Flags and a Ship are going to China!

Dear loved ones. I have news, and it is good news! The Chinese Flagship Program is a prestigious program that "prepares students for careers related to China. [Its] aim is to provide the linguistic and cultural skills necessary to work successfully in a professional Chinese environment." I applied for this program a month or so ago, did the Chinese proficiency tests, an interview in Chinese with one two professors, and prayed a lot. I believe there were other prayers that helped too :) I got accepted yesterday! The informal acceptance email reads: "We have finished reviewing applications for the Chinese Flagship Program and I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the program beginning Fall 2008. You have also been awarded a scholarship and the specific details will be provided separately. Award amounts are subject to final approval of federal grant funds...Congratulations on your admittance to the program. We look forward to working with you." This is a great blessing. I don't know where it is going to take me and Jodi (except to China, of course), but I know that Heavenly Father is preparing the next step for me to be able move one little bit closer to fulfilling His purposes for me. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and learn not unto thine own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). We are just trying to trust in the Lord. It seems pretty far fetched that I will take my wife of only a year to live in China. What a way to start a life together. The Savior commanded, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). We will be leaving father and mother about as far away as one can! We are excited to start our lives together, and excited that such an adventure is creeping up on the horizon.
"Made for China"? I have to say that I have long had a lingering in my soul to be in China. As I approached my mission, I was repeatedly asked where I wanted to, or thought I would, go on my mission. My reply was always, "wherever I am sent...but I want to go to China". I went to China (even though Taiwan thinks it wants to be independent, it is still a part of the Republic of China) and I was prepared through the language and experiences given me to continue a work among the Chinese people. Who knows? At least somebody does. He seems to have things in control.