Blog Entry #6

Hi my name is Paul Rufrano. This was my first trip to SFCV and I hope to go again. It

was fun to play with all the children and see how they live from day to day.

I had never traveled to China and honestly 17 hours on a plane is not and was not appealing to me at all, but I went with the flow and made the best of it. I had no idea how jet lagged I would be so my transition into normalcy was a little shaky. There were a few days where I was up before everyone, but that gave me the opportunity to explore the grounds and appreciate how beautiful the trees and the lawn are kept.

I did not know what specifically I was going to do with the kids I chose to play with, but I did know I wanted to play with and help as many as I could. The first couple of days I stuck to this and I met and played with a lot of kids. When I say play with, I really mean I acted as a human jungle gym for most of them. One day though everyone was outside playing with the parachute that the Panda team had brought. My sister Michelle was holding this girl and asked me to take her because she was getting too heavy and I did. The girls name was Elizabeth she is 10 years old, has congenital spinal degeneration and is in a wheelchair. I played with her for the rest of the day and at some point she got hold of my iphone and so began her obsession with a game called Temple Run.

When it was time for the kids to go home I wheeled her to her house with her still playing on my phone. Incidentally Elizabeth lived in the same room as Noel the little girl Elissa and Alan are in love with, which was a nice surprise because we ended up spending more time with each other than we would have. A little bit later on a nanny came in and told Elizabeth that she was going to be moved to another orphanage very soon. At first she did not show she was upset, but when Noel and Charisa were told they started to cry and after Elizabeth gave them pictures of herself she did also. It was a very sad touching scene.

I ended up playing with Elizabeth for the rest of the week and got to play with Noel and Charisa as well. All three are very funny special little girls. I had so much fun with all of them. What I remember and liked most about Elizabeth is that she was very caring and like a big sister to both Noel and Charisa. She always looked out for them and made sure they were not picked on at least when she was around. Noel is the best when she eats. She seems to be a bottomless pit and enjoys every meal to the fullest. Charisa is very sweet and says what is on her mind all the time. She also has the best smile in the world too.

It was a great experience and I hope to go again very soon.

Prayers for Lucas!

Lucas will be receiving the cochlear implant procedure on Thursday, July 19th!

Prayer Warriors - please intercede for Lucas and his family:
1. For full deliverance and that the favor of God would rest upon their life.
2. For the procedure to go well without complications.
3. For the miracle of sound.
4. For Lucas’ recovery to be minimal and pain free.
5. For the follow-up sessions "mapping" (sensitizing) of the device to go smoothly.
6. For wisdom, peace and patience during this time.

Thank you!

 

Blog Entry #5

Today I went to the clinic (Samaritan House) to see V.  His skin looked much better but he seemed cranky.  Melissa, an Occupational Therapy student had therapy with him but cut it short since V. was not in a happy mood.  I held him and fed him.  He was not eating again.  I held the bottle for him but he refused to drink.  I had to wait for him to open his mouth (usually crying) to squirt the milk mixture into his mouth.  He was not thrilled.  It took a while for him to finish the bottle but glad he would not starve.

During lunch time, I went to the community outreach center to see some of the kids eat.  I was just staring at K. as he ate.  I just adored him.  He was cute as he slurped his noodles.  He is a sweet eight year old boy who has hydrocephalus (water in the brain). His head is large from his condition and he does not walk.  K. uses the wheelchair when he is out of the house.  At the house of Zachary where he lives, he moves by sliding on his knees and pulling on his arms.  He speaks English pretty well.  I then called out to L. on the other table but he said he does not like me.  I said it is fine because I like him.

After the siesta, I went back to the clinic.  I was playing with Mr. Handsome.  He is a good looking baby with big watery eyes, hence the nannies call him handsome.  He probably has heart disease since most of the kids in the clinic have some sort of heart disease.  He has an extra finger on his left hand, which looks like a skin tag on the side where his thumb is.  He was very active on the walker.  He seemed very smart in responding to the toys.  He was sick though, getting over a cold.  With the phlegm in his lungs, he breathed noisily.  I realized that the other babies are sick too.  C. and D. both had running noses.  I hope they will all feel better.  I worry about them since their bodies are already weak from their conditions.

