Trip Update

Over the past couple of days we took part in several different things from helping out at the school to pearl fishing!

On Saturday we helped out with a scholarship sale at the school.  The sale included an assortment of donated items from clothes, books, baked goods, and handmade crafts made by the children to face painting and a sand art activity.  There was a huge turnout and all of the things that were not sold went to a local charity.  Our group split up by helping out at the bake sale, reorganizing clothes, face painting and sand crafts.  

Erin helping with the sand art activity

Face painting

Scholarship sale

On Sunday we joined Jenny and Alex’s fellowship.  It was great to meet so many different people and learn about how the group was formed.  After fellowship our group helped take care of children during a meeting for the adults.  We were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was a lot of fun! 

Our team before fellowship

On Monday we went pearl fishing with a couple of people that were friends with our group’s members.  Although the rain stopped us from going on the boat we did get to experience the market with all the different sellers.  One of the sellers actually let us collect a few shells ourselves in their personal shop!  After that we enjoyed an awesome lunch with our friends and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Alex and Jenny’s house.  

Lindsey with pearls

Group shot with pearls

We cannot believe that our time in East Asia is almost over.  We depart back to our hometown on Thursday.  The next couple of days are going to be a little unpredictable, but we will try to update the blog as soon as possible!  Thank you for all of the support and keeping our group in your thoughts! 

Half Way Through!

We cannot believe that we are halfway through our time in East Asia!  There are so many things that we have done at the school in the past couple of days.  

On Thursday our group participated in the Children's Day celebration at the school.  Each of the classrooms had different games like Twister and Minute to Win It, and even places where children could make no-bake cookies.  Our group divided and conquered among the school having fun alongside the kids and the adults as well.  In the afternoon we headed out with some of the teachers from the school to a lunch.  Then they offered to take us around the city and there was a cool historical museum that we explored for a couple of hours too. 

On Friday half of our group went on to teach another day with the Kindergarten class and the other half of us helped out different teachers that needed us.  This included everything from sorting books in the library to helping with a 1st grade class during reading time.  Friday was our last day at teaching at the school, which was a sad moment for all of us as we all bonded with the teachers and the students.  However, our sadness did not last long because we would be doing other activities at the school later on!  Our group loved teaching the kids about different animals and telling them stories! After school we headed over to the hotel for a short rest and then off to Alex and Jenny's house for dinner.  

Thank you all for supporting us and keeping us in your thoughts!  Father has been providing us with a great time in East Asia.  We will continue to post regularly as we have finally resolved the picture issue!  

Here are a few pictures from the past few days at the school:

Kids playing Twister

More Twister

Erin After Finishing Work in the Library

Making Paper Plate Boats

Coloring

Science Lesson

Homestyle Chinese Dinner

A Few Pictures

Here are a few pictures through Wednesday:

Our Team Getting Ready to Head Out

Flying Over the Rockies

Tennis with the Girls

Scooter Race! (Kathryn lost)

Erin Teaching

Animal Masks

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

Piecing together a Puzzle

Ruth Teaching

Lindsey Teaching

We Made It and the Past Few Days!

After a long 24 hours of travel we made it safely on Sunday night.  Although we were tired from all of the traveling we were excited for the few days to come.  On Monday, Alex's parents took us on a tour of the city and shared with us some of the history of the city.  We had our orientation with Alex and Jenny at their home.  This was a nice time to get to know the family and for some, catch up.

On Tuesday we worked on our lesson plans for the rest of the week at school.  Once we finished planning some of us got to hang out with Alex and Jenny's children for games of tennis and tag while the others of us got to work on sorting books for the school library.

Wednesday was our first day of teaching the children at the school.  Some of us worked at the newer campus and the others stayed at the older campus.  The children were a little shy at first, but by the end of the day we saw them opening up.  We did things from singing songs, reading stories, doing a boat building challenge to talking about different types of animals and creating animal masks.  It was awesome to see how Father let us interact with the students throughout the day.

We are really excited to see what the following days have in store for our group as well as the students and staff at the school.  We will be sure to update more in the future and thank you for supporting and keeping our group in your thoughts while we work at the school!

We are having some technical difficulties posting pictures.  Hopefully we will have it figured out for the next post.

Helping Out the Community

Last week our group had the privilege of helping Todd and Amy C. with serving a spaghetti dinner to their community.  Todd and Amy are the Apartment CARES team for Colonial Apartments.  It was an awesome experience for all of us to come together as a team to help out with this event.  Some of us served the dinner and others prepared the food.  We enjoyed learning more about Todd and Amy's work, meeting their neighbors, and seeing how they love to serve the Father by caring for their neighbors.

