On a Mount of Olives

In the midst of busy travels seeing some of China’s huge cities, we got to spend time some quieter time with some dear friends who are running a business – an olive farm.  We last saw G & B in Chicago about seven or eight years ago so it was great to meet them for dinner in the city and then head out to their farm that night along a bumpy road.  We had two nights with them in a setting VERY different from the rest of our time in China.  Here it was cool, quiet, and we were surrounded by nature.  We wore jackets for the only time on our trip.  We even got to pick the VERY fresh vegetables that we had for dinner! They introduced us to some of the people who work with them and we had some great times of conversation around the dinner table catching up on many years of separation.  The olive farm was one of the last places that they would have imagined that they would end up but that is where they have been for a number of years.  They have been producing high quality olive oil and they have already sold out this year’s yield before it has even been harvested.  Our friends are doing a job of excellence to God’s glory.  Our trip to the airport was a little nerve racking as a broken down truck on a road caused a traffic backup for several miles on both sides of the truck.  G skillfully maneuvered through the big trucks that were too large to squeeze by on the shoulder and we arrived at the airport with about 20 minutes before what was supposed to be the last boarding call.  The flight ended up being delayed and we ended up waiting for over an hour.  Thankfully we've made every connection and overweight bags have been overlooked.  The Lord has been very good to us on our Sabbatical Journey.