Who would picture the conclusion to our day by a pool? It dumped rain on the way down to San Fransisco. Our hotel appears to be attached to the Beijing Buffet, which was the first sign in Chinese characters we have encountered. On a game of follow-the-leader around the campus of our hotel here in San Fran, we also came across a Chinese soft drink can!

Everything about today--from dinner at IHOP to our quiet time as a group to the polar pool plunge taken before bed in the hotel pool-- confirmed the word I think characteristic of our team: joy. Ashley Arteburn and Kaylee Bingham fit righr in!

Highlights from Tonight's talk:
In anticipation of our pearl tour in China, we talked about turning sources of irritation into pearls.

Some words to describe our feelings:
Awe, peace, buzzing, stunned, elated, overjoyed, happy, nervous, scattered.

Mr. Suetos gave us two words for the trip:
Servant and others. We talked about ways we can embody those with actions.

Goals for the trip include:
Learning from eachother, enjoying future friends who await our arrival, finding more fulfillment in the relationships we build than in seeing the Great Wall. We seek a cllearer picture of how much we really do have, a point from which to compare our worldview and our standard of living. We anticipate the joy that comes outside our comfort zone, leaving thought of preference and self behind. We also look forward to appreciating their sense of humor.

We want to watch for cartoon moments to help us appreciate the humor of this trip.
Fears, if we confess them to eachother as they arise, will not hold power for long.

The guys look forward to sampling new cuisine: honey-dipped scorpions, chicken feet, silk worm pupas...we picture that scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: "what is this?" "monkey brain!" or "I would like a hot dog--not literally!"

At the moment, it is tuesday morning at SFO. We just got our passports from Mr. Sturley and now await the checkin to china air!