Our visit to the Jackson Family Christian Care Center

Wednesday, July 28, 2010


I met my parents for the breakfast buffet in the hotel. I ate a boiled egg, lots of steamed vegetables, steamed buns filled with red bean paste and hot tea. It was very good.

Mr. Chen and his wife and daughter, Shi Shi, arrived around 9:15. They were also accompanied with John Li, one of our workers in China, as well as a translator. We walked across the street to a store and the translator asked an employee there which floor the books and toys were located on. We went upstairs a level and found the books and proceeded to select dictionaries, books for older children with information like history and animals and some books for the younger children. Shi Shi, the Chen’s daughter, helped select quite a few of them. It appears she enjoys shopping!

We walked over a few aisles and looked at sports equipment. Mr. Chen indicated they had plenty. We only selected three hula hoops in that section. We had found a book on the art of origami (folding papers to make shapes) so we asked another employee where to find the colored paper to use and we selected two large packages. Mrs. Chen and our translator also selected ink and calligraphy brushes which the children can use to practice their Chinese writing skills.

Shi Shi pushed our shopping cart up to the register and we started to pay for everything. After paying, I still had LOTS of money left! So I told them we had to do more shopping! We took everything out to the van and it was decided we would go to another bookstore. There was some discussion about purchasing another television for the care center but Chinese children tend to get addicted to tv and the internet so we decided books would be a better purchase for their education.

At the next stop, I walked in with the Chens, John Li and the translator. It was a very large bookstore with a much bigger selection. We selected books which had transfer pages to learn Chinese writing, books on art and music, etc. We also selected about five more dictionaries for the children. We paid for our purchases and I told them I still had money left over! In the van, Shi Shi winked at my mom and I over the seat. She was in the seat in front of us sitting with my dad and turned around to look at us. In the first store, she had pointed out a package of gum to me. I knew I had a package with me so I got it out in the van and her eyes lit up. I handed her a piece and she really seemed to enjoy it.

Mr. Chen said the boys had recently received new shoes from some volunteers but the girls could use new shoes. We drove to another area and walked through several different markets. Mr. Chen started negotiating prices at one booth with a lady. They were bargaining back and forth but it didn’t appear she was going to back down much off her price. We walked on to more booths with shoes but discovered all of them were much more expensive. We came back to our first booth and Mr. Chen bargained some more. Our translator helped some in the bargaining process. The lady climbed up a ladder to get more shoes in different sizes down out of an attic area. A man in the booth pulled boxes off of shelves with more sizes. We ended up with two large boxes of shoes for the girls. Guess what? I still had money left over!!! I calculated the average cost of these dressy shoes - only about $5.00 a pair!

I told little Shi Shi, “We must do more shopping!” As we left there with the shoes, we walked by a beautiful fruit stand. Mr. Chen and John selected green grapes, two watermelons, and a bag full of longyans. Longyans are round brown fruits which you peel. Inside they are white and there is a seed in the middle you remove as you eat them.
I still had more money left over because the fruit stand owner was not reasonable on her apple prices. We went to another fruit stand and they bought apples at a much better price and we finally used up all of the money!

We were hot and sweaty by this time and found out later that the day’s temperatures rose to 98 degrees. We piled into the van with all of our goods and drove to the care center around 12:15. There are winding roads to the care center and the scenery is pretty along the way. We arrived in time for lunch there. A few children came outside to see us and then they were all called out by the “auntie” with a whistle to line up for lunch. I walked around the side of the building to take a few photos after I took group photos out front with the children lined up to go eat.

Lunch was delicious. The children all went to wash their hands before entering the lunchroom. They were all eating while we toured the kitchen area. I came into the lunchroom and took more photos of the children eating.

We sat down and they brought out bowls of food for us. We ate rice, tomatoes sautéed with eggs, sautéed eggplant, tofu, garlic shoots with pork and corn on the cob. I was only cautious about not getting too much of the pork but I thought all of the food was very good. There was a darling little puppy dog wandering around. He grabbed up any scraps which fell from the table and outside we saw he had his own little bowl of rice!

I met all of the girls here and most of the boys at the care center. Some of the boys are shy or didn’t want their photos taken as easily as the girls did. They are all sweet, kind, polite, helpful, obedient children.
The older children help with the younger ones and they are always smiling and friendly. I fell in love with so many of them.

I went up to one of the boy’s rooms and took a few individual photos of the boys. I had John Li with me to help identify who they were as I took the photo. There is beautiful countryside all around the care center and I took a lot of pictures of the surrounding scenery too.

Upstairs the girls were all in a room sitting on beds together and I began taking photos of them too. They were all cute and seemed to be such good friends with each other. John helped me identify them in my photos too. He will be leaving JFCCC to go to another care center to become a director there. He is a great worker and very dedicated. He is always happy and loves the children. Stephen, our previous worker here, will be coming back to JFCCC. He has recently been in Luxi to search for orphans there for the next care center which will be opening soon - Refuge of Grace Christian Care Center. I brought four packages of “silly bandz” from Woodstock for the children and laid them out on a table for them to each pick one out. The girls went first and the littlest one (#77 Hu Xiao Xia) decided she’d have two! I let the boys pick from dinosaur and animal shapes. They all seemed happy to get a little something. We saved the rest to be distributed to the children who come back from summer break.

The children lined up in the girl’s room to give us their presentation. There were three young girls with handwritten notes to announce the festivities. The entire group performed together and then smaller groups were formed to do different songs and hand motions.
I took eleven videos of their performances. If you are interested in the videos, please email me and I will be happy to send them to you. The youngest little one at the care center walked over to get some attention from my parents. Her older brother and sister also live there and help take care of her.

It was an extremely hot day at the care center. There are fans in the children’s rooms and they were running so that relieved a little of the heat. We met in the office for a little while with Mr. Chen and John Li. I downloaded videos sent from Kevin Johnson and Christina Cruz for their assigned children who were there at the care center during our visit.

