VACATION!!!

To start a story of seemingly never ending proportions is an 

overwhelming task. That is why I have not even indulged  in my 

desire to write about my vacation.

We were finally free. As soon as dinner was finished, the six of us 

jumped into the van that would take us to Nanchang. We got at least 

30 mins away when both the driver and Mrs. Kim Schofield got a call 

on their cellular devices. Apparently we left too early and our 

coordinators both did not expect us to leave as early. Our driver 

turned around and we were all very confused and annoyed. This would 

add more time to our already disastrously long traveling time.  When 

we got back to the school, Angel and a friend of hers, got in the 

van with us and made us sign a paper since we did not sign out 

before we left. What a great start to our vacation.

After arriving in Nanchang, we went to the train station to wait for 

our 20 hour ride. We arrived at least an hour and a half early. 

There were so many people that we had to stand for the first 30 

minutes while we waited. We had people staring at us like never 

before. We humored ourselves by making the staring subjects feel very 

awkward. We would all turn towards one person who was obviously and 

rudely staring, and stare while talking. Most of the time they would 

get the hint or walk away for a while and come back. 
 
Boarding the train, there were 3 girls that got seats and 3 girls 

that got to have 'sleepers'. I was one of the girls to get the lucky 

top sleepers. The 3 of us had to deal with about 2 or 3 feet of 

space and climbing over the other 2 sleepers where people were 

already settled in and dozing. I am glad I am so small because it 

did not bother me to be squished in there. Although, 20 hours on a 

hard bed that I cannot sit up on, is still not comfortable and 

 blissful. 

Kim is taller than the rest of us and I have no idea how 

she fit on one of those beds. She said in the morning that she has 

never had claustrophobia except that night. Our saving grace was 

when people would leave, we could work our way to the bottom bunk 

with plenty of room and there were fold down seats by the windows 

that we could use when otherwise unoccupied.

Within the first few minutes we found out the great company we were 

in. Kim pointed out that across from her and on the bottom bunk, 

there was a man sleeping, his hands in cuffs around the stairs 

leading to the other sleepers above his. He moved from one bunk to 

another at some point and I am sure she got to be even closer to 

him. We now claim that Kim slept with a convict. It just makes for 

good conversation right?

Other than the convict, we had a little family that was very 

interested in the foreigners. Their baby was adorable! The man would 

try to talk to us in Chinese and we would tell him we did not 

understand. He laughed and would turn back to his family and talk 

about us to them. He stared continuously. It was strange but not as 

bad as the train station.

The train took us to Chengdu. We got there later in the day and 

after purchasing our ticket for our train out of Chengdu, we went 

straight to our hostel. The hostel was fantastic! I sometimes claim 

that I would come back to China just to stay in the Traffic Inn 

Hostel. It was clean, provided towels, had many showers to 

accommodate for more people staying there, had western toilets, had 

a nice little cafe where I ate a cheese sandwich one day and a 

banana split, and the people were entirely kind and trusting.

The hostel provided a van to get to the Sichuan opera. There was 

some singing but it was not like what most people would think of 

when they heard the word 'opera'. They did a few little skits, a 

puppet dance, quick clothes and mask changing, hand shadow show 

(probably my favorite part), and a man performing playing a Chinese 

instrument. We were all feeling exhausted when we went back to the 

hostel.

The next morning I woke up to find that the bus station next door 

would not give us tickets to our next destination, Kang Ding. We 

would have to find the other station after we attended sacrament 

meeting at one of the member's house.

Sacrament meeting was tremendous! 

I wrote this while I sat in their home listening to the 

teleconference from our branch, "couldn't fathom how I missed 

sacrament. How I missed being with the saints. I most of all, tried 

to block out those views because if I had thought too much about it, 

I would be more homesick, more sad, and more annoyed at our 

conditions. Here I am though, faced with the reality of how much it 

means. Here it is in front of me. All of us take upon ourselves a 

precious eternal name. Even the name of Jesus Christ do we take upon 

ourselves. The spirit is so strong. I am unworthy. I am a sinner and 

servant no better than the rest.

I don't want to leave. I want to mingle even after church meetings 

to see why they are here. How they do it. I want to know about the 

saints here. I want to feel of their beautiful spirits. Yet, we plan 

to leave early and my heart is torn. It's being pulled down and I 

don't want to say goodbye. This feels like a home. It is a home where 

the Spirit can dwell freely. Does that not make it a home for all? I 

want my home to always feel like that. If you walk in, my home is 

your home because of the Spirit. How can we leave our home so quickly 

and so bluntly? I do not want to. I cannot. I cannot without my heart 

being wretched out and a part of me left here. Even the children have 

a spirit about them that makes me miss my niece and nephews and soon 

to be nieces and nephews. It makes it even more like home for me.

The atonement is real! God loves us! Answers our prayers and blesses 

us for our faith. Always have faith. 

I knew we could not leave. Not so abruptly and for something where we 

are only taking a chance. We could have lost money and possibly had 

to find a way back at half way or more. We were going to go to a 

Tibet city (still in China) but a family tried to go only a couple of 

weeks ago and the bus got stopped by policemen. They had to get off 

and find a way back. Apparently it is easy to come back but a loss of 

money and time. We will probably stay in Chengdu and find things to 

do here. Our hostel is really nice and it is a big city. I am a 

little sad we could not fill our Tibet cultural experience as much 

but I think it will be worth it. It is just amazing to be in China!
 
Turns out, we just left later but we did take our chances and found 

ourselves on an 8 hour bus ride at about 3 pm. Let's just say, it 

was a whole new adventure and I'll write it as such [Soon ].