I know I shared with most of you in my support letter how my desire to go on this trip came to be. Working in an orphanage in China has actually been on my heart for quite a few years now. I love children and have loved working with them since I was quite young. About five years ago while sitting in church, a group who had just traveled to Peru for a missions trip was sharing their story on what God had done. They had visited an orphanage in Peru and they talked about how they held these babies who just clung to them. they clung to them because they had never received any form of affection. This completely broke my heart. In college I learned how important it is for children to receive affection as well as touch so they can develop normally. No child deserves to be parent less. But it is a sad reality of this world. I began to pray that the Lord would one day open the doors for me to travel to another country and serve in an orphanage. My heart was drawn to China because of their high number of orphans in the country. There are approximately 20 million orphans in China most of whom are girls. Boys are more desirable in China due to the fact that there is a one child only law in China and boys are seen to be able to better provide for their parents when they are older. This past year my heart was opened even further after the passing of Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter Maria. What amazing things the Chapmans did by opening their home to three little girls who may not have had much of a life had they not been adopted. In honor of Maria the Chapmans have opened a house called Maria's Big House of Hope. Shaohannas Hope is their organization that the Chapman's run to help aid families in the international adoption costs. They were offering a missions trip to China this summer which included visiting Maria's Big House of Hope. After prayerful consideration I applied but was denied due to the fact that I was too old! (The age for this trip was 15-25) In my rejection email my eyes were opened to another organization called Visiting Orphans. I checked them out and noticed they had a trip which had even better timing than the last trip. I applied and within days they were emailing me about airline information! God is so good. He knows how to fit everything perfectly together.
So I will be in China for 11 days to work in two separate orphanages. I will be working with a team comprised of 20 different people from various parts of the United States. We will leave June 16 and meet in Beijing China. We will hear straight from to the airport to our first orphanage, the Philip Hayden Orphanage. PH is an orphanage for children with special needs. After two days at Philip Hayden we will take another flight to Shenyang/Fushun China and spend five days working at the Fushun SWI orphanage. Here we will spend our time playing, doing crafts, and just plain loving on these children. I am so excited that God has hand picked me to be a part of this trip. I cannot wait to see how He uses me and how this trip will change my heart. Who knows what else will happen as a result of me going on this trip.
So that might be a few more details than you needed but I wanted to show you how God has been preparing my heart for this over the past five years. Please keep me and the team in your prayers. I am going to try and include prayer requests at the end of each post. You love and support have been felt so much already and for this I thank you.
Prayer Requests
Preparation for each team member
Safety in travel and being in a foreign country
Opportunities to share the love of Christ with those we come in contact with
For the children, nannies, and directors of the orphanages
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