My 12 days at SFCV went by so quickly.  I said goodbye to my teammates.  As I waited for the driver to come take me to the airport, the interns and I played two rounds of the Banana gram game.  P. and J. ( two of the older kids) were still out playing.  They wanted to come into the inn but they were not allowed.  When the driver came to pick me up, P. and J. came to say goodbye.  P. asked me when I would come back to SFCV again.  I said next year in Mandarin.  I would have said "maybe" next year in English but I don't know how to say maybe in Chinese.  I know P. wanted me to speak Chinese with him.  P. is a bright 12 year old boy who uses a wheelchair and he is like a big brother to all the other kids especially in the house of Zachary where he lives.  As my car was pulling away, he chased after it on his wheelchair yelling out that I have to come back, maybe next summer again.  He said some of the kids will miss me.  It makes me cry thinking back and seeing him at the gate of SFCV calling back at me.  He is such a good boy; he cares for the other kids.  I thought I was just one among the many volunteers there, I did not know I can make that much of a difference. 

I am glad I went to SFCV this summer.  I definitely miss the kids there.

Blessings,

Su

Blog Entry #4

Hi, this is Su from Queens Christian Alliance Church. This was my first time here at Shepherd's Field Children's Village in Tianjin, China.  God had called me to come to minister to the children here.  The children at SFCV have varying degrees of disabilities, some physical, some mental and others both.

I had such an adventure to get to SFCV.  My plane was delayed for about an hour.  By the time I got out of the gate, it was close to 1:00am.  I was disappointed to find that there was no guy holding a SFCV sign waiting for me.  I was wondering if I took too long going through immigration, getting my money exchanged and retrieving my luggage.  In my mind, I thought the driver who was supposed to pick me up waited 2 hours had left.  I did not know what to do.  I asked one of the attendants at the airport if anyone from SFCV came but they never heard of SFCV.  One guy offered me to use his cell to call SFCV but no one answered at that time.  I was convinced that no one was coming for me and I wanted to get some rest.  I stayed at a hotel nearby for the night.  I panicked in the beginning but then I knew that God would take care of me and I needed to trust in Him.  The next day I woke up and took the shuttle back to the airport.  At 7am, I called SFCV again but still no answer.  I was told that there is a bus that goes to Tianjin.  I thought I was being smart.  So the bus ride took two and a half hours to get to Tianjin.  I thought SFCV will just be 10 minutes taxi ride away.  Boy...I was so wrong!  It was quite humbling.  I ended up paying a bundle for my 2 hour taxi ride to SFCV.  SFCV is actually between Beijing and Tianjin.  Now my taxi driver would tell everybody how she drove me to SFCV and made a week worth of salary.  My teammates were overjoyed to see me.  Later I found out that due to miscommunication, no driver was sent to pick me up.  They went to the airport looking for me and could not find me since I’ve already went to the hotel.  My teammates were worried and thought I was lost.  God taught us many lessons due to this incident.

Last week, I spent most of my time at the Samaritan clinic, where some of the sickest kids were, mostly babies. There were eleven children in the clinic, with three to four nannies on the floor. I liked going there with my teammate Amelia to hold the babies. We got very excited whenever we were given opportunities to feed them.

Babies!

I felt especially bad for one of the children; his name is V.  He was just lying stiff on the floor mat and looked very uncomfortable; his skin was very dry and scaly.  I think he is three years old and his diagnoses are allergies and skin rashes.  I spoke with Dr. Ana and she thinks V. may be delayed since he does not talk or walk. They have not made any further evaluation with him yet.  V. does not have a very expressive face except when he is unhappy, he would cry, but he likes to be held.  I like to hold him as much as I can, and I tried to massage his legs and arms. I pray that I could be used by God to bring V. some love, joy and comfort.