Only six children are staying at the care center during the summer holidays. When I told John Li (by email from Georgia) I was disappointed to only be meeting such a small number of children, he and Mr. Chen contacted children who had gone to visit relatives for their summer break and they came back to meet me. They had been practicing for their program for us and I was so happy there were about 30 children there to meet me and for me to see.

We all went upstairs to an activity room since there is more room to present them with gifts from the sponsors as well as an activity we had planned. Peachtree City Church of Christ has a group called, “Little Lambs” and they had each decorated a puzzle piece with stickers, markers and a photo of a child from the church ages 1-8 inside each shape of the puzzle pieces. There were 30 puzzle pieces which would form a heart shape when completed. We gave each of the JFCCC children a puzzle piece since there were 30 children there! The translator and “auntie” called out each number and the child came to the center of the room and put their piece in place each time. When they finished, the auntie got them to circle around the puzzle for a group picture. We think they enjoyed the activity and had fun doing something with us.

Mr. Chen stood at the table with all the purchases we had made that morning and selected four children, two boys and two girls, to come up to receive the gifts. He explained what the purchased items were and these four children thanked us on behalf of everyone. I think they were very pleased with what we had selected and I hope these gifts will be very beneficial to them.

After we met in the office, I wandered around some and took photos of a few boys who were playing in one of the boy’s rooms. I went upstairs and we got the “auntie” to start distributing shoes to the girls in their room. They ran to wash off their feet so they would have clean feet to try on shoes. They were sitting on the edge of the sinks in the bathroom to get their feet clean. The girls enjoyed trying on different shoes to see which ones would fit. The older girls were so kind and patient. They let all the younger ones try them all on first and then when they were finished, some of the older girls tried to see what shoes might fit them. I was so impressed with their actions and polite attitudes.

After distributing everything we had bought and meeting with the director, it was time to leave. By this time it was 5 pm and we were very hot and tired. I did not want to leave these precious children. I told our worker, John Li, if they could install air conditioning in a room for me, I would happily stay forever! A few of the children gathered on the second floor railing and waved down at us. It was a very emotional time for me. I just wanted to run back upstairs and stay!

Thank you so much for your letters, photos, videos and donations for these precious children. I am so thankful to the Jackson Family Foundation for sponsoring this facility and helping out the poor children in China. I love this job and appreciate all the Jackson associates who are a part of this program.

Atlanta to Pingliang - a long, long trip!

We spent almost all day on July 20th at the Atlanta airport. Flying on buddy passes does not guarantee us a seat. We thought first that we had a better chance on the segment to Narita, Japan, to go through NY but the plane to NY filled up, We changed our flight to Seattle and then stood by for the next three flights to Seattle, only to watch them all fill with sold out seats. Our friend, Harvey Boyd, who worked for Delta, checked out flights through Memphis to Seattle but they were all sold out. He told us we might take a chance and standby on the flight directly to Narita from Atlanta. It showed that it was full but we were able to get seats in coach. It was a long 14 hours but we were just pleased to be on our way. We had a few hours in the Narita airport before we took a near-empty flight to Shanghai. We took the high speed train from the airport to the end of the line and then got a taxi to the hotel. From the time we left home until we opened our hotel door in Shanghai, it was 30 hours. It was very hard to keep from sleeping on the last leg of the trip but I was afraid a nap then would keep me from going to sleep once we got to the hotel.

The next day we headed out to Expo. It has been open since April but there are now approximately 500,000 attending each day. We took the subway and bought our one-day ticket. Leigh Ann wanted to see the Chinese pavilion but we learned very quickly you need a reservation to get in to see it. Reservations were also needed for the Taiwan and Macau buildings. We asked how we made a reservation to see these and were told that every morning at 9:00 a.m. you can make the reservations for those buildings. Our ticket let us inside any other pavilion but they were scattered over several miles and the temperature was about 95 degrees. We waited in an outside line in the hot sun for almost an hour for the Hong Kong building and it was about a 10 minute walk through without anything spectacular to see. After the New Zealand exhibit, we decided it was not worth the effort and headed back to the subway to go back to the hotel.

The next day we took a taxi to the train station and took an all-night train (13 hours) to Pingxiang. Ronald and Mark, one of our workers, met us at the train station. We stopped at a nice hotel and ate breakfast at a nice buffet. It was a 30 minute drive from there to Luxi. We checked in at the hotel and left our luggage so we could head out to see the new care center.

Ronald started the remodeling of the 3-story building the first of May. He will have almost all of it completed in two weeks. It was in the final painting stage, the kitchen equipment is ready to be installed and the rest of the electrical work will be completed in a week. The bathrooms on the first floor are almost completed (they are ready on the other two floors).

This building was originally an office building so there were no showers and only one toilet stall at the end of each floor. It was later used to house old people. Now, there are baths for boys and girls on each floor. Floors will be cleaned and the beds will be assembled and rooms will be completed for the children. About the middle of August, children will begin moving in. What a lovely home it will be for some very poor, unhappy children.

Our only concern is the old people from the other two buildings on the same campus will wander in and out of the building. They put a temporary fence around the building to keep them out but it may be necessary to build a permanent fence for the children’s protection.

The government workers took us to lunch. It was a restaurant in the countryside (very dirty which gives us a little apprehension about the cleanliness of the food preparation). The meal was fair (if you like fish soup and chicken soup with all the parts included). We had smoked pork slices barely cooked, black-eyed peas with hot green peppers, bitter melon, pumpkin, steamed eggs, glutinous dumplings with water chestnuts and canned herbal tea. They wanted us to tour the beautiful gardens (which looked like they had grown up without any tender care for a very long time). The government officials offered to send two cars and drivers to drive us two hours to see some hot springs. Ron politely declined saying he still had much to go over with the workers.

We ate a quiet dinner at a local restaurant with just the four of us. Ronald has eaten there many times with the workers and the waitress spoke some English so ordering was not too difficult.

