All the Sheep in the Fold

One by one the team arrive and begin their China journey. Some planes arrive early and the team member has to wait for us to arrive at the airport to get them. Some arrive late and we wait for them.

One team member’s plane landed many hours later than anticipated, and though he assured us he could find his own way, his taxi circled the university for quite a while before he finally called in at 5 AM. A quick run down to the lobby with the phone found someone who could communicate in Chinese to the taxi driver, and that sheep was in the fold.

Today we took those who had gathered to the international church, enjoyed the singing and worship, and then took off for yet another airport run. The four at church had instructions to meet us at the Hard Rock Café for lunch.

Hopping in the taxi we realized our grandson’s favorite toy could get us to the airport! “Fei-jee chen” we said (airplane place), and the taxi driver nodded his head and held up fingers to determine which terminal we wanted. We went to Three, but should have gone to Two. It’s relatively impossible for us to phone ahead and find out when or where a plane will land. But there’s a shuttle from Three to Two, and we secured our team member in good order.

Hopping another taxi we headed to Hard Rock, only to find it was closed because of a wedding reception in progress. We inquired of the two young women at the door if three tall Americans and one short Chinese man had come. No, no sign of them. The same girls suggested a good Italian restaurant in the next plaza. We phoned our team members, but their phone was turned off.

We sat on a wall and watched the world go by. And decided that we had a seat, shade, a bright clear day, and water in our hands. Life was good.

Eventually we began to walk toward the direction our teammates should have been coming from and lo, on the horizon, there were three tall Americans and one short Chinese man. Hailing them, we connected. They had stopped at the Italian restaurant to get directions to Hard Rock, but thought the Italian place looked great. We, barred from Hard Rock, were headed to Italian.

One cool and delightful meal later, we headed out to the subway and found our way back to the hotel. Three more team members had arrived and been picked up by university administrators.

One more tonight, one tomorrow, and all the sheep will be in the fold.