This does not feel like a short term mission trip to me.  The grounds on SFVC are beautifully maintained with green grass, trees and flowers.  There are green plants everywhere, and also in each house.  We eat very well there.  The accommodations are great, with clean towels and comfortable beds.  Best of all we got to play with the children every day.  We took breaks when they had their naps.  We usually end our day with the kids at six in the evening unless we take some of them out for dinner.  I do wish I could speak Mandarin better so I could communicate with the nannies and the older children better.                                                   

Blog Entry #3

Amelia enjoying playing with a baby in the Clinic

From day one I am impressed by God's omnipresence.  My world has expanded as I realize how God's love for children reaches to the uttermost parts of the earth.  I am fortunate to have the opportunity to serve children who have been abandoned for various reasons.  As I venture out on this short term missions trip, in obedience to God's command to "Go ye into all the world," I realize that I am an extension of God's hand of love, as I show love to these children.  Although there is a language barrier, I pray that God's love will be evident in a touch, a hug,or even in a smile.

By Amelia Reid

Amelia with Clarissa

Blog Entry #2

As we made our way to SFCV despite many plane delays and a slightly frantic attempt to find Patricia, one of our team members who had been waiting for us in the airport, our eyes lit up at the sight of the gates to our new home. The five of us were all tired and very, very sleepy. 

As we pulled up to the gates, the drivers noticed a small red bundle next to the guardhouse.  We curiously looked closer as they picked up the bundle, and to our surprise and horror it was a small child who had been abandoned outside so late at night.  Thankfully we had arrived that night, as he or she could have been waiting outside for the rest of the night, easy prey for the wild dogs that roamed the area. 

After the infant had been brought in, we quickly moved our luggage inside to our rooms.  The rooms were nicely furnished with large soft beds and small couches inside as well.  Despite jet lag, I fell asleep quite quickly after barely unpacking.

The next morning we rose bright and early to do our daily devotionals, which as the week progressed, began to become one of my favorite parts of the day.  After eating the zone bars and granola bars that Elissa had thoughtfully brought along, we did a quick tour of the area and buildings.  We then began to move from house to house and finally get to meet the kids that we had heard so much about.  For me, it was a wild blur of cute children who instantly demanded to play. They approached all of us, despite being strangers, with unusual confidence and charm.  After the initial awkwardness of being new, the kids slowly yet surely drew us in.  Soon I forgot all about being new to this place and quickly began to mingle with the children.  At each house there was a new fresh wave of kids to play with, including other visitors who came to see the children.  We played and played, and by the end of the day we were exhausted.   During the team meeting in the evening, we each shared our experiences and any memorable events that had occurred during the day. 

On Sunday, we attended church at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship (BICF), which was a great experience for all of us.  There were quite a large number of people present, including my friend, Paul, from my college fellowship back in Brown. We were so surprised when he turned around and recognized me!  Such a coincidence.  After service, we proceeded to explore the Hutong area, and had lunch nearby. After we roasted outside in the sun, we went to a snack street to enjoy some more food.  It was quite an experience!  Despite the heat and long walk of course…

For me, the highlights of my trip were sitting in the preschool class and helping out Lin Lao shi.  With eight kids in his class: Noel, Maggie, Adrian, Francis, Mike, Luke, Grayson, and Bill, he was relieved to have some help to manage his rowdy class. I would say that Patricia and I really gravitated towards the pre-school class.  We quickly found our favorite kids there, Patricia had Grayson, and I couldn’t decide between Adrian and Francis.  Grayson was younger and extremely cute, but was very energetic and quite often a bit disobedient.   Adrian and Francis were two of the older kids in the class, both around 7 and 8.  Francis was a polite and had a sweet disposition.  By far the best behaved in the class, he was also extremely creative and fun to play with.  Adrian apparently had a history of being a bit wild, but I discovered a sweet side in him and surprising intelligence. 

