This month I have had the wonderful opportunity to do ministry alongside an organization (which I can not name online) right outside of Beijing China. But trust me, This place is absolutely incredible! We are serving in a foster homes for special needs children as well as running a day camp for all of the missionary families/kids that are here long term. We get to lead them in bible study, sports, crafts, home school tutoring, ukulele lessons, science experiments…you name it! In tutoring, specifically, I have been able to work with Lindsay, a 16 year old girl adopted from China by a single mom from America. Through her, I have been able to put my science degree to use by helping Lindsay out with Chemistry this month, teaching her about energy graphs, Gibbs free energy, entropy and enthalpy reactions. I’VE LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!! It’s been such a blessing to be able to dive into science again and to be partnered with such a smart, incredible teenager who loves chemistry just as much as I do!
Our first Sunday our host took us to attend the International Church in Beijing. SUCH A COOL SERVICE!!! We had to show our passport on the way in, because Chinese nationals aren’t allowed to attend but it was filled more than a thousand people from ALL over the world! The visiting pastor, from Malaysia, spoke a sermon about “finishing your race well”!!! INSANE! God has such a funny sense of humor! It was an incredible message and was so uplifting to us as we begin to prepare for re-entry to America.
Another reason why this month has been such a blessing to us is because of all the incredible families around us. This place is FILLED with families that are here to love on and serve the foster children. There is a family here from Mississippi that will be here for 6 months and they continually blow my mind with how servant hearted they are. The mom is here alone with 5 of her 6 children in order to test out the waters and see if her whole family could move back here long term. Her husband had to stay back in America to keep his job going while the family adjusts to China and prays about going back or staying in America. Whether they decide to stay or not, it’s been so incredible for me to see the effort and work they have put in to just moving here in faith , following through with a call that God had given them no matter how crazy or out of place it may have seemed in accordance to life in America. Her strength is insane! She and her husband have 3 biological children and 3 whom they adopted from china (2 with spina bifida and 1 with down syndrome). The kids here range in age from 3 to 16 and are so incredibly sweet to one another. I look forward every day to spending time with them in tutoring, Chinese class, baseball etc. Two of the middle children (Sam David and Maylee) have truly made a been impact on my life, personally. They both have severe cases of spina bifida but are fearless and don’t let their leg braces get in the way of loving life. Maylee is the most competitive girl I’ve ever encountered and loves our dodgeball tournaments, relay races and keeping up with all the other kids in the sports arena. While Sam David has a little more trouble playing sports and walking/running around he loves learning how to play the ukulele and Is so grateful for the dozens of piggy back rides we give him to make his transit a little easier. God has truly been working on my heart and although I don’t have any plans to adopt any time soon, I think he is giving me a heart to adopt special needs kids in the future.
Like I mentioned earlier, one of the ways we are loving on the missionary kids this month is by teaching them how to play the ukulele…my co-squad leader Amy is the one who taught me how to play and is also the one that im teaching the ukulele class with here. Her dad, Glen, is a famous ukulele player (from the group, the Aloha Boys) and actually purchased a new ukulele for each of the missionary kids! We presented the uks to them a couple days ago and got to share with them scripture about how playing instruments for worship can be used to glorify God. We also got to thank them for the sacrifice they made by joining their family in moving overseas. Some times the missionary kids are overlooked because they just “tag along” with their missionary parents but really these kids are so brave and courageous. They left their friends, schools and comforts in America in order to live somewhere where people have never heard the gospel and Glen’s generosity in sending those gifts to be a blessing from God for their hard work was such an encouragement to them!
Our time here so far has been incredibly eye opening and such a joy to us in our last month of ministry. We even have a hot shower, our own bed, good Chinese food and a fresh towel to use!!! Our host is a former world racer and she has shown us so much grace especially having been here before and understanding what a conflicting thing it is emotionally to be in your last month of the race. As you can probably tell, processing going back to America has been a struggle. SO MANY EMOTIONS, Im happy, im sad, im exhausted, im excited, im crying, im overjoyed im all over the place. Prayers for re-entry would be so appreciated! I look forward to seeing you guys and my homeland soon! (just 9 more days!) WOW.
P.S sorry this doesn’t have any pictures, I had to post this from a friends phone but as soon as I find a computer to post from I will ad some pics (:
