If you had asked us (Bethany and Kristen) about two weeks ago what we were planning on doing this summer, our list probably would have included: going to the beach, sleeping in, summer camp, and just plain relaxing after a tough year of school. Never in a million years would we have even guessed what God had in store for us!
About two weeks ago, we found out that our good friends will have the amazing opportunity to work at summer camps in China with orphans this July…and they wanted us to go with them! Our first reaction was: that sounds nice, but it’s never really going to happen. Well, God had different plans, and here we are, less than a month away from a trip, across the world, to China. The past couple weeks, needless to say, has been a blur of activity, applying for passports, filling out forms, and just figuring out what we are actually getting ourselves into (plus a lot of prayer)!
If all works out according to plan, we will be heading off to China to work with orphans for about three weeks with an organization called Bring Me Hope. This organization puts on week-long summer camps for unwanted orphans who have never been loved before. Each week, we will both be assigned to one or two orphans and a translator. During each week of camp, we will be able to form relationships with both our “assigned” orphans and the translators as we will spend the whole entire week together as a “family unit.” This job will be exhausting! However, we are super excited that we will be able to give these lost, hurting, and love-hungry kids the opportunity to experience many things for the first time, things that we take for granted here in America, like: swimming in a pool, doing crafts, and just being loved.
We begin our journey of a lifetime, on July 1st, heading towards the coast of China and a city called Yantai. After two weeks of utter exhaustion, we move on to another camp facility in Xi’an. Being in two different camp locations will allow us to experience two different parts of China.
We are so excited that God has called us to serve Him in China, but we’re sure that there will be some challenges along the way, and we will definitely need your prayer! This trip will not be your average summer camp! The work will be hard and adjusting to the culture will not be easy. It has been a little frightening to hear the stories about how different the culture is in China! Watching a documentary about Bring Me Hope, we were surprised to learn that dog is one of the many unusual (i.e. disgusting) dishes that is served in China. We have made it clear that it is not on our agenda to eat anything that contains dog (not even “puperoni pizza!”)
Needless to say, we are going to need a lot, I mean, a LOT of prayer! Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of both the orphans and the translators to receive the love of Christ and also that we would be open to any new challenges that God has for us this summer (there will be many). Please pray that these unwanted kids will be able to see glimpses of Christ in us.
Thank you so much for your prayers as we make our journey across the world to help “orphans…in their distress” (James 1:27).
Amazing young women who were willing to say YES!
One of my favorite people in all the world surrounded by her beautiful daughters!
Kristen, Meredith & Bethany
The girls getting ready for their LOOOONG flight to China.
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