beyond the green

This adventure is drawing to a close and the students are tired but still in good spirits. They continue to work well together, engaging in conversation with each other, exhibiting kindness, putting individual needs aside for the needs of the group. They… more »

Something that is exciting when traveling is the idea of being able to experience and try new things, especially food. A memory that I will bring back from Africa was our traditional Zulu dinner. We had sweet potatoes, some type of a root, tripe (cows… more »

Today we travelled to Maletsunyane Falls arguably the most beautiful place in all of Lesotho. Approaching the falls the landscape seems plain with rolling hills and small mountainous outcrops. Only until we were right on top on it did we see the deep… more »

"I'm beginning to think the best things in the world come at the end of dirt roads." Says Bill as we round the corner for our stay at the hot springs. Our first re-encounter with first world, consumeristic life. It was glorious to eat whatever I wante… more »

I began this trip open minded, not expecting anything, but hoping for everything. Hoping to experience as much as I could, though I was blind to depth of what these experiences may be. Now that this trip is near its end, I have time to reflect on my j… more »

One thing that has stood out to me during our stay in Lesotho/ South Africa is how welcoming the people are, and how they incorporate song into their lives. The first afternoon that we were at Tlokoeng, the women of the village took many of us girls a… more »

  One of the great things at Bethel College is the commitment to service and the love for a little place called Camp Mennoscah.  I’m sure you won’t be on campus long without seeing someone with a Mennoscah t-shirt, or hear a story that begins “last sum… more »

We are nearing the end of this first Bethel College Interterm adventure in China!  After a little extra sleep, we enjoyed another fine buffet breakfast at our comfortable Longmen Hotel. Then it was on the bus for our international departure point, Shangh… more »

This was our last full day in Shanghai—and the last day of our China Interterm adventure! We were met as scheduled in GM’s modern office block by a lady who showed us a scale model of GM’s facilities at this location and, to our pleasure and surprise… more »

This was a day of sightseeing—our destination was Suzhou, located about 100 miles SW of Suzhou (“Su”-“fish, rice and grass”; “zhou”—“state” or “city”) is a booming city of 7 million with a history of some 2,000 years. It was mentioned by Marco Polo in re… more »

Our visit this morning was the Shanghai Stock Exchange located across the Huangpu River in the city's ultra-modern financial sector. We were met by our host for the visit, Mr. Jackie Liu, Senior Manager, Global Business Development, who informed us that… more »

When we are not working in the fields, helping Neal with his research or weeding, our time at the mission is relatively free. Over the past week I have found joy in this down time. After a hot morning of work, a few of us walked down to the river th… more »

Our business visit this morning took us eastward across the Huangpu River on a 45-minute drive to Pudong’s business district. Of Shanghai’s 23 million residents, about 13 mn live west of the river (Puxi) and 10 mn on the eastern side (Pudong). Travel acr… more »

On Thursday January 12, Neal, Bill, 5 other students and I traveled up the valley to set up research plots on some fields there. We drove in as far as we could and then hiked in 4.5 miles to a village where several famers live. It is located where the… more »

In Maphutseng, we have been staying at the Growing Nations Training Center. While here, we have spent most of our mornings out in the fields. We like working from 6am to 1pm best because then we get our afternoons and evenings off. The work that the m… more »

Traveling through Lesotho has been quite an adventure.  And it takes a lot of time.  If you look at Lesotho on a map, it seems small, someone said it was comparable in size to Maryland.  However, it takes hours for us to get where we need to go.  Many… more »

I came on this trip expecting to only take about one shower per week. I especially expected it to be that way in the village where there was no running water or electricity. However, this expectation was quickly changed as Megan Siebert and I woke up t… more »

After a good sleep in Shanghai's fine Long Men ("Dragon Gate") Hotel and a great breakfast buffet, we boarded our bus for the 30-minute drive to one Shanghai's great tourist attractions, the Shanghai Museum. Opened in 1994 to rave reviews by the world's… more »

It was another 24-course breakfast in Puyang before boarding the bus for the 160-mile drive to Zhengzhou where we would board bullet train D284 for Shanghai.Just prior to departure, Mr. Li Da Qing, General Secretary of the Daming church, boarded our bus… more »

After a nice buffet breakfast, we drove a few miles through heavy AM rush hour traffic in search of an easy access to the Dong Guan Church. It was built in 1917 by Mennonite missionaries and for the next several years served as the “mother church” of mis… more »

This was the day we would make a round trip to/from Daming, about 50 miles away, and the site where the W.C. Voth famly served as Mennonnite missionaries in the mid-1920s. We arrived in Daming some 50 miles away at 10 AM and proceeded directly to the… more »

This was to begin our three-day visit to Puyang and Daming, sites where Mennonite missionaries worked in the 1911-48 period before being expelled by the new Communist Government. At the Zhengzhou train station we met our local guide, “George” who wou… more »

It was a relatively light “day” in terms of planned activities, but something the group welcomed after the rather busy program of previous days. On this last full day in Beijing members of our group continued to explore this city—having gained confid… more »

Last weekend we got to attend a local Catholic church service with some of our host families from our home stays.  Many of the women in our group were lent traditional dresses to wear, similar to prairie dresses.  As we began to set out for church, on… more »

The following is an entry from my journal. On this particular day we were still in the village of Tlokoeng, near the city of Butha Buthe.Thursday, January 5: I received a lesson in humility early in the day. Lineo (one of our host sisters) taught T… more »

 Interterm at Bethel this year is slightly different for me than it has been for the last couple of years.  Two years ago, I took a travel trip to Costa Rica, last year, Jerusalem.  So this year, I’m staying on campus.  Kind of anticlimactic, right?  E… more »

"It smells like Africa!" Mariah exclaimed on the first night we were here. And yes, it does- as hard as it is to believe, we are really in Africa. After an almost-15 hour flight, we landed in South Africa and were immediately impressed by the fresh air a… more »

This was a busy day of worship, wonder at what we were observing--and some winter in the form of continued chilly weather--a daily high in the upper '20s! At 7:50 AM we were in our bus and headed for the 8:30 service at the large Chong Wen Men Churc… more »

This is Saturday and a day dedicated to some serious sight-seeing--the Great Wall, a jade carving factory and retail outlet, the Ming Tombs. Overnight a light snow had fallen in the city but this did not significantly impede traffic. The temperature w… more »

Day 4 of our Middle Kingdom adventure!  Beijing weather this morning was typical early January--no snow, but chilly, with morning lows of 16-18 degrees F. and a modest breeze from the NW. The overall health of the group was very good--probably a soli… more »

This was the day to learn more of Beijing, the new and the old. The hotel morning call came promptly at 7, then a nice Asian-oriented breakfast on the 2nd floor of the Rainbow.  Customers in the coffee shop included Chinese (perhaps 70% of the total)… more »

Friends and Family: What I expect to follow is a series of rather brief, informal notes, hopefully prepared on a daily basis as time permits, coming out our January 2012 Bethel College Interterm experience in China. The theme of this first-ever BC In… more »