First Mission Complete!

Hello everyone!!!

So sorry that it has taken me so long to write an update...
we have been very busy!!! Our team arrived last Monday night
without any complications. What precious people! They jumped
straight into the work they came here to do despite jet lag,
language barrier, and stress from traveling for more than 36
hours straight. Wednesday we spent the whole day from 9-6 at
the church doing a dental, optical, and general medical clinic.
It was the coolest thing ever to give a 70 year old woman her
first pair of glasses so that she could see better than she
had in three decades! I also got to use a squatty potty for the
very first time. Sounds fun, right? LOL okay not really. ;)

Thursday was our day with the babies. What a precious time
that was! Each and every one of those kids were so responsive
to the love we gave them. It was amazing to see their little faces
light up with smiles when we picked them up and kissed them.
Love is truly a universal language. Friday we were again at
the church. We spent time just praying for the members and talking
with them. (they thought i could speak Chinese just because I knew
a few sentences.... kinda funny!)  Friday night was our last night with
the team, and what a blessed time it was!! We had dinner at the
hotel and got to give them each their awards for the week. Even
though we only spent four days with them, we all felt like
family by the end of the week. It was a great experience.
I spent the whole day again on Saturday at the orphanage with
the babies! (I promise I will post pictures as soon as I can)
It was a great day, and I miss those precious little ones so much already!

Please pray for our all of us here. Some family emergencies came up,
and now my friend and her father are having to go home early. They
leave early Monday morning. Please pray for safe travel for them, and
a supernatural grace for Kim and I to handle the college team that
is coming for two weeks. There are 15 of them, and that is a big
group for us to handle by ourselves. They will mostly be helping
out with us at the orphanage, and I have been put in charge of
the team that will be in the infant care unit! They arrive august 11th,
so please pray that we would have everything prepared when they
get here!!

I've learned so much these past three weeks that I have been here. God
is using a new teaching method with me this summer, and it has certainly
been an interesting process. In America, I'm used to making plans. I always
know what I'm doing, where I'm going, and when I'm gonna be there. In China,
I have been thrown into a culture that I was completely caught off guard by.
It's the exact opposite. We never know what we're going to be doing, or when,
until a few moments before we have to be ready to jump right into it. I have
been learning that a lot of times, that's how our lives are with God.
We can plan and plan all we want, but God sometimes expects us to
do the unexpected. I marvel at the way He weaves one event after another
together so that things that might seem YEARS into the future can
start falling into place even now.

Again,sorry that it took so long to do an update. My mom has told
me that she was getting a lot of questions about me lately. I shall look
to post another update as soon as there are more things to talk about.

Love you all!