Well, hello everyone.
It has been quite the journey since I last posted and I have much to catch everyone up on...but, oh, the adventure has been incredible. God has been SO good to me and I am continually amazed as I unwrap and discover more and more of His blessings in my life.
Last I wrote I was on my way to Yangshuo with Mom and Emily. The time there was awesome...probably the coolest location of my trip. From there we went to Beijing for three days where we visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, and the Temple of Heaven. I will post later about all of that and share some great pics and videos.
After Beijing was the craziest most intense travelling segment of my life. It was CRAZY. In 51 hours I would be in 4 countries and 5 flights, and I wouldn't spend a night anywhere because of the international dateline...just on the go 24/7 except for on the airplane.
I left Beijing at 8:45 AM to fly straight to Hong Kong where I would have 12 hours to explore the city...which I was pumped about. But, apparently, there was a mega storm (aka tropical storm) going through south China and Hong Kong as we arrived over head so after circling for an hour our pilot took off for the city of Guangzhou, just an hour train from HK, so it was really close. Literally, just as we where about to touch down on the runway the pilot took off...straight up and hit the acceleration, which freaked everyone out. There was crazy turbulence and it was pretty scary. The storm was really bad there as well, so we flew another hour and a half to Guilin, the same place we had flown into to go to Yangshuo. That entire escapade took about 6 hours, instead of 3. Then, we had to wait on the tarmac for 2 hours...frustrating. Especially since I was one of the only foreigners on the plane and everyone was speaking Chinese...I had no clue what was going on. I REALLY missed Emily at that point in time.
Finally we took off for Hong Kong and arrived after circling the airport for another hour. It was a very bumpy ride, and I was just happy to land and get my feet on the ground. All in all, 10 hour trip. So my 12 hours in Hong Kong diminished rapidly...but I knew God had a reason for it all so I didn't let that get me down. And Hong Kong was AMAZING! Incredible city. I want to go back there right now.
After HK I flew to Seoul, South Korea for a 8 hour layover and went in to the city to see the 2002 World Cup stadium. I was pretty exhausted in Seoul so I didn't do as much. Then I hopped on my flight to Los Angeles which was 11 hours. But Korean Air was so lush...amazing airline to fly for a long trip. Watched four movies, ate great meals, complimentary wine...was loving it. I will post about HK and SK later and share my pics and videos from there as well.
In LA I had about an hour and a half once I got through customs. So I left the airport to find In-and-Out Burger. Unfortunately, I made the wrong turn and went down the street the wrong way and ran out of time...I was super bummed. That was probably the low light of the 51 hour journey. I had to settle for some McDonalds from the airport. Poopy. I flew from LA to Charlotte with beautiful views of the Grand Canyon. It was so nice to see REAL blue sky again and be around all English speakers. Though, it was pretty funny that I sat next to a guy from Malaysia who had flown from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong to LA just that day as well. The one Asian guy on the plane was sitting next to me...pretty funny. In Charlotte my plane got delayed a bit, but we finally took off and landed in Chattanooga in an hour, around midnight last Friday.
My buddy Joel picked me up and took me back to my new apartment in Chattanooga. I slept there that night (on the couch because I still have no bed) and slept well. The next day was the first day of my new job working with North Shore Fellowship, my church in Chattanooga, as their new youth director guy. Still don't know my actual title, but I am the full time youth guy at the church. And my first day was taking the Junior High kids to camp up at Covenant College...ironic. God really has a sense of humor. I just can't seem to get away from that place. But it was a really good week with the kids. I am really excited about my job and the next couple of years I will have to work and invest there.
That brings me to today. I am finally unpacking all my boxes and rearranging all my stuff. God has been doing in lot in my life and I look forward to discovering more of what He has for me as I try to follow Him earnestly and faithfully. And I look forward to sharing that all with you as time goes by and I enter into this new phase of my life. God is most worthy to be praised! It is ringing so clearly in my ears. I look forward to posting more about my trip shortly and sharing with you all the grand adventure God allowed me to be a part of...the longer this summer has gone by the more I have realized that His plans for me this summer were not to just discover a new culture and people and land, but really to rediscover myself and my identity in Christ. Who I am is so tightly bound into who He is...what a joyous rediscovery!
God bless!
