Church with the kids

Sunday July 7, 2013

Church was…. An experience. I am so thankful we got to pick some of the big kids up from the orphanage and take them there even though they have absolutely no attention span. Two of the nannies tagged along and they each took a child. And we had 11 kids with us. First of all it is only 8:45 in the morning and already deathly hot so we tried to look a little nicer today, like in longer skirts and such but we were so sweaty! When we got to church they sent us to the balcony and we all sat the kids in between us. They were actually really good and even though we couldn’t understand any of the service, I am glad that we were able to go and bring them. The more that people see, the more that they might want to help. It was miserably hot as there was no air conditioning and there were quite a few people there. We were all soaked with sweat. We went in very prepared. We had Hello Kitty coloring books, and crayons, suckers, and fruit snacks. Most of the kids begged us for our water so we gave some of them that too. I was in charge of a 3 year old, a little one we call “Dora” and she did really well, surprisingly. We did not get to play with the babies today, but I of course had to go love on my baby Emerson and sweet Jenny for a little bit before we left for church.  We called it a day after lunch and went back to the hotel; some of us chose to do a little exploring and shopping.

We ate lunch at the orphanage and we had all sorts of good food! It was probably one of the best meals since we have been here, and for dinner we went to Pizza Hut. Steve, our guide, and the waitress could not get it through their heads that we ONLY wanted pizza. They were so confused. This Pizza Hut was a sit down nice restaurant and they had combo meals like pizza, pasta, salad, chicken wings, and cake, and some fancy drink. But all we wanted was cheese and pepperoni pizza with Pepsi and no ice! So finally after an hour of waiting to be seated (while we explored Walmart) and then a good 20 minutes trying to order we finally got our pizza!! It was delicious and all of us were stuffed! Steve said it was so much cheese and not enough variety that he had to walk back. We had taken the public bus, so he walked and we rode the bus. We saw a bus pass by that was so packed full that I almost started having an anxiety attack. I would not have been able to get in a bus like that without having full blown anxiety, and my anxiety is already up so high worrying about the plane crash that just happened! Thankfully, our bus did not have that many people. It was crowded but I could handle it.

Our devotion today was called a date with God. Each of our hotel rooms had two stations in them with an “activity” small devotion, to do. At one, we wrote notes of love/encouragement to each team member, we wrote what we were thankful for especially for those who helped us to get on this trip. We highlighted verses in our guide's bible we are giving him. We wrote words on a mirror to describe how God sees us and how He is changing us and working in our hearts to make us better women. We looked at the fruits of the spirit, and which ones we needed to focus on the most, mine being patience. We asked God to show us who from Chenzhou to be praying specifically for this week. Along with many other things to get our minds focused and right on the Lord.

Most of yall who know me know that I do not like crowds/loudness, being really hot, and confined spaces. All of which you cannot get around in China. So people may say, well this is not the place for you, or why did you come then? I came to love on these kids, nothing else is as important right now. And  things like this will be uncomfortable, you are in a foreign city, with foreign people, and foreign food. But sometimes uncomfortable is good. We need to be pushed a little bit to grow. And I would not let my fears/ anxieties stop me from doing what God has called me to do.

I am constantly reminded of the verse I chose as my verse for the trip. John 3:30 “He must become greater, and I must become less”. How true is that? For God to become the center of our lives we have to take us out of it and out him and others before ourselves. We must know that not everything is about us, and that in order for us to bow down to Him as the King that He is we have to make less of ourselves and give Him more of us to use for His will. We are merely servants doing our masters work, and in order to serve others with the right mind, and attitude you must become humble.

The older kids making crafts: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch at the Orphanage