What makes you shine?

Last year in April I had an opportunity to travel to China to follow the Lutheran Missionary Trail from Shanghai through Wuhan and Xinyang up to Beijing.  Here are a few pictures from that trip. 

These people live in a small village at the base of Jingongshang (Roster Mountain) where Lutheran Missionaries worked from the 1890 until the communists took over in the late 1940's. 

This is a standard set up for lunch.  This happens to be at a tea plantation near Xinyang.  The name in English is "5 Sacred Mountains."

Here are the missionary descendants that were on our trip.  We were standing in front of the American School (A.S.K.) that was built by the missionaries up on Roster Mountain.  Paul Martinson, (far right in black) was a student at this school while his parents were missionaries.

This is me with a group of grade school kids near Xinyang.  I gave them a hacky sack and it was my favorite part of the trip. 

Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp helps China Service Venture staff and program a summer camp in the Xinyang area for local Chinese youth.  It is awesome Camp Wapo is able to have an impact on youth in Central China.  It has also opened the door for other opportunities.

Today I had the privilege to meet with David Woo from the Henan Province of China, along with John Peterson and our Executive Director, Loren Teig.  They were all out at Camp Wapo.  We had a tour of Camp Wapo and then went to lunch in Downtown Amery, WI.  David is a chemistry teacher at the vo-tech school in Xinyang, Henan, China.  He is working with Bemidji State and the University of Minnesota to share ideas, faculty and students.  A big piece is for David to help put a high quality nursing program in central China.

Afterwards we visited Albert and Anna Olson.  Albert and Anna are strong Norwegians that live in Amery Wisconsin and Albert is 94 years old.  His body kind of looks it but his mind is extremely sharp.

Albert grew up in Central China and went to the same school that we visited in the picture above, A.S.K., not far from Xinyang.  Albert is a retired pastor that was a missionary in China and Taiwan and he is fluent in Mandarin.  We brought David Woo to visit with them and it was wonderful to see Albert light up when he was able to speak with David.

And this is my message today, find what "Lights you up," and try to fill your days with as much of that as you can.  For me, running does that.  I get energized by the exercise and friendships from running.

What is it for you?  Share that in our comments area below.

P.S. - This marathon challenge is partly to raise money to help more kids get to camp.  If you are so moved to financially support our ministry, you can do so at www.campwapo.org and follow the "Donate" button on the top.  Thank you for your consideration.