beauty for ashes: No place I'd rather be

My sister said I should blog, so here it goes. I don't even know how to begin to describe life here except that it consists of mispronouncing mandarin tones (if you are interested in the language), speaking english very slowly, not ever taking myself too seriously in any and every context), and acting like a 14 year old girl with my asian friends for the majority of the day. I've been in this big old city for a little more than two months and it feels like I've lived here a year. I have my normal routine of class and other activities down. This is my home!

We (my little family here) had the privilege of going to the "Grand Canyon of Asia" to get some fresh air and spend some time with mother nature. Getting out of our city and breathing… It was what I needed. We did an 8 km hike and I enjoyed it very much. I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the asians hike in dress pants and high heels. There are some things that you cannot try to understand. Or you will die trying. We got to eat a breakfast buffet with free-flowing coffee, cereal, and waffles. You may laugh but these things are precious in this continent.

On the way back home I found myself on a 12 hour train ride with babies crying, chinese music blaring, and cigarette smoke filling the stagnant air. It was a sleeper car and I got to be on the top bunk, and it was triple-stacked. At about hour 8 I became annoyed with everything about this place and blared my iPod so loud that my audiology professor would be ashamed. How did I even get here? Does this place and my life even make sense?

So as I try to drown out the noise, the language I don't understand, and the smell of unidentifiable food and cigs a certain song comes on "shuffle" on my iPod. I love how in those moments of "where am I" or "what am I doing" He is so quick to remind me of who He is. The song is called "Come to Me" and it talks about how the Lord just wants our attention and affection. He goes before us and is our peace and our comforter!

I stand beside you

I'm all around you

Just come to me, come to me, cause I'm all that you need

It talks about how even though we can think that the Lord is so far away, He isn't. He is with us more than we know. He invites us to come into His rest no matter the situation. This "rest" is tricky though because it is opposite of what our situation or the world tells us. He says that He is our anchor in the wind and the waves. What a GREAT picture all of these things are. My prayer is that my faith would grow so much bigger. That I would stop picking and choosing which of these attributes make sense and which I think apply could to my life. We can claim all of His promises to us!

this is the train ride.

this is the two hour bus ride to where the hike began. Windy roads. Kathleen and I stole the microphone and sang a little duet. Taylor Swift, The Sound of Music, and the fitting song "She'll be coming around the mountain"