On Sunday we went to church. There is an English speaking branch here Guangzhou. It was pretty small, maybe 20 people. We are here during the summer holiday and most people were gone. I guess there are a lot of English teachers that work here during the school year and travel home for visits during the holidays.
Sacrament meeting was 45 minutes and then there was a second meeting that was 45 minutes. At the Sacrament meeting they said during the holiday it was "self service" and any help would be appreciated.
Since Will was on Dave's lap for the whole meeting I said I'd take him to primary with me to see if I could help there. If Dave is not in sight Will is happy to be with me, but if he thinks there's a choice.... Dave every time.
The church was held in rented conference rooms at the Ramada hotel. So I took the boys to the primary room, a couple of conference rooms down and Dave stayed in the first room for a combine relief society and priesthood meeting.
As I left, William reached for dad and cried for about 30 seconds then was fine. Me and the boys went to primary and sat in the first row. I told the primary president I'd be happy to help. There were 8 kids. The president asked me to lead the music. I lead the music for about 10 minutes, then it was time for sharing time.
It was a great lesson about the 10 leapers and gratitude. Then the kids had a chance to color. And before you knew it 90 minutes was up and we were catching a taxi back to. The hotel.
We met some nice people there. There was a nice family who just arrived for a 3 or 4 year stint working for the US Consolate. The family had 5 kids and was Maryland. They had lived an a few exotic places.
Dave also met a brother that was moving to Nanning. He said when he was there he attended church online. There is a "virtual branch" that meets each Sunday throughout China. I hadn't heard of that before.
So, Sunday was a great day. Honestly it was almost like we were at home. Spencer and Jacob got a little antsy and on each other's nerves... So it was just like home.
Monday was another free day. There is a huge... HUGE 8 level shopping and entertainment complex right next to our hotel. So we planned to see movie. However we didn't see any family movies and the boys saw an arcade right when the elevator opened on the 7th floor. Jacob gasped and ran towards it.
So, the morning was spent at the arcade. I think the boys had fun, but it was really warm and by the time we left everyone was feeling kind of wilty.
There was a grocery store in the basement, so we grabbed some supplies and and ice cream cone on the way back to our hotel. We had noodles for lunch. We have had noodles almost every day and Spencer informed me he's getting tired of noodles.... Wait until your college years young friend.
The afternoon was spent on minecraft and star control. A perfect fun and relaxing day. We finished it with dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. Our local is ideal, we are surrounded by everything we could ever want or need.
Today should be a great day. We complete Will's citizenship process (until it becomes official when we touch ground o American soil.) Then off to Shaiman Island and gift shopping.
Can't hardly wait. We gave 2 1/2 days left in Guangzhou. One day closer to home.
1 comment:
What a great couple of days, and seriously, who doesn't love a good arcade???
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