Welcome to church

Just when i think i cant get any sweatier

Or dirtier

Or happier

God proves me wrong.

He's funny like that.

Overall today was good.

Today is Sunday.

And surprisingly there is a church here in Chenzhou.

Its all in Chinese

But its still a church.

We headed to the orphanage at the same time as always.

The director told us that we could bring the school kids to church with us!

When we first got to the orphanage the kids were wild!

Like really wild!

Steve, our translator had to tell them to calm down.

Finally the 12 of us, plus the seven kids from school, plus two eight year old boys, plus three three year olds, plus a nine year old, PLUS two nannies, headed for church.

If people stared at us Americans before, they definitely stared at us now!

Church was interesting.

We headed up to the balcony where there weren't as many people.

When we got there everyone was singing.

They finished and a lady got up and started saying something.

Suddenly the whole congregation was waving at us, clapping, and chanting something.

Steve told us to stand up while they clapped.

It was a repeat of last years church visit!

Church was pretty nice at first.

Until we noticed the heat.

Or until the kids started getting wild again.

It was SO hot in there.

So much sweat.

We were soaked with sweat by the end.

When we stood up from the pews the seats were wet.

It was pretty gross.

We tried keeping the kids busy by feeding them lollipops and fruit snacks and having them color in coloring books.

But by the end they were getting crazy.

We had to leave before church was over.

But the experience was still good.

After church we headed back to the orphanage for lunch.

Except we had an hour before lunch would be ready.

We tried keeping the kids entertained with fruit loops and playing games but by the end of the hour they were out of control!

We ate in the same room we did yesterday.

Lunch was so good!!

Apparently Steve told them what we liked because they made all of our favorite foods!

The kids sat at their little table again, Gracie continued to wave at me the whole meal.

After lunch the school kids had to leave to go back to school.

We said our goodbyes and they all headed for the bus which would take them to the school.

Including Gracie.

Since we were at the orphanage so long this morning we wouldn't get to have our time in the afternoon like we normally did.

So instead we had a prayer time at the hotel for awhile and then headed to PIZZA HUT!!

We had to ride the bus there, which was an experience i cant explain. So you'll just have to come to China and try it for yourself.

Pizza Hut in China is a fancy sit down restaurant.

It took forever to explain to Steve that in America we only eat pizza.

We don't eat it with salad and pasta and chicken and soup.

He was so confused.

One of the funniest things that happened was we saw a dessert on some peoples table and so we asked Steve what it was.

He said "it is cola on the bottom with chocolate icecream in the middle and butter cheese on the top"

After awhile we figured out that he meant whipped cream not butter cheese!

It was a lot of fun!

We were all so stuffed after pizza.

It was good to finally have some American food!

Another good day.

Crazy day, but good day.

Thanks for all the prayers!