August 7th Post

China Team Blog 8-7-10

By Erik Burklin



Coming home…

Today was travel day for our team. We got up 7:00 am and packed our bags before going down to the lobby for a final “Chinese style” breakfast. I think our whole team is ready for some familiar Western food. Last night we talked about what kind of food we are most craving. Chipotle was the big winner!!!! After saying our good byes to all the other teaching team members from Arizona and the International team we got on the bus, which took us to the airport. It was fun to travel with some of the AZ team members from Chengdu to Beijing and then from Beijing to Seattle. So the friendships that were formed during English Camp had a little bit longer to get stronger.


A final team pic before going to the Chengdu airport
One of the highlights for me was bringing my youngest daughter, Bri, with me to China. Like for most of our team members this was her very first visit to China. It was fun to see her interact with all the Chinese students during the last 10 days of camp. Bri got close with one of the TA’s, Rebecca, who was just baptized a few months ago. Her exuberance for Christ was evident as she served the kids and us with a smile on her face each day. She wore a big wooden cross around her neck as a testimony of her new found faith; how awesome! On the last day of camp, Rebecca came up to Bri and gave her a special gift...her wooden cross.

The other highlight for me was to experience one Chinese student pray to accept Christ during camp. This was such a God-thing. She came to the Hua Mei English camp last summer and God was working on her heart during the last 12 months. Now she is a new Jesus follower. What is so exciting is that she is a natural leader. I have no doubt that God chose her to be a difference-maker in her high school this coming school year. One of her friends has already started to ask her questions about God and her new found faith. Please pray for Gina as she continues on her journey with Jesus.

Wow, our team is exhausted but very happy. Our prayers from before the trip have truly been answered in so many beautiful ways. We prayed for team unity: God helped us to stick together! We prayed for safety: God kept us safe! We prayed for health: God helped our team to remain strong; even when some of us came down with “stuff,” God gave the much needed strength and grace for us to endure. We prayed for open hearts: God gave us 167 Chinese kids to reflect God’s upon, some who were drawn a little bit closer to join God’s family…and He gave us Gina.

Thanks for praying on our behalf these last two weeks; thanks for partnering with us in making Christ known amongst the young people of China.

We’re excited to be coming home…..

“Declare His glory amongst the nations.” Psalm 96:3