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.