We Climbed the Great Wall!

This was an amazing experience to see a piece of this 2000 plus year old history. As you can tell by the pictures it was a very misty foggy day but it added to the mystic and wonder of it all.

Bethel Orphanage for the Blind

Yesterday we went to an private Christian orphanage for blind children called Bethel to play and get to know the kids. When we first walked in and said hi to some of the younger kids they all swarmed us and wanted us to play games with them on the carpet area. After we met in the kitchen area and met the rest of the kids as they were eating. It was so cool because we could talk to them and they could understand us and talk back to us in english. Then we took a tour of the classrooms that they learn everything an have therapy. Finally we went back down to the first place we met the little kids and heard them all sing christian songs, some in english and some in chinese. They sung loud and clear. This was an amazing experience i will never forget.

Touchdown in Beijing

We just traveled north east 1,000 miles to Beijing from Shanghai. Beijing airport is huge. The architecture and size of all airports and train stations in China are engineering marvels. We are excited about connecting with the Knipe's and Shepardson's at our hotel in Beijing. My dad and I have acclimated to the 12hour time difference. So when you are sleeping in the United States it is daytime in China.

Papa John's Chinese style

Typical way of transporting just about anything in China...on 3 wheels.

I was ready for some American food so we went to a full serve Papa Johns-no delivery service. This is dad standing with the waitress.

Dad, me and Pastor Abraham. He is the pastor of a home church in urban Shanghai. He is popular with youth and young professionals. His church had to stop adding people for fear of govt. should find out about them and shut it down. We gave him copies of Dr. Swanson's Vital Signs book. He was thrilled.

These are friends of John, our guide. They were thrilled to escort us thru the Expo as they do not see many Americans. The man, Yuri, gave me a special World Expo pin that are usually given to political figures from different countries. The World Expo has 600,000 people visit each day! The average wait is 2 hrs/pavillion. My dad isn't up for that!

World Expo -USA Pavillion