Thursday - Day 4

Post coming shortly... It has been a long day... Stay tuned.

Okay, here it goes. Day 4. I slept in the office last night. I have the whole place to myself with the exception of the mosquitoes. Me and Sam and his sister and Chris were up until 1:30 watching the making of the video for the kids and picking on Chris. He is a good kid. I called it quits at 1:30, Chris left at 2:00 and Sam stayed up until 4:30 - 5:00 am. He is a great guy and worked himself hard to get this video done and perfect for the kids. We were able to watch it with them tonight in the cafeteria. They loved it. 

I woke up at 6:00 am this morning. Steve came in around 6:30 - 6:45 and we got to talk for about an hour. It was great. He is an amazing guy that has a big heart and a love for God. He and Tilly have a daughter, Sarah - 9, that has been here the whole time. I have been able to buddy around with her during the down times (lunch). She is a sweet little girl. Steve and I have been able to have devotional type conversations at several times. 

We went to breakfast first - no pig blood - too bad. I think maybe RICE again. Me and Byron and Adam have been joking about that a lot lately. Oh, great - more rice... I've been spreading around my peanut butter and cheese crackers with a few people. I was able to get another PBJ this morning. We had another fun assembly time this morning. the kids love to sing and dance. We went to craft time next while group a went to the pool. Craft time I had Andrew translate some words for me 'compassion for people'. This is part of a motto at our church. Passion for God, Compassion for People. I had him do this because he personifies that statement. Every time I think about him I will think about the compassion and serving heart that he has. I have already said this before but I will say it again, He is the most amazing person I think I have ever met in my life. I have never seen someone as self sacrificing as he is.

During the craft time I started to day dream and just look around the room and SEE all of the volunteers that are here. It was one of those revealing moments when I truly saw the hearts that these people have and the sacrifices that they made to be here and serve these children. I, again, teared up. I struck up a conversation with Kate and had asked her how many times she has cried since she has been here (of course telling her that I as a guy I haven't cried at all - NOT.) It ended up being a great conversation. We both ended up talking about how neither of us expected to find God here. I just felt like he was walking down the streets by my side the whole time. It is the most AMAZING  and AWESOME feeling I have ever had. I don't think I could ever explain it with words. I have to say that Kate has been a great inspiration to me. I have never seen her without a smile on her face as she watches these children. Her, along with half of the volunteers here, are half my age and yet I can be inspired and humbled by their actions. They really are a great group of "kids". I know Debbie, they are not all kids, I'm just older now. She was able to open up to me during the conversation and I felt bad because she hadn't really cried and I felt like I made her start. Pray for direction in her life and guidance. She really is a wonderful girl. I have a photo that I will post at the bottom. During craft time I was able to get Andrew to translate some letters for me to the kids. We all wrote letters to tell the kids about the week or what we learned from them.

Next stop - Water park. I went back and changed but wasn't planning on getting wet. Well, that didn't work out too well. I think Joy got me from behind, again. She is the little girl with the burns on her face. You might have seen her in the photos or videos. Since I got wet I decided to go all out, found a bucket and was playing with her for a little bit. She came at me one time and as I was running backwards I stepped on a pair of broken glasses. The frame went about 1/4" into my heal. That felt good. I called the paramedic, Pete, to fix me up. I am now calling this my literal battle scar on top of my emotional scars. The boys went into the water park today but the girls, except for joy, decided to stay out and either play cards on the side line or make bracelets.  Pete has a good photo of this that I will get from him.

Next stop - Lunch. I did eat this. I think it was Tofu and some rice of course. I got to talk to Byron a little during lunch. Another great guy. He is here for two weeks. He wants to be a test pilot. I have seen him interact with some of the kids and I think he will make a great dad some day. 

Next - nap time - Whoo hoo. Don't get me wrong, I love these kids but nap time is a very important time for us. This is the only time that I can go get a Coke and snickers (or Oreos). I have to leave the campus and I am not allowed to have the kids with me. Me and Sarah (Steve's daughter) sat and talked and ate Oreos during nap time. She is really cute. She likes to catch me day dreaming and walk up to me and go "Are you thinking about Bring me hope again?" and laughs. 

