Tina in China

Christmas in China was so incredible beyond description. It amazes me how even though I am in a country that doesn’t really celebrate Christmas the Christmas spirit is still here. People are so giving and loving and kind and that is what Christmas is all about. It was a perfect weekend and I am so thankful I had the opportunity of spending a Christmas in China. I was so wrong, it really was amazing.

Friday was my last day of classes. I had all 3 of my first grade classes and then my 5^th grade class in the afternoon. I was really worried about how the lesson would turn out and when I walked in to class and saw all of my little first graders dressed in Santa hats with a desk full of decorations I was just about as nervous as I was the very first day I walked in to teach. I was planning to just watch part of The Polar Express with them and then make reindeer pictures, but these kids were expecting an actual party! Orange said that for our last day we could just have a Christmas party with the children but I was totally unaware that they would bring all of this stuff for the fun and games that I was totally unprepared with. However, one talent that I have gained here in China is to be able to wing things last minute. So we did some HO HO HO’s and we waved tinsel in the air and decorated a little Christmas tree and we watched part of the Polar Express where Santa Claus flies away on his sleigh. They also gave me lots of presents and goodies and lots and lots of tinsel. I don’t know where the tinsel trend came from, but a lot of the kids would come up to me and put tinsel around my neck. When I got home from my first class Sara was sitting on my bed and when I walked in she looked at me and said, “You look like a Christmas Tree!” J It was adorable though. Then while they were making reindeer pictures I gave them each a small goodbye gift, a little Christmas card and a picture of me. I told them that today was my last day teaching them and that I was going home to America. I also told them that I would never forget them and I was giving them a picture of me so to please not forget me because I love them very much. As the translator was translating this, the kids got more quiet than I have ever heard them and the room was still. Then the kids lined up and I gave them each their present and a big hug. It was so sad and so sweet. They all gave me a huge hug and a lot of them would say things like “I love you Tina”, “Thank you Tina”, “Goodbye Tina” and that would make me cry. I will miss them so much.

In my fifth grade class we combined classes with Sara’s fourth graders and we had a huge party where we sat around the Christmas tree and sang Christmas songs and gave each other presents. Then we took lots and lots of pictures and I literally felt famous. There was a huge line of fourth and fifth graders waiting to take a picture with me and Orange would hurry them up to me and they would take a quick picture with me then the next person would hurry up. By the end my smile was hurting a lot! It was so fun though. I love them so much! It was all just so fun and a day that I was really stressed and worried about how it would go turned out perfectly.

That night my Yangzhong sisters and I performed our Jingle Bell Rock dance in front of probably a little over 2,000 people. Mekena and Marie’s school (the high school) had a teacher’s talent show that we were invited to be a part of. We had no idea how big of a deal this would be. There was a stage in a huge room with all of the seats filled. When we walked on stage everyone went wild and we seriously felt like we were the most famous people in the world as the crowd was cheering and bright lights were shining right on us in an otherwise dark room. During our performance a bubble machine started blowing bubbles on us and I don’t even know. It was so random and so funny and so amazing and we were so famous. They went nuts over our dance and we walked off the stage blowing lots of kisses to the audience. It was so much fun. Sara and I then came up with plans of how we are going to become actual famous people the next time we come to China. J

That night it we had an early Christmas Eve at our apartment since we knew that we would be in Nanjing on the actual Christmas Eve. So we had a little Christmas devotional together and sang Christmas songs and ate no bake cookies. Then we watched The Polar Express. The next morning we woke up early and opened presents! The way we did it was we all got small stocking stuffers for each other and at Thanksgiving we drew names for presents so we would get one present from somebody. We didn’t know who had us until that morning. So we went in by our Christmas tree and opened our stockings then we one by one revealed who had who and opened our present. Sara had me and she got me some really good smelling perfume and a bracelet she got in Hawaii for me to always wear to remember her. It was the best. She is so wonderful and I am going to miss her so much! It was a wonderful morning then we headed to Nanjing for the ward Christmas party.

