London Was Built in a Day (Philip Hou)

Ni Hao wo de peng yo. Zhe shi Philip Hou. Jing tian, wo ya- Oh wait, i'm supposed to be using English. I'm already so used to responding to things in Chinese it's become almost an instinct. I'm sure my mom would be proud of me if she was reading this. Anywho, today was the second day of camp. It started off pretty well, with Bao Zhi and soy milk and something that was akin to cold watery peanut butter (it was pretty good).

yum

Cute Kids (and Nathan)

Ordering Tea in London

Tea-Masters Arthur and Philip

Headed back

Kool Kids

Once we packed up everything, we headed off for the camp. As usual, it was hot, humid, and uh...hot. I thought today was going to suck because I was still a bit tired from yesterday's activities and today hadn't even started (luckily I was wrong).

The first thing we did was the "Funky Chicken" dance with the entire group. It consists of marching like a soldier, lots of yelling and pretending to be a flapping chicken. Groovy. Apparently, the kids didn't think so (of maybe they did and were too shy) and many of them didn't dance. On the bright side, there were more kids "chickening out"(dancing) compared to yesterday.

After that, the STM team broke off to do the London Stations. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on how the other teammates did because I didn't really get to visit them. Lord Arthur and I were busy serving tea and cupcakes to the masses. It started out pretty rough (like serving tea with lukewarm water) but it improved substantially by the time the 3rd group had wandered over. I know our station was the best because we had food and everyone enjoys pipping hot afternoon tea under the summer sun.

After London was deconstructed, the STM group met up at the Auditorium to practice the critically acclaimed Bean Skit. Everything was in working order and we were ready to break a leg or two. When the time finally came, we all performed flawlessly. Tom Cruise couldn't have acted as well as us. The kids thought were were great too (judging from the volume of cheering/laughter) and that's what really mattered.

Once that was over, our groups split and went out to do games/activities outside. The girls did a very good job performing as a team and we totally steamrolled the games we had (passing balls with legs feet and doing blindfolded drawing).

Fun with ABC was next and it went well in my opinion. More of the girls participated in the learning games that we did and I felt like our group was slowly beginning to connect with each other. The highlight of the day was when I built up enough courage to sit down with the girls and talk to them. I usually don't have anxiety talking with girls, but for some reason, middle-school girls make me nervous. Through talking, our team learned more about their life and some of their hopes and dreams. Some of the things we learned were very touching like how one of the girls had to take care of her family because she had no parents. I pray that God may be able to do a work in this place and just bring peace to these people.

Everything else after that was like a blur. We ended class, finished up in the auditorium, etc. What was really excellent was that one of the groups got to meet with one of the kid's parents. In addition, we had a lot more kids come by the gospel center just to have fun (card games and the like). Tomorrow, we're planning on going to 5 kid's houses, which is muy exciting.

The rest of the night was uneventful (besides dinner and testimonies and sharing which were all amazing) and now I think I should end this blog because it is 10:55 and I want to shower, brush my teeth, and hit the sack.

Oh and prayer requests

1. That everyone on the team has energy
2. One of my team-members isn't feeling very well, so pray that she feels better
3. That we all be able to work together as a team
4. God be able to do a work through each and every one of us.
4. Nobody gets mad at me for taking literally forever typing this blog.