-b garrison
It has been quite the journey since I last posted and I have much to catch everyone up on...but, oh, the adventure has been incredible. God has been SO good to me and I am continually amazed as I unwrap and discover more and more of His blessings in my life.
Last I wrote I was on my way to Yangshuo with Mom and Emily. The time there was awesome...probably the coolest location of my trip. From there we went to Beijing for three days where we visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, and the Temple of Heaven. I will post later about all of that and share some great pics and videos.
After Beijing was the craziest most intense travelling segment of my life. It was CRAZY. In 51 hours I would be in 4 countries and 5 flights, and I wouldn't spend a night anywhere because of the international dateline...just on the go 24/7 except for on the airplane.
I left Beijing at 8:45 AM to fly straight to Hong Kong where I would have 12 hours to explore the city...which I was pumped about. But, apparently, there was a mega storm (aka tropical storm) going through south China and Hong Kong as we arrived over head so after circling for an hour our pilot took off for the city of Guangzhou, just an hour train from HK, so it was really close. Literally, just as we where about to touch down on the runway the pilot took off...straight up and hit the acceleration, which freaked everyone out. There was crazy turbulence and it was pretty scary. The storm was really bad there as well, so we flew another hour and a half to Guilin, the same place we had flown into to go to Yangshuo. That entire escapade took about 6 hours, instead of 3. Then, we had to wait on the tarmac for 2 hours...frustrating. Especially since I was one of the only foreigners on the plane and everyone was speaking Chinese...I had no clue what was going on. I REALLY missed Emily at that point in time.
Finally we took off for Hong Kong and arrived after circling the airport for another hour. It was a very bumpy ride, and I was just happy to land and get my feet on the ground. All in all, 10 hour trip. So my 12 hours in Hong Kong diminished rapidly...but I knew God had a reason for it all so I didn't let that get me down. And Hong Kong was AMAZING! Incredible city. I want to go back there right now.
After HK I flew to Seoul, South Korea for a 8 hour layover and went in to the city to see the 2002 World Cup stadium. I was pretty exhausted in Seoul so I didn't do as much. Then I hopped on my flight to Los Angeles which was 11 hours. But Korean Air was so lush...amazing airline to fly for a long trip. Watched four movies, ate great meals, complimentary wine...was loving it. I will post about HK and SK later and share my pics and videos from there as well.
In LA I had about an hour and a half once I got through customs. So I left the airport to find In-and-Out Burger. Unfortunately, I made the wrong turn and went down the street the wrong way and ran out of time...I was super bummed. That was probably the low light of the 51 hour journey. I had to settle for some McDonalds from the airport. Poopy. I flew from LA to Charlotte with beautiful views of the Grand Canyon. It was so nice to see REAL blue sky again and be around all English speakers. Though, it was pretty funny that I sat next to a guy from Malaysia who had flown from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong to LA just that day as well. The one Asian guy on the plane was sitting next to me...pretty funny. In Charlotte my plane got delayed a bit, but we finally took off and landed in Chattanooga in an hour, around midnight last Friday.
My buddy Joel picked me up and took me back to my new apartment in Chattanooga. I slept there that night (on the couch because I still have no bed) and slept well. The next day was the first day of my new job working with North Shore Fellowship, my church in Chattanooga, as their new youth director guy. Still don't know my actual title, but I am the full time youth guy at the church. And my first day was taking the Junior High kids to camp up at Covenant College...ironic. God really has a sense of humor. I just can't seem to get away from that place. But it was a really good week with the kids. I am really excited about my job and the next couple of years I will have to work and invest there.
That brings me to today. I am finally unpacking all my boxes and rearranging all my stuff. God has been doing in lot in my life and I look forward to discovering more of what He has for me as I try to follow Him earnestly and faithfully. And I look forward to sharing that all with you as time goes by and I enter into this new phase of my life. God is most worthy to be praised! It is ringing so clearly in my ears. I look forward to posting more about my trip shortly and sharing with you all the grand adventure God allowed me to be a part of...the longer this summer has gone by the more I have realized that His plans for me this summer were not to just discover a new culture and people and land, but really to rediscover myself and my identity in Christ. Who I am is so tightly bound into who He is...what a joyous rediscovery!
God bless!
-b garrison
