We recently had a lovely and encouraging visit from some Canadian friends who live in a nearby city. They are new; among the various stories and tales we told there was a bit about being happy and content in good living conditions, or not so good living conditions. The day after they left we received a message from the school: We are moving you to another apartment, and you need to do it in a week. What?! We went and looked at the other apartment and compared to the one we first moved into, it was a mess. Dirty, full of broken furniture, and missing important items that the contract stipulated would be provided. Saying, “NO” rarely works in China, so it is better to decide on how far you might bend, then start bargaining from there. “Bargaining when there is a contract??” It is true, that is how things are done here.

Long story short, we agreed to move but only after the school had improved the next place and included the missing appliances. We heard the expected, “But move now and we will get those things for you in the next few days.” IF they actually went through with it, it would involve an unknown number of weeks of us waiting, patiently, then reminding them, hearing “Oh, tomorrow!”, then more waiting, until we either give up, or they live up to the contract.



So it has been a stressful week, compounded by the fact that we also had bought train tickets and hotels for 10 days in Urumqi. We leave tomorrow.
The word from the school has been that they still want us to move “within a week”, the end of which would be tomorrow. That is the day we leave on the train. We have packed up alot anyway. But the apartment also is not ready. So we don’t expect that it will actually be ready since we saw them start the work yesterday afternoon. BUT, we would not be surprised if they break into our apartment and move everything while we are gone.

So a few prayer requests:
A) That our stress decreases as we lean on our loving Father who has all of this in control;
B) That the school won’t be sneaky and move us;
C) and that if they do, that nothing will be broken or stolen;
D) That Michelle and I can set a good example for Liberty and Van when it comes to attitudes, and trust, and being content.