Mission Journal Day 11

We woke up somewhat late today because our first thing on the schedule was a wedding at 12:45 at the Sun Churn Church. We left the hotel around 11:00 and took taxis to McDonalds. We separated from there and wandered the streets of Hoi Ping. Jon, Jason, and I went together and just walked up and down the roads. Most of the stores were cell phone stores, but I found an umbrella store. I owe my friend Josh at school for the one I lost of his. I bartered for a 30 R&B strawberry patterned umbrella. He will probably not accept it.

We kept walking and eventually found a tea store. I bought some pot-looking Chinese tea and the other two bought tea pots. We gathered for a small snack/lunch at McD's and walked to the church. We didn't even know the couple getting married, but the Chinese culture is to welcome guests and friends.

The wedding was very different from the wedding I envision mine being. The piano procession was played by a woman who improvised in 20 different keys for the same song. This provided me with laughter and Marla with tears. Cell phones rang off the hook during the ceremony and, going along with tradition, they were all answered by their owners. There seemed to be about four professional photographers, one being a videographer. However, there were about 6-10 others who just wanted pictures, so they crowded the altar and pulpet. I could not believe the amount of distractions that were taking place during this wedding. I soon realized that I was the only one distracted as well as the rest of us Americans.

The wedding ended with canons (hand-held) of confetti being blasted off inside the sanctuary. We left the church and walked back to Doug and Jen's place. We had some drinks and worshipped through prayer and song one last time. We then debriefed and shared how these past days had impacted us. It was a very nice time.

Roxie and Craig swung by and picked up some of us as we headed off to the wedding feast. We walked into the hotel place and there was a huge room set for over 700 people to eat. It soon filled up and we began our final Chinese meal. Craig and Roxie were with us so it was nice to end our time with them. We enjoyed fish, chicken, squid, shrimp, lilly bulbs, and many other nice foods.

We ended the night by saying final farewells to Jane, Peter, Suki, Grace, and the other Chinese believers. It was a nice time as we also said goodbye Craig and Roxie, whom I have grown to love very much. All the guys on the team crammed into a taxi and were taken to the supermarket for a final sweep. We had to find some things for the bus ride to Hong Kong the next morning. We bought some crackers and peanut butter, tangerines, and cookies. We then just headed back to the Ever Joint for a lazy night before bed.