July 20th - A visit the Lei Fong Memorial

Before we left Shenyang we visited the Lei Fong Memorial as guests of Mr. Shao and Mrs. Zhu. We were treated as royalty. Lei Fong was a hero of the early "New China" who exemplified service to others. We were given a special tour by the Museum director and signed a book about our visit with a note that Natalie prepared. This notes is going to be displayed for all to see - How cool!!

July 19th - Leaving the Orphanage

After saying our tearful goodbyes we gathered with the kids, nannies and leaders of the orphanage for one last picture

July 19th - A special gift

This is a picture of Cindy and she is holding a special gift that was given to her. Alison has had this chinese/english bible for about 4 years. We asked persmission of Mrs. Zhou if we could leave some bibles with the orphanage - and she said yes!! Praise God!!! This bible was given to Cindy and asked that she read it and read it to the other kids. We also left a couple of other bibles and gave Maggie our guide a bible, which she was very excited about. Praise God - his word is alive and well in China!!!

July 19th - Saying goodbye

It was time to say goodbye. It was hardest with the older girls, on everyone involved. The girls were really sweet and a lot of the team members developed strong relationships with them. I know personally for myself, it has given me a new understanding of these older girls in China and a perspective that I never had before. I know in discussions afterwards most of the team members are trying to determine what we can do about these older kids. Stay tuned

July 19th - Birthday Party

To celebrate our last day we held a birthday party for all the orphans - complete with ballons, hats, goodie bags and of course cake.

July 19th Final Day - A feast and Making Dumplings

We were treated and honored by the nannies and the leadership of the orphanage with a feast. On thursday for lunch, they taught us how to make authentic dumplings - yum and also provided a feast of the best corn I've had in a long time, dumplings, chicken on a stick, pork beef and these deep fried rolls with a vanilla butter that was out of this world. Yummmy!

July 19th Still More Purchases with the kids using them!!

July 19th - More Purchases

God really blessed the efforts of this mission trip. We were able to purchase items above and beyond the needs of the orphanage. Natalie and Bob felt that when they were shopping Jesus was feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and fishes. While buying outfits for all the kids (48 in total), the store gave them an extra shirt for each kid. Below are some of the pictures of the items purhases.