Respect

Our trip to Tibet was awesome! =) God is sooooo cool! The first couple of days the whole family went up to Dali for a 3 day, mini-vacation. =) Then Jason, Amanda, and I set out for the border with no set plans and not even knowing where we were going to sleep each night. It was lots of fun!

We first drove up to Shangrila (10hr bus ride) and spent the night there. We were able to skype Felicia one last time for the week and talk about our expectations for the week. The next day we drove to De Qin (11hr bus ride-the road was really rough; dirt road with large pot holes!) We stayed in Felasi and met 4 Israeli non-believing Jews who we got to minister to and encourage all week. (Matan & Mor, and Nitzan & Merav) They were going hiking over Yubeng Mountain to the remote village of Yubeng, so we decided to join them. It was the hardest hike of my entire life!!!! It took us 3 1/2 hrs of vertical climbing at 12,000ft to get to the top. And 1 1/2 hrs to go down. The view was incredible! Especially because we were staring at the 24,000ft mountains covered in glaciers that border Tibet.

Since the village is just a place to stay for tourists who go to see the natural wonders (10hr hike to the ice lake and 5hr hike to the waterfall), not many people get to know the Tibetans who live in Yubeng. But that was what we came for! So we spent three days in Yubeng hanging out with Ading and his wife Gesang (23yrs and 22yrs old), ShuShu (Gesang's uncle), NaiNai (grandmother), and Gesang's little brother. We mostly spent time in their kitchen; encouraging them, loving on them, praying for them, and teaching them English. We told Asing and Gesang that most people came to see the natural land marks because they thought that they were beautiful, but we came to see the people. We think that they are beautiful because they are made in the image of God. I'm not sure they understood completely, but God will continue the work we were able to help start in their hearts. They were very sad when we had to leave and wanted us to stay forever. =) One morning we even got to eat breakfast with them because we wanted to honor them. We had Tibetan bread, pickled spicy veggies, chunks of pig fat, and yak butter tea. It was quite an experience!

We hiked down to the river one afternoon and had a worship time on a huge rock in the middle of the roaring river. It was the best moment of my entire life! Who all can say they got to worship the creator of the universe on a rock in the middle of a powerful river in the middle of the Himalayas? =) Amanda got to talk to Merav a lot and was able to talk about spiritual things with her. It was a great time of encouragement for Merav as well as planting seeds in her heart! Amanda and Jason also got to play basketball with Tibetans. And I got to hold a little Tibetan 5mo old baby! He was so precious! A grandmother even was cracking up as she passed us one afternoon, pointing to our legs, expanding her hands, grinning from ear to ear, saying something in Chinese over and over again. Jason busted out laughing......the lady was saying, "You're so fat! You're so fat!" Haha....it was the first time being called fat was a good thing!

One thing that really stuck out to me was the temples and shrines to the different gods as well as Buddha. The temples and shrines are covered in valuable objects, glittering gold, fabrics of every color, artifacts, wealth, beauty, gems, precious objects, beautiful architecture, colors, lights, smells, sounds, food, and utter silence and reverence from the people who come to worship. I'm still sobered by the fact that humans have that much respect for a god made of wood and metal, and yet we don't outwardly show any respect for the I AM. They decorate the inside so ornately and yet we are so easily able to disrespect the Creator of the Universe, the creator of the mountains I was surrounded by 14,000ft above sea level. Why do we as humans respect a demon and disrespect the Eternal One? Why do we offer our best to an idol, and yet half-way give ourselves to God? What happened to our respect and honor? What happened to our devotion? Why have we downplayed Jesus so much? Are we any different humans than these? And the true God is so much more worthy of all our honor, respect, and worship!!!! We should be even more radical than these! God help us! Have mercy on us and cause us to be a shining lamp to people all over China and all over the world!

 Buddha

 Buddhist prayer wheel

 Buddhist temple

Check out more pictures from our trip on my facebook page! If you don't have a facebook, email me and I'll send you a link. Blessings!