Sunday 7/19/15 (Part 2)

Half of the group went to church, so that Jenny (translator) could talk to the pastor and try to make connections there. The other half went straight to the orphanage. I went to the orphanage, and we saw a whole room of smaller babies we had not seen on Friday. They are all so precious, but for once it’s a lot of boys.. these boys all have some disability or something wrong with them. The girls do as well. There are not many if any kids in the orphanage at this time without some kind of disability. Their conditions break my heart, but I know that the nannies do the absolute best they can with so many kids to take care of day in and day out. We have made it a point to make sure the nannies know how much we appreciate them and the difficult task they do each and every day. We let them know they are loved.

I picked up this sweet little girl almost 6 months old in the new baby room, she had my heart from the beginning the way she looked up at me and smiled. I cant think of the right name for her yet. Its really difficult to see some of the kids I saw two years ago, and how their condition has worsened. But it is also so very encouraging to see how some of them have improved!

Jenny…

Jenny is the sweetest, most kind hearted person. She always finds a way to bring up Jesus to EVERY single person she comes in contact with on this trip. The nannies, the girl taking our group picture, literally every single person. I admire her tenacity and her love for the Lord so much.

We had bible study and worship during the break between times we go to the orphanage. Then we went back to the orphanage to be with the bigger kids for an hour. The kids were crazy, and some a tad destructive. But they were just so excited. It wasn’t enough time to take them outside so we just played with them inside and tried to keep them entertained.

For dinner we went to this place called hot pot. It is where you sit and there is a conveyer belt on front of you that has tons and tons of veggies, meats, breads, noodles, and a lot of things I did not recognize that you throw into your pot in front of you and cook. It was such a fun experience. On my last trip we ate all of our meals at the hotel, but this time, we are experiencing Chenzhou, the culture, the food, everything and its great. Everywhere we go people are taking our pictures, so I have no idea where they will end up but a lot of chinese people have us on their phones!