Today, the workers came to have family services at the hotel and then we went to lunch together. Many of the dishes they ordered at another local restaurant were not what we would have ordered but we managed to eat enough. The little appetizer that was brought first to the table was pickled seaweed. Ronald found a dead fly in it. The waitress brought some roasted peanuts out to replace the seaweed after we showed her the fly. We didn't find anything in the rest of the food but we didn't look very much. Sometimes it is best not to know. We had sweet and sour pork (with bone and fat), beef and potatoes (beef was actually tender like a roast), steamed fish (this one didn't have the head on which is unusual for China), eggplant (spicy with ground beef and hot peppers), cauliflower, greens and fried rice. The three male workers with us put away the food like it was their last meal.

We left this care center the next morning and took an 8-hour train ride to the Jackson Family Christian Care Center in Zigong. I will add Leigh Ann’s write up about the trip there. (Leigh Ann is our daughter and she works in the U.S. handling all the reports for this care center).

From Zigong, we took a 20 hour train to Xi’an. We got on at 10 a.m. one day and arrived in Xi’an the next morning about 6 a.m. We grabbed a bite at McDonalds (including an iced coffee) and boarded a bus for Pingliang, Gansu. It was a 5 hour ride due to a traffic accident that sent us on a detour road over the mountains. The road was narrow and rough and had broken pavement or no pavement part of the way.

We checked into our hotel and went to lunch with Jackie, our worker from Xi’an, who is in charge of the medical mission. Today, our medical team arrives from the U.S. We will have a “welcome” meeting tonight as well as a big dinner.
Tomorrow the surgeries will begin at 7 a.m. We have over 60 children already scheduled for surgery. About five children have arrived from our care centers for either cleft lip or cleft palate surgery.


The mission will end on August 15 and then we return to the U.S. Keep us in your prayers for a successful mission.

Lumpy and Lopsided, But Loved

Below is Carole Booker's last report before she left China to return home. We appreciate her so much for taking the leap of faith to teach these children. She has been a great blessing to the workers and children. We want to thank Carole Booker for her giving heart and valuable time to these precious children in China. Below is her latest message regarding her time spent in China at the care center.

Dearest Friends and Family,

In a few hours I will catch my last sanlunche, this time to the Tiandeng bus station. I have been busy with lessons and activities and getting to know the kids these past three weeks. I have also spent some time in solitude. Sharing my thoughts with you is good therapy for me.....

Almost exactly 3 and a half years ago the life I had known for 26 years blew apart. My life has turned upside down and inside out. I have gone through many changes over these years. I look back and see His hand in all those changes. After Donald died I wondered what I was going to do with the rest of my life. He was my anchor and now I was adrift.

It wasn't long until I began to see doors open before me. I never dreamed I'd be a teacher other than Sunday school. But the opportunity to start a new career was placed in my lap. The door to involvement in WCS was opened to me, and I walked through it. Beyond that was another door which led to deeper involvement. It opened and I walked through. Each time a door opened, I felt I was meant to walk through it. These were good people I was involved with, this was a good career and a good place to be. He was opening the doors and taking my hand and leading me through them. I see it clear as day. This is how "all things work together for good to those who love Him". I'm watching Him weave my life back together and it is amazing.

So it has been with this trip to China. Three months ago, going to China was nowhere on my radar. Then one Wednesday night in March the preacher caught me in the parking lot and said, "Have I got a deal for you!" They had received a call that there was a need for a woman to join the medical mission team to China and for some unknown reason my name was the first to come up. I was stunned by the offer, but began to think maybe I could do this. Is this another door? I decided to walk through it. Then more doors opened, others closed and no longer did I find myself going with a team of Americans to a large city in China. Instead I would be working alone at an orphanage in a tiny rural village in far southwest China. There would be one person who could speak any English.

As the destination evolved into a more and more remote location, fear began to well up inside me. I remember throwing myself on the bed, sobbing and telling Him, "I'm afraid! I shouldn't go out alone at night in my own part of town and I was going to the other side of the world by myself where I couldn't communicate. Why ME? I am the only parent my sons have, I have no experience with this sort of thing and there will be none to teach me, I have never been anywhere, much less China." When I dried my tears I had to ask myself, "Do you believe He is opening this door for you? Is this from Him?" I thought about those who brought my name up and asked me to go. I thought about what I was being asked to do. I thought about my circumstances and how they allow me to do this. I thought about how they wanted someone to teach English and how I happen to now be an English teacher. I thought about the need and the workers that are so few. And I had to conclude that yes, this was from Him. So there was only one more question to ask.
What do you have to be afraid of?

So I moved forward. This was a leap of faith like none I've ever made. He has kept me perfectly healthy and perfectly safe. Every challenge I faced He provided someone to help me through it or gave me enough understanding to figure it out and be successful. Now my task is almost done. I'll be saying goodbye to the new faces that are now familiar to me: Su Hong, Li Mei, Hai Lang, Qin Qiu, Fu Qiang, Cai Jian, Kai Zhong, Cai Xiu, Qin He, Zhen De, Li Xiu, Jian Tao, Xiao Ting, Xin Ying, Fang Fang, Dong Xue, Asan, and Lou and so many more.
It will not be easy.

I think of the work I did here as an offering of service to Him. It reminds me of when we made our first attempt at pottery in the 3rd grade and we made a bowl or some other vessel intended to be useful as a gift to our parents. We tried hard at that tender age and were proud of the results, but to look at them now we would laugh at our clumsy attempts at creativity.

This offering I made for Him these last few weeks is similarly flawed. It has a few holes in it. It is rough around the edges and lumpy. There are spots I missed with the glaze and...it's lopsided. But with my limited understanding and ability, it truly is the best I could create. And so I offer it unashamed because I know, like my earthly father, He will love it, lumps and all. He will put it on a shelf in that mansion over the hilltop and keep it with all the other offerings from His children. He remembers each one. Mine is among the most primitive looking. There are those like mine on the shelf and there are beautiful masterpieces, too. They are all on the same shelf and are each cherished by the Father.

