Day 10 ~ Saturday 8/5 ~ Hike & Goodbye

We started the day off early once again for a big hike with students up the highest mountain in Luxian. I think for comparison purposes, it would be like hiking to the top of Lookout Mountain from the bottom … we started out on our adventure right from the school and walked through the streets of the city to the base of the hill, walked up the road, then hiked the final part that was just walking paths.

It was a wonderful opportunity to really connect while we walked with those students who had grown very special to us over the previous week. Dennis & Bill, our Colorado team’s special guys that we met on Sunday at the government building before the camp even started, were able to connect with each of us at some point in a meaningful and special way. I am certain that Dennis heard the full story of how Jesus Christ has changed our lives in many different ways.

Before we left for China, my dear neighbor Julie purchased beautiful cross coins for me, and on my last day during this hike from 9am to noon, I was able to give them to people who I had developed a very special connection. I shared with them that I hoped that when they looked at the coin they would be reminded of my love for them and Jesus love for them and how both loves were forever. These were particularly touching moments … Those people who specially connected with my heart are:

Dennis ~ Here I will re-type the letter he gave me, word for word with all the original spellings and grammer so that you can both read from his heart as well as see the strength of his English:

“It’s very difficult for me to say “Good-bye”. I’m so sad to do it. Although you’ll leave, you stay in my heart. It’s my pleasure to know you and be your best friend. I’ll miss you. I’ll get in touch with you and Ryan on the Internet. I’ll send e.mail to you regularly and I’ll look forward to receiving your e.mail. Maybe I’ll travell to the USA and I’ll call you then. I’ll have a good time with you and your family someday. I’ll visit your family, visit your house, visit your dogs. Maybe you can visit China again. And I’m not in Sichuan and maybe we can meet each other again in Beijing (our capital city) or in Shanghai (the most developed city in China).

“And I’ll share happiness and sorrow with you. Do you want to help me when I am in trouble. Would you like to encourage me when I’m not strong. Can you remember my name, my looking and my smile. Please allow me to answer them instead of you. “Of course!” “Sure, I would like to!” “Absolutely!!” I believe you can do it.

“Bring my best wishes to the other friends. I LOVE them, too. They are all my best friends. Tyson, Steve, Erik, Meagan, Brittany, P.D., Ryan, Brian, and another girl I forget her name. Please be in touch with me. I’ll be your best friends forever.

“My Phone number: 0832 _________ ……. Cellphone number: 13989 _________ …… Luxian No. 2 high school, Class _________ …..

"Dennis"

Happy ~ A very sad departure ...

And I will add more pictures and stories about

Lizzie, Bill, Sherry, Achilles, Ivy, Christina, Martin, Lisa

and a few others soon!

After our awesome hike with students that was full of meaningful sharing, our time had grown to an end and good-byes could no longer be avoided.

We were bussed from Luxian to Chengdu for an evening arrival. The girls switched up roommates and my roommate Megan joined with Brittany, and Brit’s roommate Melissa joined with me. It was so fun getting to know Melissa and we had a great time together for the rest of our trip. Her favorite is Mickey Mouse, so we programmed Dave’s Disney talk about from Goofy to Mickey for the whole trip so as we chatted back and forth, she had “Hi ya’ pal” Mickey and I had “Hi there” Daisy Duck with the “uh-huh” chaser (if you’ve camped with us, you know what I mean!)

We walked a bit after a beautiful dinner with Richard and Peter from Hua Mei through the times square of Chengdu as four of us had the energy to get an ice cream before tumbling into bed. We also poked into the Nike store to find that the prices were extremely comparable to the US with the discounts we had seen on all the other products in China.

But none of that activity could take away
the pain in our hearts from having left Luxian this day ...