Northwest Community Church

What are the basic needs of children between the ages of 6 and 17? Your answers may include food, clothing, shelter, family, a place to play and study? Perhaps there are other things that we could list but family isn’t one of the things these children have. Shelter they have if you don’t count the fact that the orphanage’s roof leaks and the children’s bunk beds are strategically positioned to avoid the water as it drips from the ceiling. A place to study; well they have 24 desks for 76 children and with a schools schedule that starts at 6:30 am and ends at 8:30 pm scheduling desk time isn’t an option.

The morning was spent getting some of these basics; food from the market, meat, vegetables and fruit. Meat from the butchers all lined up in a row, oranges for every child cost $5. We purchased 60 desks and stools for 63 RMB each, that’s less than $10 per desk! During the afternoon we visited the orphanage’s high school children since they stay at their school from Monday through Friday and only come back to the orphanage on weekends. There are two high schools in Longhui each housing 5000 students, each school is a small town by canadian standards. In the evening we played with the younger children at the orphanage, presented skits, sang, acted out bible stories, prayed and handed out gifts both brought from Canada and those purchased in the morning. Fireworks ended the evening. We are all tired and heading to bed – it’s up at 6:30 tomorrow morning :-(

After changing the remainder of the Canadian currency to Chinese RMB we headed off to Longhui on an estimated 5 ½ hour ride in a mini-mini van, a vehicle slightly larger than a couple of Smart cars. To accommodate three people in the rear of the van, a chair was placed at the end of its two-thirds wide two-person bench seat. The trip took almost 8 hours along some very windy and bumpy roads. Regular stops to stretch compressed body parts and rotate the non-driving occupants through the front passenger seat helped all of us keep some degree of sanity along the journey. Backs and bums are both sore tonight. John’s experienced driving skills, lightning fast reflexes and God’s protection help us reach Longhui safely, our destination for the next few days. Tomorrow morning we head off to the orphanage.

Waking up at 3am, some of us are still not completely over the jet lag. We had a wonderful breakfast with lots of variety at the hotel restaurant and then off to that Bank of China to exchange Canadian currency to Chinese RMB. Sometimes we don’t know how easy things are until we visit a foreign country. Not only is the process slow since it requires multiple people to verify the authenticity of the travelers cheques but there are also limits to the amount of dollars that can be exchanged per day. We will be back at the bank tomorrow morning. Oh joy! 

We went shopping for gifts and necessities before we went to visit our 3 foster children, Gao Ling Fung (9 years old), Gao Ling Mei (13 years) and Deng Jie Wei (9 years). T-shirts, shoes, toys and some sweets for each of the girls and rice, cooking oil, noodles, milk and meat for the family. We also brought gift bags, teddy bears and other presents from Canada to show that they were remembered and thought of through actions and prayers. In addition to these gifts we continue to support them financially. Another year of school costs about $360 per student, a small cost to provide an education. 

We visited Ling Fung and Jie Wei at their elementary school and were immediately surrounded by hordes of children. We also visited Ling Mei at the junior high school and drop of her presents there since she stays at the school during the week. We also had the opportunity to visit with each of their grandmothers. In each case their parents are no longer a part of their lives and these children are being raised by their grandmothers. These family’s lives are challenging (we realize that we take so much for granted in Canada). We pray that through our help and the fact that we return every year provides them with the support they require and that these children receive the opportunities they need to succeed in their lives – whatever that success may be.

We returned to Guilin in time to experience its rush hour. In slow bumper-to-bumper traffic John brought us back to our hotel, just in time for a shower and off to dinner. With jet lag still upon us it’s time to head to bed.

Getting up at 5 am isn’t all that bad when your body is jet-lagged and more than 12 hours out of synch, especially when you began waking up at 3 am. We are all hoping to get over this as soon as possible. Karl’s luggage arrived this afternoon, great news.
John met us at the Guilin airport and drove us to the hotel. We were all amazed at how much Guilin has changed in the last year.
Tomorrow we will be visiting three foster children that we met last March and have been supported this year.

Leave Calgary at 10am March 25, fly for 14 hours and arrive in Beijing at 3:40 pm March 26 – time zones are weird. Everyone checks their suitcases in Calgary, Karl’s doesn’t arrive in Beijing – airlines are weird. Leave Calgary with -7C weather, arrive in Beijing to +15C – weird, but that’s OK. 
Alison and Jeff Edwards, Shumin Liu and Karl Unger from Calgary, Kevin and Yan Chen from Kuwait (soul mates, formerly from Calgary) are this year’s China Mission Team.
After an overnight stay in Beijing we are now on our way to Guilin, the central base for our trips to the orphanages and foster children. We are looking forward to seeing John again, our guide, helper, advisor, companion from last year and this year both guide and director of the orphanage in Longhui.
The questions we ask:
Why are we going? Why did each of us decide to go again? What is God saying to you? What does God want you to do? We answer: to help others; to show that we care by our actions and by returning to those we met last year; some just knew they had to return. Some answers may be found during the next couple of weeks.

One week to go before the team leaves. A Google map showing the team’s route has now been posted on the China Missions page.

Join people from every nation, praying for people in every nation. Go to www.operationworld.org

During this Series we are challenged not only to Do Something for our family, for our friends, for our community, but also for ourselves. The challenge is the learn that the Bible, written many centuries ago, is as relevant today in our lives as it was when its words were first penned.

1. Plan – John 14:12

2. Preparation – Ephesians 2:10

3. Purpose – 1 John 5:3

4. Pain – Hebrews 12:11

5. Power – Ephesians 3:20

6. Passion – Luke 9:62

I had the honour of running with the Olympic Torch this morning. The people, the run, the excitement were fantastic and emotional. I was awestruck by the fact that a single flame and the symbolism it represents has the power to unite people, to unite the spirit, to energize and to move the heart. What would we accomplish if the flame of faith, the spirit of Jesus, shone equally is bright or brighter in our hearts?
Karl

Stars – “shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life” (Phil.2:15)

From the book of Philippians

Jan.10 – 1:1-11 “Starfish” – fish (Christians) should shine like stars
Jan.17 – 1:12-26 “Star does community service” – in our community
Jan.31 – 1:27-2:4 “Not Shooting Stars” – united (not fighting)
Feb.14 – 2:5-11 “Falling Stars” – humble like Jesus
Feb.21 – 2:12-18 “Shining not Whining” – not complaining
Feb.28 – 3:1-19 “Stars on Ice” – those whose destiny is destruction
Mar.7 – 3:15-17 (2:19-30) “Walk of Fame” – honor the stars of faith
Mar.14 – 3:20-4:9 “Star Citizen” – be stars in heaven and earth
Mar.21 – 4:10-23 “Rich Stars” – giving aid means riches in Christ

Theme – Conduct yourselves as citizens of heaven so Christ is exalted. (1:20,27,2:15,3:20)

Memory Verse – 1:27 “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”