Soon I will hear "Auntie Kai!" for the last time. I don't know if more opportunities like this await me or if I'm meant to take what I've learned and do something else. I don't know what doors will be opened next. I don't know where I'm going, you see, I'm not the driver. I'm learning to leave that to the One who has much better vision than I.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. Your love and support has meant everything to me.
I'm coming home.

Yours always,
Carole

English Teachers at the Care Centers

Each summer we encourage people to go visit our care centers to teach English and Bible classes. This year, directors were more diligent to encourage children to remain at the center for the classes or go back to visit relatives for a short time and then come back for the special classes. Although many students miss this special treat, those that are present truly enjoy the presence of an American teacher.

Steve Hawley from Westbury Christian School in Houston, TX is at North Canton Christian Care Center. Here is what he wrote this past week:



Good afternoon! The heat is oppressive but we are making it just fine. This morning, we had a class on ASK-SEEK-KNOCK that went well. Afterwards, we had an English class, discussing American weights/measures, currency, occupations, musical terms, etc. I even talked about the exchange rate of dollars and R.M.B.! Yesterday, we went on an adventure. We took the kids swimming at a river about 45 minutes drive from here. We had to go in two shifts because of limited space in the rented vehicle. It was a neat place where they took us on a boat across a river to an island where the channel was shallow. I don't think any of the kids can really swim, but they loved playing in the water with small innertubes. I joined in and left with a nice sunburn! It was so much fun! After we swam, we had a cookout on the island. Over an open fire, we roasted hot dogs, potatoes, eggplant, and leeks. Dessert was apples and watermelon. All of us were exhausted! You might notice in the picture that the children swam fully clothed. It took a long time to get the dirt off my khaki shorts! I broke down and purchased a pair of flip flops. Nobody here wears socks. It really was, for me, a matter of convenience as it is hard washing dirty socks by hand! Keep us in your prayers as we make headway with the kids. Several of the younger ones struggle as you might expect from not living with parents. They attach themselves to you very quickly. The older girls really seem to want to learn and they are very open. If I had a million dollars to help here, I would not know where to start in terms of facilities, but they do the best they can and the children are loved.
God bless,
Steve Hawley, Teacher

The next five or so segments are from Carole Booker who is also a teacher at Westbury Christian School in Houston. She has spent several weeks at John Connor Brown Christian Care Center in Tiendeng. Her descriptions of her life there are priceless and I know my readers will really enjoy reading what she experienced. She gave me permission to add this to my blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Subject: First day in Tiandeng
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:52:06 -0500

Hello from Tiandeng, China!
Wow, how could you fit any more experiences into one day? Asan picked me up from the hotel and we went down to the complimentary breakfast which was a large buffet in a beautiful dining hall, very elegant, but they wouldn't let me take pictures. Then we took a taxi to the bus station. Driving through the streets of Nanning was frightening to say the least and they don't have back seat seat belts which made it worse. Lots of bicycles and motor scooters and the occasional bicycle driven rickshaw, complete with traditional straw hat. I even saw someone carrying two buckets suspended from opposites ends of a long pole across his shoulders like I've seen in old movies. At the bus station I realized we had left elegant back at the hotel. It was hot and busy. They made me open my suitcase at security because I had an aerosol container of bug spray. Asan talked with them for a long time and finally they let me keep it. Funny, nobody had a problem with the can at the 3 airport security check points I went through. I knew this would be a long bus ride and I foolishly had 2 cups of coffee with breakfast, so I had my first Chinese bathroom experience at the Nanning bus station....a long trough....enough said. Outside of the city the scenery is beautiful. I didn't sleep any on the bus because I was fascinated with the mountains and farms. We passed several water buffalo grazing by the road and several more pullng ploughs in the rice fields like they've done for probably a thousand years. A few hours into the ride we came to the Tiandeng bus station outside the city. Asan said we would take another bus and then she said "this would be better" and we boarded a cart pulled by a motorcyle. At least it had a plastic sheet over the top for shade, but the back was open and needless to say, no seatbelts.....barely even seats. We bounced along for I guess 10 miles passing buffalo and locals until we came to the entrance to the care center which is located on a public school campus. The children were on a break when we arrived and they all came and stared and wondered who I was. They were all very sweet and surprised when I said, "Ni hao!" they giggled and Asan instructed them to say "hello" to me. They took me to my room which is the private room off the kitchen with the "western" facilities, PTL! Then I got a tour of the care center and met the workers. One of the workers fixed us lunch and we sat to eat rice with tomatoes and chicken skin and cabbage. They don't drink anything with their meals here. After lunch I tried hooking up to the internet which eventually worked and then I met Lou, the director. We talked about when I might be able to schedule a time for classes. At first they said the children are too busy with school for any other lessons and I was very disappointed. The more we talked they decided I could teach on Saturday and Sunday if the students would be willing. I will just have to make it exciting enough to draw a crowd. I observed the children have several breaks during the day even though they have school until 8:00 at night. I decided to try to do most of my teaching outside during those breaks. When I hear the school bell signal for break time, I'll go stand outside and try to look interesting. I tried it this afternoon and it worked! I drew a crowd of children who asked me all sorts of things and wanted to know the English words written on their shirts and teach me Chinese words. Asan said one girl wanted to tell me she loves the Father and wants to hear GB stories. I was thrilled. Another girl wanted to tell me I had big beautiful eyes. That was nice, too. When the kids went back to class I took a nap. They woke me up for dinner where I was introduced as Auntie Kai. The children are wonderful and very happy. I sat at a table with 7 children and they took turns trying to help me pronounce their names. They laughed at me a lot. After dinner Xin Ying, one of the 2nd graders took me by the hand and led me all over the facility and finally yelled across to someone at the entrance and we both went running towards them. It was Lou about to take 3 boys on an evening walk through town. Xin Ying pulled me out the gate with them, I must admit I was a little aprehensive since I was with no one who spoke English. We walked about 30 minutes down streets and through alleys between houses and past a pig pen and through a rice field to a trough where women were washing clothes with Tide. Once back inside the campus gates Xin Ying escorted me through the school corridors and before we knew it there were about 20 girls following us and giggling and saying "hello". We went to the girls dorm where one girl showed me a coloring book of GB stories. I was reading it to a couple of girls when another one came in and insisted we go down the hall. When we did I saw a group of the girls line dancing to a children's video and they wanted me to watch. They were adorable. Finally I explained Auntie Kai needed to sleep and I said "wan an". Now I'm under my mosquito net with a fan about to sleep on a piece of plywood. I hope to sleep like a log because I am truly exhausted. Love to you all. Hope everything is well in Houston. Sorry for the long email - lots to say.
Love,
Carole (Auntie Kai)

