Greettings from Beijing! The team landed on Friday morning in Beijing at 5AM and hit the ground running. Yesterday was a full day of clearing customs (easy), getting 65 people on 2 buses with over 100 bags (not as easy), breakfast, and then an immediate trip to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. It was pouring rain when we landed but stopped by the time we started touring. The kids loved walking through the ancient sites together and it's one of my favorite parts of the trip to watch them enjoying the culture, history, and fellowship. Grant Ramos and Jules Sharpe purchased some Chinese shirts and now look a bit like the old David Carradine character from the tv show "Kung Fu." We then checked into our hotel (it's quite nice with an indoor pool and gym) and then headed back out to watch the amazing Chinese acrobats. After another meal, we came back to the hotel where our exhausted group hit the sack after a very long day.

Many of us woke up this morning between 3 and 5AM but a huge number are just now at 7:30AM making their way down for breakfast. Today, we will visit The Great Wall before catching our evening flight to Yanji. The weather is cloudy and cool, but comfortable.

We will depart tonight around 7:30PM, get into Yanji at 9:30PM, and head to our hotel for the night.

Thanks for all of your thoughts; we really appreciate it! Don't worry about anything; everyone is having a blast and spirits are high.