Serving alongside Todd and Amy gave us some valuable experience for our trip!  We depart in less than a week away and cannot be more excited to be able to work with people in East Asia.  Please keep us in your thoughts these next couple days as we continue to prepare for our time in East Asia!

Our group with Todd, Amy, and their adorable baby.

Our Prayer Calendar

We thank you for your prayers on our behalf for our short-term mission trip to help Alex and Jenny S.  We will be helping out at the school (GQA) during the first part of our trip.  We will then focus on working alongside the people at S-flowers (a safe place for children to go whose parents work in the Red Light district) and/or a local babies home.  To help you know what to pray for, we have listed our schedule of activities for each day.  However, right now we encourage you to pray for our team to have good health, to get our necessary supplies together, a good flight over and to have a servant’s heart that will help and encourage Alex and Jenny.

2015 Trip - The team working with the GQA students

Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Saturday, May 27

Leave Greensboro at 6 AM and arrive at 7 PM on May 28^th

Please pray for safe travel and that we will have open hearts to follow God’s directions for our trip.

Monday, May 29

Meet faculty and friends from GQA; sort and inventory library books; orientation with Alex and Jenny

I Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another: by sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”

Pray that we will be able to support and minister to the students and staff at GQA.

Tuesday, May 30

Prepare for English Camp on Wednesday and Friday; sort and inventory goods for GQA scholarship fundraiser

Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go:  I will counsel you and watch over you.”

Pray that we will be able to organize and present our material in such a way that it will bring glory to God.  Pray that the scholarship sale will be successful.

Wednesday, May 31

Run a full-day English Camp for GQA’s two 5-year-old kindergarten classes

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all you way acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

Pray that God will direct our paths so that the children will see God’s love reflected in how we interact with them.

Thursday, June 1

Help with GQA’s Children’s Day Festival; sort and inventory goods for GQA scholarship fundraiser on Saturday

Mark 12:30-31 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength . . . Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these.”

Pray that we will be able to see the people that we interact with as God would see them.  Pray that they will see God’s love reflected in us.

Friday, June 2

Day two of English Camp for GQA kindergarteners; final preparations for scholarship fundraiser

Isaiah 40:30-31 “Even youths grow tired and weary . . . but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Pray that we will have the energy, love and patience to work with the children at the day camp.

Saturday June 3

Help with the scholarship fundraiser

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you many overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Pray that others will see that we are filled with joy and peace as we work with the staff and faculty at GQA during their fundraiser.

Sunday, June 4

Church with the family and a Prayer Walk with John and Bev S.

Matt. 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Pray for those who attend the community house Church.  Continue to pray for unification of our team.  Pray God will strengthen and encourage the workers at GQA.

Monday, June 5

Free day to explore the city

2 Thessalonians 3:3-5 “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one . . . May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”

Continue to pray that God will strengthen us and protect us as we begin this new week.  Pray also that as we explore the city that we will see it through God’s eyes. 

Tuesday, June 6

Volunteer at S-flowers or babies home

Psalm 37:5-6 “Commit you way to the Lord: trust in him and he will do this:  He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn and the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

Pray that our interactions with the people would glorify God and that we would have servant’s hearts that shows God’s love for all people.

Wednesday, June 7

Volunteer at S-flowers or babies home

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Pray that we have the wisdom and the words to show God’s love for the people that we are working with.

Thursday, June 8

Depart for Greensboro, arrive at 5 PM on June 8^th

Psalm 9:1-2 “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.  I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”

Pray for safety as we return home.  Pray that our hearts will be full of praise and thankfulness for the Lord’s faithfulness during our trip.  Pray that we can apply what God has taught us during this trip.  Pray that God will continue to equip and strengthen the workers in the city to do the work the God has laid before them.

Welcome to the 2017 Team

The Team: (L to R) Kathryn, Susan, Lindsey, Ruth, and Erin

Being able to go to East Asia this Spring/Summer is an exciting opportunity for all of us.  This is a week and a half long trip of running a camp for kindergarten aged children.  We will be interacting with the local community and teachers at the school, as well as children from the red light district.  Along with tutoring the children in English we will also get to do other fun activities such as leading music, coaching sports, making crafts, etc. 

We will update this blog often as we prepare to head out on our trip and while we are away.  We hope that you will join us on our adventure to East Asia this Spring/Summer.  Thank you so much for your encouragement and support of our team!