Subject: China update
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 02:27:49 -0500

Hi everyone,
This is my 5th day at the care center. I taught 4 lessons over the weekend and they went well. On Saturday the son and daughter of an Australian missionary in Tiandeng came to the care center. They said they heard I was coming and they wanted to come see me. They interpreted for my classes. Their father's name is Ross Meredith. I don't know if anyone has heard of him or even what denomination he might be, but I think the children frequently come to the care center to help. They are older teenagers and grew up in China/Taiwan. They said maybe I could come over to visit them in Tiandeng while I'm here. I hope that works out.
It is Monday so the children are back in school and taking their semester tests tomorrow. I listen for the school bells and then go out to the yard and read to the kids or play with them or take pictures of them. Ron Brown's friend, Lowell, makes videos for fundraisers for the care centers and he asked me to videotape a few of the children and provide a little "up close and personal" information for them. Many of the students will go home after their tests (home being a relative who takes care of them during the summer break) so I've been busy trying to do this before they leave.
It is extremely hot here. It has to be 100 today and no breeze. The fan in my room makes it feel like only 90. It's hard to sleep. I've given up on the mosquito net because it breaks the breeze from the fan. I found a couple of quilts to put under me on the plywood bed which has helped a little.
I'm getting to know the children and many of their names. The girls are much more social than the boys. You can always find the boys, especially the younger ones playing in the waterway that runs through the center of the orphanage. This waterway is used for everything; laundry, bathing, rinsing mops, playing, swimming, washing pots, rinsing garbage pails. The boys found some leeches in it a couple of days ago which made for lots of entertainment. Today it was guppies.
Tonight I will find a group somewhere after their classes and have more impromptu lessons. After lunch today the little library on the boy's floor was open and I went in there with a few kids. There were some bilingual GB story books there and we read them.
The food has been rice and some kind of "mixin" at every meal. Today I think it was pork and some green beans.
I will write again soon. Love to all.
Carole

Subject: 2nd week in China
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2010 08:34:47 -0500

Ni hao!
I'm into my second week here and a bit more settled into the routine, trouble is the routine keeps changing. The children finished their examinations Wednesday. We took another long walk with some kids Monday evening around the town here, Rong Hua. The scenery is beautiful, the poverty is devastating. Yet at least the homes I see are made of cinder blocks and not sticks and mud. We passed a gaggle of geese and honked back at them. We passed a big lily pond and the girls picked the huge leaves and wore them upside down as hats - so cute. When we finished our walk through the rice fields we came back to the village and the local farmers were parked as usual selling produce. Lu noticed there was a very good price for watermelons so we stood at the watermelon truck while he bought about 10 of them. Xin Ying was ecstatic. You would have thought she was getting a triple scoop of ice cream. Everyone carried a watermelon back to the center and we had them for the evening snack. I was not given a lesson time because of the school work, but thought I would try to squeeze one in. I know I don't have many more chances before most of them leave. I took the perfume samples upstairs to the girl's rooms a little before bedtime. I opened them and showed the girls what they were. Quickly a crowd gathered and I asked one of them to get Asan to translate. I told them the story of Mary pouring perfume on his feet and how she loved him so much because he had forgiven her so much and how he loves us. I explained my friends had collected the perfume samples for me to give them and they squeeled and quickly all of the samples disappeared. They laughed at the ones they didn't like and swooned at the ones they did. It was a big hit. Thanks to all of you who helped me with that.
Tuesday Asan said she needed help on an errand in town and asked if I wanted to go. I was happy to go and see the world outside. We took a san luan chue to Tiandeng town. We were going there to find a storage room where the care center kept a supply of quilts some ladies in the US had made for the orphanages. We were to count out about 70 of them and ship them to Nanning where they would be taken to the new care center opening in August. The storage room was on the fourth floor. We pulled quilts out of huge bags and melted as we counted them out and stuffed them back in. Then we had to carry them down the stairs. It took both of us 3 trips and we were completely spent. Asan is no bigger than me. When we had brought them down and stacked them in the alley we stopped at a little store right there and had a cold coke.....best one I've ever had. Then we walked the streets looking for a shipping company to send the quilts to Nanning. The second shipping company we tried agreed to do it so we walked back to get the quilts. Fortunately they sent a san luan chue to carry them back for us! We were also picking up a water machine there so we rode the delivery truck (san luan chue) back to the care center with the machine and some other supplies. Very tired when we got back. I had not done a lesson with the kids that day because they have tests tomorrow and Asan said I should not do a lesson. When it was dark I saw a thunderstorm in the distance over a mountain and put a chair outside my room and sat to watch it. I sang "How Great Thou Art" as I watched it. Xin Ying heard me singing and climbed in my lap to listen. I remembered the last part of the chorus in Chinese from our Chinese church and and sang it in Chinese and she jumped and turned around and looked at me and laughed. Then I sang the "He loves me,This I Know" song and sang the first phrase in Chinese and before long she was singing with me. Then she got a wild hair and started running all over the courtyard yelling the son loves me in Chinese. I think I just did my lesson.

