Many of you know I have a wanderlust and a passion for God's people. With that comes many experiences and passions that beat louder with each year or opportunity that I am given to travel and interact with those around the world that God is revealing himself to a little bit at a time.
As I am preparing to leave the country in August for Cuba, I thought what better way to support raise than to reminisce on some of the experiences and opportunities I have been blessed to be a part of over the past 10 years! Looking back at some of the 28 countries I have set foot in and served with God's people still puts me in a state of awe that God picked me to live this life.
I may not have reached these opportunities in the most graceful or even spiritual ways but God definitely used my mistakes and disobedience to reach the unreachable, learn hard lessons, and experience laughter that I didn't know was even possible on some days!
Over the next series of blogs I wanted to share with you some of my stories from my travels and I wanted to encourage you to share some of your stories with me! Whether those stories are from abroad or in your home community, it is still your life that you are living and experiencing God and sharing those stories is a form of fellowship that I absolutely love!
Sometimes when you are doing missions (whether abroad or in the States), you are asked to do things that you don't think is within your realm of capability or mindset.
Case and Point: The World Race Month 10- China
When we got the word our team would be working in a special needs orphanage in China, my first thought was "There's no way I can do that...I don't have the patience...the experience...I don't have what it takes to be that person."
We arrived at the orphanage and my team and I were split up into a couple of different "houses" which were separated into ages and the level of special needs the children had at the time. One of my teammates and I were chosen to spend the month in a house which housed Down Syndrome children, and some with physical inabilities all in the preschool age range. We would be living in the house with the kids, eating meals with them, spending the entire day with them from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed. To say I was overwhelmed at first would be an understatement.
We didn't have any huge responsibilities as there were Chinese women who worked in the houses. They cooked the meals, bathed the kids, got them ready for bed, and held most of the responsibilities on a daily basis. We were there to lend a helping hand (carrying the ones who could not walk at all up the countless flights of stairs because their house was on the top floor of an apartment building), play with the kids, interact, and well love on them as beset we could!
Sometimes when you are doing missions (whether abroad or in the States), you are asked to do things that you don't think is within your realm of capability or mindset.
Case and Point: The World Race Month 10- China
When we got the word our team would be working in a special needs orphanage in China, my first thought was "There's no way I can do that...I don't have the patience...the experience...I don't have what it takes to be that person."
We arrived at the orphanage and my team and I were split up into a couple of different "houses" which were separated into ages and the level of special needs the children had at the time. One of my teammates and I were chosen to spend the month in a house which housed Down Syndrome children, and some with physical inabilities all in the preschool age range. We would be living in the house with the kids, eating meals with them, spending the entire day with them from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed. To say I was overwhelmed at first would be an understatement.
We didn't have any huge responsibilities as there were Chinese women who worked in the houses. They cooked the meals, bathed the kids, got them ready for bed, and held most of the responsibilities on a daily basis. We were there to lend a helping hand (carrying the ones who could not walk at all up the countless flights of stairs because their house was on the top floor of an apartment building), play with the kids, interact, and well love on them as beset we could!
I can't tell you what day exactly or specifically when my mindset shifted from "I can't do this" to "How am I going to say goodbye?" but it certainly happened quickly. I couldn't speak Chinese and the kids could not speak ANY English but play, laughter, tears, meal times, and trips to the park was a language we all spoke... and it was something I grew more attached to with each day.
After a month of shuttling these crazy kiddos to the park, to their school, up and down countless flights of stairs twice a day, laughing with them, loving with them, crying because it was stressful (yes I loved it but I won't lie it was stressful)... the day had come to say goodbye. As I walked home from the school to pack my bags I saw one of my favorite kids..Xi Ping.. he was waddling in his little Xi Ping way and I couldn't stop it...the tears just came hard and fast. I crouched down to hug him and that's when he saw my tears. He couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak Chinese but we both knew...he just patted me on the back as if I were the child and he were the adult...staring at me rubbing and patting my back.
A month that started out with the attitude of me thinking there was no way I could spend every waking moment of the day with kids who required a special kind of love and patience... ended with a heart so full of memories...cradling them as they crashed throughout the day...reading books...those daily fights to keep shoes on before we leave the house...hand holding and countless hugs and kisses.
It is a never ending voyage...that of God's plan for us... and what He knows we can do versus what we think we are capable of during our time serving Him.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
I'm still disappointed that we couldn't convince Xi Ping to become a Jedi. He just wasn't having it. That said, great blog post and it was definitely one of the best months ever.
ReplyDeleteYes I'm sad Xi Ping did not want to be a Jedi... Thanks Sam!
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