Beijing Day 6 and the Sunday after

Finally! I've gotten round to writing about the last day!

We had to be up early again (but not quite as early as the day before), pack, go down for breakfast, and be on the coach for something like 9am. It might have been earlier because we wanted to see Tiananmen Square before being at the airport for 1pm. Not all of the group came- some had left the night before and some decided to have a lie-in or have some quiet time.

This was the first time we'd driven through the city centre and it was really exciting to see all the different buildings and stuff. I was hoping to be able to see the new Olympic Stadium but we didn't :(

Anyway, here we are in Tiananmen Square! It was very big and very busy. I felt quite unnerved too knowing that there were secret police everywhere. It wasn't particularly exciting just standing in a square... but I'm glad I've been. I didn't remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre until Sharron was talking about how she remembers seeing it on TV back in the 80's.

Whilst we were at the square Joe and Gretl, very quickly and discreetly, filmed the Vine News for the next week. It was great seeing it on Sunday morning! After Tiananmen Square we went back to the Centre, had a quick debriefing, packed our cases onto the coach and went to the airport. I finally arrived home at about 9:00pm.

On the Sunday after we arrived home Jo and me went to the 11:30am Sunday service, and as we arrived Pastor John caught me and asked me if I'd give a short testimony about the mission trip! I hate public speaking. I don't normally shy away from it, but he was asking me to get on stage at the 11:30 in front of hundreds of people. I agreed anyway...and spent the time during worship worrying and writing down what to say. Finally Pastor Tony called us (and someone from the Thai mission trip) out and I did get on stage, although at one point I nearly sat down, and it was terrifying. I don't really remember what I said except at one point I had to just stop and breathe because my voice was really, really shaking.

So that's my first ever mission trip. And hopefully not my last! We were very lucky that we got to stay in comfort, with good food, and hot showers, and nice regular toilets (at the Centre anyway) and we got to meet some fantastic people.