Asan will be gone some of next week so I will be without anyone who speaks English. She has arranged for me to take the 10 remaining children into Tiandeng town to teach them because someone she knows there could translate. The part about me taking the kids into town by myself is a little unnerving. I am to teach in town next Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The new translator has invited some local children to come to my lessons also, but she doesn't think many will come. On Tuesday and Friday we will stay in town and eat lunch somewhere and then look around town. Tiandeng is much larger than Rong Hua, but that's not saying alot. There are lots of little storefronts for all kinds of goods, but nothing like a KFC or Starbucks...not even close.
I was trying to do a lesson last night, but in the middle of it Lou called a meeting of all students and everyone disappeared. I'll try again.
Government came to visit yesterday. I missed the opportunity to meet them, coming outside just as they were leaving. They said they heard I was here and wanted to see one of my lessons, but that wasn't the reason for the visit. Asan doesn't think they actually will.
Many of the children left the center today for summer break. I said goodbye to Xin Ying. I'll tell you all about her when I come home. I cried as I watched her leave. I hope she will be ok.
I gave a lesson to a few of the remaining children tonight. A large part of it was spent reading the death, burial and resurrection out of a children's version one of the students had. Someone had supplied the bilingual books to all the children and they wanted me to read to them.
I know you are tired of reading by now. I'll try not to write so much next time.
Love to all.
Carole

Subject: A new adventure
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2010 06:19:28 -0500

Hi everyone,
I'm still doing fine, haven't gotten sick!The last couple of days have been eventful. Friday the 6th graders took their examination to get into 7th grade. I was sitting in my room this afternoon writing during the kid's rest time and looked out to see a snake peering over the walkway by the office. Wanting to be able to sleep tonight, I went up to make sure I knew where it was and then looked for Asan. She was nowhere so one of the teenage girls came out and I pointed to it. She squealed and yelled something and Lou and all the boys came running out. I fully expected to be laughed at and the boys to be playing with the snake the rest of the afternoon. But they looked just as horrified as I was. One boy slapped it with his shoe as it was trying to get away and then crushed its head. Chao Song slung it over the fence. I guess it wasn't the kind you play with.
I had a lesson tonight on feeding the 5000. These kids know most of these stories from the director that was here before, so I had little Qin Qiu show the pictures and tell the story herself. We do simple conversation, greetings with the puppets I brought which they love.

Then it was movie night. It was HOME ALONE - the original. One of my favorites. I sang along with all the songs.
Saturday I was planning to work on my lessons more for teaching in Tiandeng next week, but Asan came to get me and said they were going into town to have a competition, so I went along.
When we got to the site, the lady who will translate for my lessons next week told me we had a problem. Apparently 18 neighborhood kids wanted to come and there is not nearly enough room for all of them in the location we had planned. A local school teacher had heard I was coming and encouraged the students to come. When the translator told the teacher there were too many, she offered for me to use a room at the public school. I was hesitant because I was nervous about traveling there on my own. I said I wanted to see the school so it was arranged for Asan and me and the new translator to go look at the school after the competition was over.

The competition was a sort of debate. They practiced for a good 3 hours in this cramped room sitting on little stools while Asan explained the debate process. Then we left for lunch and the real competition would be in the afternoon. I witnessed some unpleasant events happen in the market place as we were looking for a place to eat and pretty much lost my appetite. The girls were very sweet, they saw me crying and were very concerned. I couldn't help it.
After lunch the debate started. It lasted 2+ hours. Our kids wouldn't have lasted 30 minutes and these worked on this for 5 hours, no complaining, no talking out of turn. Plus, school was out for the summer and it was a Saturday.
Afterwards we walked a short ways to the public school. I was expecting to just look at an empty classroom, but when we arrived we were ushered into the headmaster's office where we met her and a dozen other teachers. Even without speaking the language I could tell this was turning into a much bigger deal than anyone thought.

The headmaster said that if we were going to use her classroom she wanted more of her students involved in the class. So now I am teaching 38 students for 4 days next week at the public school with the teachers and headmaster in attendance. Not exactly what I had in mind. I'm a little stressed out!

There was a park with a waterfall nearby and we walked over to it before catching the san luan chue back home. Several kids were swimming, some sans-suit. There is a trail up the mountain next to the waterfall that leads to a pagoda looking gazebo that overlooks Tiandeng. I expect we'll go up there next week.

I decided to write Ron Jr. and tell him about the teaching situation next week in case this is not something he wants me to do. He said it was ok for me to do it, but it was way above and beyond what they brought me here to do and I was under no obligation and he could cancel the whole thing if I want him to. It's nice to know there's a knight in shining armor who can save me when I get in over my head, but I told him I would go tomorrow and see what happens. Without Asan here, my teaching abilities are greatly handicapped, so at least I could still be doing something productive. Ron called later to tell me that they had arranged for Ms.Xin to pick us up at the care center and take us to the school. Then she would be my interpreter. I was told to stick strictly to the English. It's funny. These people think I know what I'm doing. This is my first time to do something like this. All my students speak English. I'm feeling my way in the dark here. Say a prayer for me and I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.
Love to all,
Carole

More Tiendeng Tales
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:18:01 -0500

Hello again!,
I've managed four days without a translator and I'm doing quite well. Asan was supposed to be back Wednesday, but she didn't arrive until everyone had gone to bed. But the good news is her trip tomorrow has been postponed, so she isn't leaving again. I have a bad feeling it's been postponed because of me. She really didn't intend to leave me by myself with this teaching deal in Tiandeng, that's just how it all worked out. Several kind people have stepped up to help me out and I've been well taken care of. I seem to have gotten closer to the kids in spite of the lack of communication. We're pretty good at body language and hand signals.

The classes I've been teaching in town have been going smoothly, but not exactly how it was described to me. I was supposed to have the younger ones Monday and Thursday and the older ones Tuesday and Friday. On Tuesday the younger ones showed up again. I moved on with another lesson, but had planned to teach the first lesson again for the older ones. I tried to explain to the translator that I wanted to know what happened to the older children. I was afraid they misunderstood that we were splitting the class by age and just thought they were bumped off the list. Today the younger ones came again, but about 7 older ones joined in.

