is sweeping the world. China is buckling down on those entering the country and many are being quarentined for ten days before being allowed to go out into China. Please pray that our team is healthy upon entering the country, our entire time there, and upon leaving the country!

Thanks so much! God BLess!!!

China Team


Ahhhhhhhh 3 more weeks HOORAY!

TICKETS! YAY!

It is officially official! We have purchased our plane tickets for the summer. We will be leaving June 24 arriving in China June 25 and returning home August 12. I am very excited and proud that our team has finally been able to purchase tickets. We ask that you continue to pray for our safety and for our flight situations, that we are able to make the proper connecting flights and get to our destination safely. We are very excited to get started on our work in China. We also ask that you pray for our Training week in Redding, that God prepares the right information and training that we will need when we are in China.

A few other tidbits..we would love your continued prayers for Vacation Bible School materials for the summer it has been very hard finding materials that are suitable for Chinese children because the culture is so different from American culture. Also please continue to pray for the situation in China with the government that relationships are able to reform and be solid before we arrive.

Thanks and GOd Bless!!

Coming Soon!!

Well it's April which means we are just a few months away from leaving for China. We have just learned some important updates about our trip which could greatly effect our ministry this summer. In one of the cities where we will be spending most of our time there has been a great government change, police officers, mayor, etc. THis may not seem like such a bad thing except that now the local church has lost all of it's previously established relationships with the local government. Previously the local law officials had a good realtionship with the local church which allowed them to run Vacation bible schools with out much trouble. NOw that the government has changed there is a fear that perhaps they will not be so lienent. We ask that you keep this in prayer as you continue to pray for our team. We are still scehduled to work in this area over the summer, but now the level of caution being used by our team will have to escalate quite a bit.

On a lighter note earlier this week we finally recieved enough money to purchase plane tickets!!!!! AHHHH how exciting! We are well on our way to OFFICIALLy going haha. We are very excited and can't wait to hold that itenerary in our hands. The tickets took quite a bit of money away from our budget so we are asking that you continue to pray that God will provide the remainder of our funds, quickly!

I hope that everyone is having an amazing week! We'll update soon again!

God Bless!

China Team

The Begining

Our first blog post hooray!! Well, here we are about 3 months away from leaving the comfort of home and embraking on a journey of a lifetime. We are very excited and are currently in the process of planning out the details of our trip. Next week is our airfaire deadline and we are putting faith in God that he will provide the rest of our money. We are also curently learning some phrases in MAndarin which has been very exciting and challenging at the same time. Our team is excited to practice it once we get there. We are also very excited to experince all that this culture has to offer. Well, more next time. Please keep our team in your prayers as we are constatnly seeking guidence from the Lord. God Bless