Sorry it has taken me weeks to finally get around to writing about my amazing missions trip to China. It has been a crazy month since being home. I'm on bedrest now due to mouth surgery to get all 4 wisdom teeth out, so I figured what better time than now to catch up?! Alright, here goes!
This was a very long but very exciting day. My flight left at 5AM, so I had to get up quite early. My parents and I stayed in Bismarck with some friends from our church that recently moved there. I was able to fly with one of my leaders, Aimee, because, surprisingly enough, she is from Bismarck! We flew from Bismarck to Minneapolis, then from Minneapolis to Newark.
We arrived at 10:41AM. The nice thing about flying out so early is then you arrive to your destination before the day has barely begun! When we arrived, the only other person from our team there was the main leader Wendy. She works for ShowHope and led the team last year. Aimee was just a normal part of the team last year (such as myself this year) then she applied for this years trip and Wendy asked her to help her lead. We had lunch at our hotel (a very nice Holiday Inn that conveniently had a shuttle to/from the airport) It was nice to get some one on one (or two on one) time with just my leaders. They are very nice and interesting ladies.
Everyone else's flights' trickled in throughout the afternoon and night. I bonded instantly with a few of the girls. We were giggling and laughing like we were old friends in no time! I was so blessed and thankful for that. It is so out of my character to go somewhere on my own, not knowing anyone. I usually am with more outgoing and upfront friends and tend to rely on them to carry conversations and whatnot. Here I had to hold my own, and it was so easy and I loved it! I wasn't some over the top loud mouth, but me and the other girls just jumped into conversations and I felt instantly comfortable.
We had an team orientation supper that night, then were free to do whatever. We each had one roommate with whom we shared a hotel room. Our whole group -minus leaders and a few people whos flights were delayed - gathered in one of the hotel rooms and just hung out. We were laughing so hard at random things. It was a lot of fun! We headed back to our rooms to get some sleep.
No one was very focused on taking pictures on the first day but this is one someone got of Hannah and myself. She is from Washington and possibly the sweetest girls I've ever met! We got along so well and we thought it was pretty cool that our hair was the same color and amount of curliness!
