Keeping Up With Katherine: Goodbye Guangzhou

I had no idea how sad I would be to leave Guangzhou. I have loved getting to know the Sun Yat-Sen University students here, they are all so amazing!! They are seriously some of the most kind people I have met. On top of missing my friends, I had no idea how sad I would be to leave the branch I was attending for church.

Okay I'm going to get spiritual really quick, so bear with me. One thing that I learned in China is that the gospel is true no matter where you are in the world. In China, we aren't allowed to talk about our religion because it's against the law. The LDS church made an agreement with the Chinese government where we are allowed to practice our religion as long as we don't speak of it with others or proselyte to the chinese people. So because of that, the branch I went to was rather small, but the faith they had in the church was so great. Everyone there was so kind and so genuine and they really wanted to make sure that we felt at home while attending their branch. Even though I was only there for 5 weeks I totally felt their love. And that's one reason why I love this church, because of the spirit people radiate when they have the gospel in their life. You can go anywhere in the world and the gospel is the same. It was a little difficult though not being able to talk about it...some of the friends we made on this study abroad were very interested in learning about the church and we couldn't tell them because of the laws, which made me so sad because some of them are totally ready to receive the gospel. But it's okay, I know the Lord is looking out for them and loves them nonetheless.
Alright and that's my 2 cents on that, thank you!

We had a farewell dinner with all of the students the last night we were in Guangzhou and it was so bitter sweet. It was exciting because we were going to start our culture trip, which meant we were going to travel all around China, but I was sad because I had become such good friends with some of the students and I knew that I would really miss them. Also my WeChat locked me out and I can't get back on so I'm not even able to talk to most of them, I'm super bummed... But the last night with them was so fun!! We had a really good dinner and then we stayed at the hotel for about 30 minutes and took pictures with all of our friends and said our goodbyes. A bunch of us invited some of the chinese students to come back with us to the hotel on campus that we were staying at to play games. So we had a party and played BS with them for a little bit (until the game just got boring) and then we played mafia or werewolves (whatever you like to call it). And oh my word...they are so funny. I have always played the game where people say whatever they want, when they want it but the chinese students play it where you go around in a circle and say what you have to say once, then if you want to add something you have to ask for permission. It was a lot more structured that way, and the game honestly went a lot faster. Also I'm not as good at lying when I can't just burst out and say something haha so it was difficult!! ALSO we played 3 times and ALL 3 TIMES I was a mafia!!!! It was the worst. I hate lying. It was so fun to play games with them though, I really hope I get to see them again some day. I'm so grateful so social media so I can stay in touch with them from halfway across the world. Go technology!!