Matthew with Adrian, Francis and Maggie in Pre-school

Patricia with Mikey and Luke

During class I would sit next to Adrian and Francis and watch and play with both of them.  We would do puzzles, play with toys and Legos, and do arts and crafts.  One fun memory of arts and crafts was when Teacher Lin gave me a glitter pen, since we did not trust the kids with it, and the kids would swamp me and attempt to get the pen.  It was so funny what excuses they would try to come up with to have it, but I maintained control of the pen.  Patricia also spent a lot of time fighting off kids who wanted her to “bao bao” them, or pick them up. 

While the kids were learning English and math, I earned my honorary spot on the floor mat next to Adrian and Francis, who apparently would not let me go.  They would either individually or both sit on me whenever they could.  Patricia and I quickly learned that Adrian, who was at heart a big baby, would smile whenever we hugged him.  He soon after became our favorite when he pieced together an extremely tough puzzle, which even gave Patricia and me a slight problem.

I hope to see more of these wonderful kids as the days go by, and continue to visit their cafeteria, houses, and school.  I feel as if all of our team members are finding a part of SFCV that we can each deeply root ourselves in!  I have heard news of a trip to the Agape house, a bakery nearby, which has children affected by osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease.  I’m looking forward to all the delicious baked goods that await me! 

Blessings,

Matt

Blog Entry #1

Team JAMES has expanded to include any of the original members' return missions trip to SFCV.

This time, a team of nine of us from four+ different churches got together in heart and mind, although with varying arriving and departing schedules, just so we can visit the kids at Shepherd's Field Children's Village.

The first group of five arrived at SFCV in the wee hours of Saturday morning (around 2 AM, due to plane delay), and came upon an infant swaddled nicely in a colorful blanket (too hot for such a hot summer night, I thought), at the gate! Our drivers were very disturbed by this sight and quickly called upon the gate guard to take this abandoned baby inside...

The team of fiver: Alan, Amelia, Elissa, Matthew and Patricia got up on Saturday morning for our first group devotions, led by our Devotions Coordinator, Amelia, who set the tone of our morning devotional time together. We then went to two of the houses to meet the kids there.

We felt mixed to find out that after six months of bedrest following his major spinal surgery, Grady had gone back to a hospital in Beijing for rehab - disappointed that we won't get to see his smiley face everyday here, but happy that he is undergoing rehabilitation to help him walk. We noticed that a lot of the kids we had known from our (Alan and Elissa) last visit in May of 2011, were no longer here...the good reason is because a lot of them had gotten adopted (yay!), and there were a lot of younger and more "visibly ill" children who have taken their places.

It was quickly lunch time and we joined the older school-aged children in the Community Room for lunch.  

During the siesta, we hopped into cabs to go down to Walmart to get our personal needs for our upcoming stay, and we came back excited to visit the last two houses, as Alan and I can't wait to see our Noel in the House of Peace - our final stop for the afternoon, so we can spend the rest of our visit with her.

Just like our last visit, Noel cried for a good ten minutes when she saw us, although this time some of the tears appeared to be bitter tears...after all, she hadn't seen us since last May! Her friends in her house gave her candies to console her. She ended up with four candies, which turned into an ice breaker for us, as she allowed me to open the wrappers for us to feed her. Very quickly, her tears turned into peals of laughter and squealing as she played along with Alan the same games we played with her during our last visit ("1, 2, 3...where is 4?" - counting the remaining candies, the 4th one being in her mouth...and she'd respond by pointing to her mouth for the fourth candy).

Noel crying and being given candies

Noel having a great time with Alan

There are a lot of interns present at SFCV at this time, and one of the interns commented earlier, "I've never seen Noel cry," and later, "Noel has never laughed this much." The whole house was filled with kids and lots of visitors' sounds, and especially Noel's laughter and the happy sounds she was making from playing with Alan.

