Hang on, folks! The ride ain't over yet.

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For the past month, I have remained silent for a couple of reasons. For one, there really has been little change to our situation, so there has been little to report. The other reason is that from all I could gather, the rest of the world is now experiencing various forms of quarantine and lock down, so that most of you have had your lives upended and need to focus on what you are experiencing. But after receiving some questions from friends, I thought I should give you a basic update.

First off, we are doing very well, staying healthy physically, mentally, and spiritually. Yes, we are mainly in a self-imposed lock down, meaning we mainly stay at home, but we do get out almost every day and meet with friends a few times a week. Our compound has been opened back up (mainly); we are free to come and go, and Sandy even had a guest over the other day. We have also been meeting with a group of friends at the beach (which is a 15-minute drive from our house) on Sunday morning for some singing, speaking, and socializing. That has been a wonderful time. But, we do still mostly continue to practice social distancing and avoid public transportation -- which is hardest on me because (strange as it may sound) I actually really like it.

Emily and I have also started back to online school, and my best guess is that we will finish the term online. Online classes have been great for Emily but a little more of a chore for me. In Fujian province, the only students who have been called back to school are high school seniors, and the purpose of that is to prepare them for the college entrance exam -- which actually got postponed, which is a monumental decision.

However, all is not pleasant in this COVID-19 environment. As many of you know, there has been a lot of misinformation spread about the severity of the outbreak over here, and there has been a monumental effort to morph the narrative into something a bit more positive for this land. I would love to explain in more detail, but prudence restrains me. Suffice it to say that we are no longer welcome visitors, and people look askance at us on a routine basis. Now, China has closed to basically all foreign entry, which really puts the immediate future in question for us. And that is probably the biggest issue we are struggling with -- the future. However, we do know Who holds the future and He is also holding our hands.

(If you would like to get a better picture of what is going on over here, check out NTD China in Focus. They have been doing some great investigative journalism on this situation.)

So, on a lighter note, Emily and I explored the Xiamen Mountain to Coast Trail, which is a newly constructed trail that basically runs 13.5 miles (22.5 km) across the middle of the island. It is mostly raised and is a paved pedestrian-only trail. Emily and I hiked about 8 km of it on Sunday night and took the opportunity to take a lot of photos. Here are some of the better ones. Enjoy the photos and stay healthy and sane in these turbulent times.















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