Saturday was a wonderful Christmas Eve day. We had the ward Christmas party where we ate lots and lots of American food. We had ham and mashed potatoes, fruit salad, regular salad, rolls, corn, gravy, and so much yummy stuff that I have missed a lot these past four months! Then for dessert we had cheese cake which was absolutely wonderful. We then played games and had more chocolate and sweets and they filled us up with so much goodies that it really did feel like we were in America! J It was a great ward party. I will really miss our wonderful branch here in China. That night we stayed at a girls apartment that we met at Thanksgiving. She wasn’t there but let us stay in her dorm room at the University there in Nanjing. On the way to her apartment we got on the bus and sang Christmas carols! That was one of my favorite parts of the whole weekend. That night when we got to the dorm room all 6 of us squeezed on her bed which was quite the adventure. We stayed up talking about our Christmas memories and we were together wedged so tight on the bed that if anyone moved everyone else had to. But it was fun! J

Christmas day we woke up and went to church where we had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting. Then we watched the Christmas Devotional. After that they gave us yummy Cinnamen Rolls and we said our goodbyes to each other, including our amazing home teachers Ben and Josef who we will miss so much! J Sara and I left earlier than everyone else so that we could get back to celebrate that night with Orange and her family. I cried pretty much the whole way home because it really started hitting me that my life here in China is ending. It was so hard at the beginning and to tell the truth I really didn’t want to be here, but I can actually look back at all of the experiences I have had and see the steps that I have taken to grow to love this place so much and to love my friends here and to love the life that I am living here and it is sad to leave. This place and this experience has changed me so much and I have grown to love it for that. Above all I have seen the Lord’s hand in my life and for that I am eternally grateful. I love my Lord and Savior. He is my strength.

When Sara and I got back to Yangzhong we went to Orange’s parents house and walked in to a big feast with her entire family. The food was delicious! My Chinese mom is an amazing cook and I will miss going to her house to eat a lot! Then we opened presents together and took family pictures. I will miss my Chinese family. I am so extremely grateful that I had them here in China. When we got back to the school that night Sara and Orange gave me a present together. I opened it up and there in my hands was the adorable coat that I had wanted so badly but didn’t get because I couldn’t afford it. Sara and Orange had both pitched in and bought me it! I love it so much and am so excited to wear it home this week! J

It was a perfect Christmas, full of so much love. I can’t believe that I leave China to go home on Friday. It has been quite the adventure and I am so glad that I did it! Looking back I can still remember how I felt before I came, I was so scared and devastated to leave, but I knew it was my only option. I had to come. The Lord made that so clear that this is what I needed to do that I couldn’t back out and not do it. I can still remember how I worked all summer knowing that every penny I earned was going towards a trip that I was so extremely scared to take. I can still remember how I felt when I boarded that plane and pulled out of the airport in Salt Lake City and knew I was leaving home and everything familiar… and how I felt when the plane landed in Beijing. I can still remember my first day arriving in Yangzhong and seeing for the first time the place I would have to make my home for 4 months. I can still remember how I felt the first day I walked in to class in front of all of those adorable students. I can still remember the steps since then that have made me change so much to where even though I remember all of those times I am not the same person anymore. I can still remember how unbearable I even felt a month and a half ago that I would have to spend Thanksgiving and the Holiday season without my family. I can see the Lord’s hand and why I needed the full and complete four months here in China. And now that I have done four months I am thinking, what would be another four months? J When I got on the plane that wet summer day four months ago and I was pulling out of the Salt Lake airport I wrote in my journal, “The strength and courage to be on this plane right now has come from a loving Heavenly Father. Without prayer I would not be on this plane right now. It is because the Lord atoned for me and understands me and what I need so fully and completely that I am at this point in my life taking this adventure. I know this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life. Even though I am so scared, I know I am not alone.”

I love China. Thank you Daddy for helping me to come. I will always be so grateful. See you Friday! :)