We heard the wonderful news two Mondays ago that Noel had gotten matched by a family in the States! So one of our goals on this trip is to introduce to Noel the concept of "godparents." As the nannies referred to Alan and me as Noel's "daddy and mommy," I shared with them that we will be her godparents and will always be involved in her life as such.

Our teammates were able to get acclimated to the kids in the House of Peace and worn out by the heat in the house (no turning on of air conditioner this summer due to the exorbitant cost of keeping it on), jet-lag and being the human toys to these kids...

Patricia, almost 17, and the youngest team member, was bombarded by Grayson, who is the most active boy in the house. Who refused to let her go and rolled all over her, kicking and punching her (in the face!) during play. Matthew, who will turn 19 in a week, came to her rescue, and soon they were both fully occupied by Grayson. Moses, the 11-year-old deaf and mute boy, kept on pointing to pictures of his former friends, pointing to himself, and point to outside. Matthew surmised that Moses was trying to communicate that he was feeling sad that his friends have left him...Matthew heard a baby crying upstairs, and went up to console this baby, and that was where we found him when it was time to go, holding on to the baby's hands, soothing him/her and keeping the child company...

Matthew, Patricia with Grayson

Amelia, Matthew & Patricia playing with kids

Team James at play

Amelia spent most of her time playing and cradling Mia, a very stiff 6-year-old girl who has Cerebral Palsy, until she couldn't take the heat generated by the body warmth adding to the temperature of the house...she had to let go of Mia and regroup. She then played with other, more mobile kids...and ended up with another stiff boy, Teddy, who is a 5-year-old, also with Cerebral Palsy, using baby massage techniques Julie Wyatt, PNP, had taught us, to calm his incessant crying...

Amelia caring for Mia, who has CP

We then went out to dinner with Jamie, the Guest Relations/Volunteer Liaison, and Chrissy, another long term volunteer, and acquainted with one another over good and very cheap meal. The meal was gifted to us by Sean, from QCAC, who was very interested in joining us on the trip this year, which didn't work out for him this time around...thank you, Sean! As the meal turned into one eat-in meal and food enough for one plus more meals for the team!

After our Debriefing Meeting, we all returned to our rooms to catch some early snooze, in preparation for the next day's Sunday Worship Service and a day of touring in Beijing...

Elissa

Redeeming Love of Christ

We set off for China (May 2012) for an adventure that would encourage, heal and bring God’s love to those that He brought into our path.  We visited four different cities while in China. What a privilege to pray with God’s servants.  The students that we met with were so happy to experience God’s love and healing.  Thank you Jesus that you care so much for your workers.  We also had some vacation time and saw the Great Wall and the Terracotta soldiers in Xi”an.

Near the end of our journey we arrived at SFCV to meet and love on the children.  We were able to play with many of the kids.  We took them outside in the yard and pushed them on the bikes and ran around with them having a great time.  Inside the various houses we held and loved on the little ones. We went to Samaritan house to see and hold the children who are recovering from surgery and are more fragile than the other children. There were a couple of little babies that we held and loved on that had recent heart surgery.  The little girls smiled and made “happy sounds”… so innocent and open to be loved even though they have experienced so much pain in their short lives.

Julie playing with Clarissa and Noel

JJ taking Josiah and Cody for a spin with a little help from Julie

Wendell pushing precious cargo

Saying goodbye

Ah the redeeming love of Jesus… thanks to the Bakers, Moodies, staff , nannies and volunteers that daily make a difference in the lives of these precious orphans. Let’s remember to pray and support SFCV and the work that they do.

Blessings and love,

Julie and Wendell

Updates on Lucas

Hi everyone, 


We are delighted to report that Lucas is finally home with his family and he is doing well. He is on his way to receiving the Cochlear Implant procedure.  You may follow Lucas’ Journey to hearing on this link. Please continue to lift him up in prayers.

Blessings,