In an email from Ron he said to always expect the unexpected in China.

The military was there again Tuesday, this time with rifles, but thankfully no gunfire! When I finished talking to the translator and teacher after class Tuesday, I walked to the school gate where Lou and the kids were waiting for me. The soldiers were taking a rest under some trees in the courtyard. As I walked by I heard a chorus of "Good Morning!" from among the ranks. I had to laugh to myself. I waved and greeting them likewise.

Lou told the translator to ask me if I wanted to go back to the center and rest or if I wanted to go with him and the children to get some lunch and spend the afternoon in town. I said I wanted to go with Lou and the kids. He was pleased. As we left the school to walk to the market area Lou took my backpack off my back without saying a word and carried it for me the rest of the day. I was so grateful. It was full of my teaching supplies and heavy. I felt badly for him, though, because it turned out to be a long day.

The first stop was at a supermarket where evidently we were getting snacks. The children were each putting their choices into the cart. I recognized some crackers, so I picked those and a bottle of COLD purified water from the cooler. The girls saw me swoon over a package of chocolate and strawberry cookies and they insisted I get those, too. I tried to pay for my own things, but Lou wouldn't have it.
After the market we went to eat lunch. We stopped at the same little shop where we ate on Saturday. After lunch we took the boys for haircuts at a nearby barber shop. They needed it. I took "before and after" pictures of each one. It was the first time in two weeks I had seen myself in a mirror bigger than a 2 inch pocket mirror......I was horrified. I have reached an all time low in bad hair days. This heat and humidity and riding in open air vehicles through clouds of dust and smoke has my hair a curly mess. I tried to straighten it up a bit, but it was futile.
While we were at the barber shop a young man and girl came in and sat beside me and said hello. I recognized the girl as a friend of the librarian's who was trying to learn English. She had brought the young man to find me because he wanted to practice English with me. His American name is Kevin Lee. He stayed with us the rest of the day. Before long he had input my email address into his phone, I have a new pen pal.
We walked to the park I mentioned a few days ago and we climbed the mountain to the pagoda at the top. There was a stone stairway that wound its way up the mountain. I counted 400 stairs to the top. A few of the stairs were normal, but most had a much higher rise and some were as tall as my knees. It was hot and I was completely exhausted when we reached the top. After I was sure I still had a pulse, I looked around and took more pictures. It was a beautiful view. When we got back to the bottom we sat by the little waterfall and swimming hole and ate the snacks we had bought.
Then we ran an errand. Lou needed to move everything out of that storage apartment I went to with Asan. So up 4 flights of stairs we went. Kevin came too. Everybody carried something downstairs, but every bag or item I picked up Kevin took out of my hands and said he would carry it, I was to carry nothing and just rest. Either he's extremely chivalrous or I looked like I was about to pass out. He came all the way back to the care center with us. He was very proud to play Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey songs over his phone for me. When we got back I went to my room and collapsed. It was 4:30.
That night 4 of the girls went swimming in the viaduct (or is that aqueduct? anyway the cement waterway thing that runs through the courtyard and comes from who knows where). I sat and watched and laughed with them. They begged me to come swim with them, but I respectfully declined - doctor's orders. I was warned not to stand in the water, much less swim in it.

I have a blister on my hand from playing badminton with the new cleaning lady.

I taught 23 in class today. Among other things we learned left and right and major body parts so, naturally, we had to do the hokey-pokey. I took them outside and showed them a simplified version of the old standard and they laughed, but they joined me. One older girl who knows some English came up to me laughing and said, "You are crazy!" Asan said teachers don't act silly with the kids here, but they like it. When class was over Mrs. Xin's husband picked me up in a different car. So far every time I've seen him he's been in a different car. They get better every time. (I'm looking forward to tomorrow!) Today it was a new Volkswagon Passat with working a/c and - BONUS - seat belts! I got the front seat this time so it was a glorious ride back to the center, over much too soon.

Funny things people have said to me:
A man walked up to me as I was waiting with the children and Kevin for a ride back to the care center and this was our conversation:
He: Hello. May I help you?
Me: Hello. No, thanks. I'm just waiting here with my friends.
He: Hello. May I help you?
Me: No, thank you. I'm ok.
He: Hello. May I help you?
Me: No, I'm fine thanks. (I was running out of answers)
Realizing I was not a great conversationalist, he finally gave up and walked off.

I passed a man in town and he said enthusiastically, "Auf Wiedersehen!" Now, I am actually half German, but I had no idea it was so obvious.

After having just seen myself in a real mirror for the first time in 2 weeks, Kevin came in the barber shop to converse with me, as I mentioned earlier. After awhile he said, "You look very nice". I thanked him, but I had to laugh. His English skills need a little fine tuning. What he really meant to say was, "You look like Harpo Marx."

Love to all,
Carole

Home is Always a Good Place

How often we look forward to trips but none of them compare to coming home. Getting back in our own bed, having a good shower and finding our routine is very comforting. It won't be for long for us but our time at home is really appreciated.

I don't miss the GPS lady telling us "Re-cal-cu-late. Make a U turn as soon as possible." If we don't do as she says pretty quickly, it seems that she decides to get even with us. It's first "In .5 miles make a right." When we miss that one, she says, "...make a left." At times, when we mess up, she can't decide which way we should go and neither can I. On our last day in Searcy, I told Ron, "Turn right at the next street." (I didn't have the GPS on because I knew the way to where we were going). He breezed right on past that street. I said, "What are you doing and where are you going?" He said, "Oh, I was just looking at the horses up ahead and wasn't paying any attention to you." It is amazing that I could honestly tell my neighbor when we got home that we were still speaking.

