another week of grace

wow! this week was amazing...complete with so much more than i can describe! but i will attempt what little i can adequately describe. we stayed two nights this week in a small hotel and one night in a villagers home who was more than gracious, even bordering on annoying. but all the more he showed how to be generous...i can use that lesson...its sad and convicting that you can learn of generousity and service from a people who know nothing of our provider...humbling to say the least. we began last week eating dinner cooked by a nice lady with a baby, whom she breast fed on several occassions throughout the night with no hesitation... humorous to watch others reactions...it was a meal dad, mom and jody would love...fried cabbage, rice, la jiao(ground peppers in water), and tofu(dofu in chinese)...we were just thankful for some fill. we stayed in a hotel that night and the next day we traveled a really long way to the villagers home that progressed from a brief visit to a day and a half visit. we just sat around the house on little stools (of which i hope to construct when i return) watching his kids throw their pet owls on their dog's back...accompanied also by tying a massive flying beetle to a string and watching it fly around and make the dog really mad...hilarious...sidenote: all the dogs here look the same...most are like aunt lesa's dog (joe frank) except without the curly tail...for others who arent my family i cannot really describe it adequately. this nice fella was a city police officer, but perhaps not the most honest of them all. he told us we must stay and eat dinner and then he would walk us to town, because he had to go to work anyway...so, he dressed up in his camo fatigues and sat down and smoked like 17 packs of cigarettes before dinner and watched his kids with us...he was so chill...well it ends up bro does not go to work that night but does in face keep his camo on...hilarious...the next morning we rise late (about 945) and climb down the ladder (a house built "little house on the prairie" style, except with a chinese twist) only to have him tell us we need to sit and rest and eat...none of which we needed at that point...but we succumbed...we finally left the village and he walked with us half way down to the next town and then stopped, which leads us to believe he was neither going to work nor was he a cop...also humorous.

i apologize for the length of that story...i will try to keep them shorter for your times sake...an element here that is not held in high regard...time.

leaving the village on wed. we got what we needed from the next town without much complication but definitely with much attention, complete with a basketball shoot around and lots of kids.

from there we took a bus back to the first town and slept in a hotel. we got up at 515 on thurs morning and took a long boat ride up river to our last town...the boat ride was spectacular, complete with a few fellas who enjoy the 630am pot smoke...make your own mental picture if you wish...

the end of last week was uneventful...we were given grace enough to get plenty of info from the last town and then we took a solid two hour bus ride home.

sorry if this was too much info...i will prolly not do this again...i apologize also for the grammer errors, i know they are numerous.

i will do my best to leave a separate blog for pr requests...thanks so much for all your effort on our behalf

allison smith you are amazing!!! like you are so tight!
megan so are you!
tbomb and mikey yall are dudes that im so blessed to know...i trust this finds yall deep in your swords!

in too much grace

jon