After nap - the pool. I wasn't going to go into the pool today but I needed to take a HOT shower and the pool is the best place for it. I am glad that I went in. It was fun and I got a few more underwater shots of Billy.? He loves to look at himself on the camera. The floor around the pool is made of granite - not the best choice, huh? After getting dried off from the pool we had to wait for Sarah (Billy's crush) to come out so we could walk together. I had the chance to talk to her a little. She is a commercial English major in her Junior year. She told me that Billy said he wants to become a scientist. I wouldn't doubt it. 

Next stop - Family time. I went to the office to get the family time materials. This time we were to make a life map (or something like that). There wasn't much interest from my group so we decided to play cards. It ended up being great fun. Billy started cheating, then I did and then Andrew. We were laughing a lot. Next part is rough so get the tissues now:

Andrew and Billy started talking about christians and asked if Pete was one. I said yes and Billy did not believe me because Pete has tattoos down his arm. I told him that the tattoos had meaning about his family. Pete heard us from the other room and came in and gave Billy a photo album to look through. He saw that Hannah, Pete's daughter, is Chinese. Andrew told him that she was adopted. In the meantime I ran down to get my photos that Debbie sent with me. I came back and showed him the pictures of my four girls (Debbie included). He stopped an looked and then looked at Andrew and said "two Chinese"? Andrew told him how We adopted both of them to give them love. He then said that I was a good person /big heart to adopt two girls. Then he stopped again and then said with a serious but sad face "Why has nobody adopted me?" There was no way I was going to be able to hold these tears back. I put my head down to try and hide them from him. Then I heard them both talking and I heard Andrew say that I was praying. I lifted my head and said "No, I am just sad". Billy could see the tears on my face. He paused and then said, "Don't worry, God has adopted me". This is a 10 year old boy that said this. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, later tonight I got to share this story with the group. David is trying to turn me into a public speaker and coming back next year as staff to work the mic.??? We'll see... 

Next Dinner - More rice? - No thanks. I wasn't very hungry at dinner time. The Oreos could have something to do with that, maybe. I went off into a corner and wrote a letter for Andrew. I told him how special he was and that God has big plans for his life. He is the most amazing person I have met. The things that I do for others are nothing compared to him. Seeing him here at camp has humbled me. We did the assembly after dinner, which I was a part of. Oops, /i skipped a part. There is another girl here about 9 with her family that have been living in Beijing. She came over and was talking to me while I was writing the letter. We were playing around with going on the stage and singing. She actually did sing the night before. I was trying to get her up there but she was being shy.  We did end up standing in the front and doing the song motions. Good fun. The orphans from ZhengZhou performed again tonight. It was hilarious. They were singing the equivalent of Hannah Montana popularity songs for Chinese artists. First were two girls and not even a few minutes into in one of the girls that won a prize walked up to the the stage and gave one of the girls singing her prize. AWESOME. Then others followed. It was great. Her arms were overflowing.  Several others sang too. I have partial videos.

After this we sang and then put in the video that Sam made. The kids loved seeing themselves on the big screen (wall with a sheet). Then the translators left and we stayed with the kids and watched old Tom and Jerry cartoons. Most of these kids have never seen a TV before. I am worried about Bob and how he will do after he leaves. I have a chance to talk to Alan more. He is a good guy, still single at 38. I should have known but didn't and felt bad asking about kids. He is staying for a couple more weeks. He is here with Kate and Caleb and a few others. We then said good night to the kids and then went to a volunteer meeting. This is where D opens us in prayer and then Says "Bill, do you mind sharing your story now" - "Thanks for the warning D". I went ahead and stood up and shared the story from family time (while standing behind D. as a shield). Other shared experiences that they had with they translators or children. Then we went into a worship time. I have to tell you that there is little better than singing Amazing Grace while in China. Again, word for the week, AWESOME!!!!!!

This all leads me to know which has been taking me a couple hours to write this. The room is now clear and it is 1:54 am. Time for bed. O, I forgot to mention that Pete opened his Day 7 card from Hannah. As soon as he opened it an pulled out the photo I literally feel on one of the mattresses and started crying in a room full of people (Oops, forgot they were there). The sing she was holding in the picture said "You are my Hero!" I have to stop here or I will never get to sleep. I am going to try and share more in the weeks following getting home.

I love you all and thank you for your prayers. God worked some amazing things this week.

from XinZheng, China - Bill.