These past few weeks we spent in China working at an orphanage for special needs kids. It was really cool to see how an orphanage which is run by the government has allowed the Christian organization who we were working with to come in and help the kids and run the orphanage. You could definitely see the presence of Christ there but there is still a lot of need as well. I spent most of my time with the older boys from 10-30 years old. At first I was not very excited about being there but at the end of our time there I had really came to enjoy it. It was not a place where we could very easily share the Gospel since none of the guys could speak well much less knew any English. Just spending time with them and giving them some attention that they never would get is what was needed. Like I said it took me a little while to warm up to them, since I have never worked with people with special needs before but it did not take long. At the end of every day their classroom practically turned into a big wrestling match and I could not get them off of me. It was actually a lot harder to say goodbye than I thought it would be.
We also spent a few days in Beijing for our 8 month debrief which was nice to have a break and a chance to hangout in the city. We all even had a chance to see the Great Wall for a day, which is something I have always wanted to do. While there we had a few team changes, most of my team is still the same except for two new people, Sarah and Leah. I’m excited for the changes and to see what the Lord has planned for our new team during our final 3 months.
We are now in Lugansk, Ukraine about 100 km from the Russian border. It has been a huge change from our past 5 months in Asia, but it’s been good. We are working with an American family who has been here for about 6 years working with the people in this area. It feels a little more like home and we all can’t wait to see what this month has in store for us.