Someone asked us last night if we were ready to put our house up-for-sale and live in the RV. Before Ron could say anything, I said, "I'm putting the RV on Craig's list and listing it 'cheap.' Ken asked if I would just trade it for spare parts. I told him I would trade it for almost anything. Anyone could just make me an offer and I'd probably accept it. The problem is, it's not in my name.

We have settled into the load of work on our desks, handling a month's mail and getting everything unpacked and laundry completed. In spite of a little fellow from China that tries to interfere, we are getting back to normal.

The day we arrived home, Yun Fei, a six-year old boy with deformed hands arrived from China. His host family in Buford, GA is on vacation so Yun Fei is staying with us until July 6th. He's cute as he can be. He's not afraid and he's happy as a lark. But, he is very "naughty" sometimes. He loves to grab things on my desk and run. He tries to hit the keys on my computer or work my mouse. He literally hits Ron trying to get him to play with him. I knew he would not likely sleep upstairs in my guest room all by himself so Aida is going there to sleep and letting him stay downstairs with Judy. I think he slept well last night but the first night he was up by 4 a.m. and banging on our kitchen door upstairs by 7 a.m. He told Judy he wanted to go up and see if the grandmother was awake yet. I asked Judy and Aida how many boys they wanted. They both say just one (Judy said she would take two girls).

Aida said this boy is mild compared to the five-year old heart patient that just returned to China. He had surgery at the Mayo Clinic but Aida had to live with him and his mother for about four weeks. She said he not only touched everything, he tried to destroy everything he touched.

The one-child policy in China causes the parents to be very lienient on their child. Especially if they have a boy, he becomes the boss in the family and no discipline is administered.

We are beginning to prepare for our trip to China on July 20th. Knowing it will be hot, we have to take cool clothes that can be washed. Our latest newsletter tells about the mission. If you don't receive the newsletter on-line, please write me at patbrown10@gmail.com to get on the list.

In the same newsletter, we mention needing a host family for a 13 year-old boy coming in August for facial surgery. He has a Tesser palate, a horrible cleft palate that goes all the way to his eye (he does not even have an eye on the left side of his face). He will have as many as five major surgeries on his face and will be in the U.S. for one year or longer. It's likely we will have to house him ourselves because no one will want to care for him. He probably can understand Chinese but I doubt he can speak with the palate open all the way up the side of his face. He really needs a Chinese family for him to be comfortable. Judy will do a wonderful job caring for him, but she also has a very busy job and finding enough time for him each day will be difficult. Since he has never been to school, we can't give him home schooling. We can't give him speech therapy until his surgeries are completed. He is likely to be very bored every day as he recovers from each surgery.

I have to live one day or no more than one week at a time. I hardly fret over what will happen further ahead than that. The Bible teaches us that worry is useless and each day has enough trouble of it's own. I truly believe that, so I am learning more and more about living by faith and letting God work out the details of each day's problems. Maybe I have so many problems because I need him to help me and show me the way to greater faith in HIM.

I am very excited that Leigh Ann (our daughter) is going with us to China on this trip. She will serve as the photographer (when patients are not in OR or Recovery). She will ask nurses to take photographs there. We will both take our laptops and continue to keep up with our computer work as well. Leigh Ann is now in charge of maintaining the data base for two care centers (Jackson Family Christian Care Center and our new one that will open in September - Refuge of Grace Christian Care Center). We will have about 850 children in our care by the end of September. Handling reports from China and letters between sponsors and the children is getting to be a huge secretarial job. Paige Peterson continues to work from home 20 hours a week to assist me in this work also. It is so good to have two very efficient secretaries helping me. We all work together so well coordinating the workload.

Our son, Ronald, has done a marvelous job for the past year. I know he has worked and lived under very difficult circumstances. He has lived with the problems of language and culture and continued to turn out some excellent facilities for orphans. The government is very pleased with the remodeling of the building for Refuge of Grace. It is going to be a wonderful place for 200 children. We are still in need of sponsors. If you know anyone interested in supporting a child, please have them contact me.

Although Ronald is taking over the oversight of all care centers (maintenance of buildings, training and management of personnel), he really needs a break so he is planning to come home at the end of August when we return from the medical mission. He can celebrate his birthday in the U.S. and get some very needed R & R. He has taken on a very tough job, but he's proving his leadership over and over in every way. It is truly a sacrifice on his part to stay in China. We are very proud of his dedication and determination to do the best job he can for the poor children.
He is providing a great deal of relief for Ron by taking on these responsibilities and handling everything so well.

Ronald lived with us in St. Croix, U.S.V.I when we first began mission work. He was still there when Hurricane Hugo hit and destroyed most of the island's buildings. He built himself a little two-room house from relief materials shipped from the U.S. and continued to live on the island helping with the reconstruction process. He has learned to live with very little, but it's still not easy when he has a beautiful 4-bedroom house in the U.S. and has grown up with most of the luxuries that we have all known.

If we have any interesting things to report before we leave August 20th, I will post again. Since the blog is censored in China, I will have to send my updates to someone in the U.S. to post for me. (Leigh Ann has been doing this for me on previous trips, but she's going with me this time!)

Thanks for listening.

Some Wonderful People

We have met so many good people. There is a Christian bond that holds us together even when we are strangers. We arrived in Texarkana, AR yesterday afternoon and went to Walnut Street C of C, thinking that was where Dr. A. D. Smith attended. We could not get close enough to their building to plug in for power but while checking on that, Jennifer, one of their members came out of the building and offered her help. She told us that Dr. Smith's daughter went there but Dr. Smith went to a new church where two congregations combined to make one. She first started giving us directions but then said there is a lot of road construction going on so she would just drive and let us follow her. It was a lot of winding around construction and getting on the access road to get to the Hampton Church. As soon as we pulled in, Steve, the Associate and Youth Minister came out to help us park. We showered and got ready to have dinner with Dr. & Mrs. Smith. Although Ron did not speak at this congregation, we got a very warm welcome.

Today, we are answering emails but will secure everything very soon and leave for Searcy, AR. Ron will meet with Truth for Today and we will park there overnight. Truth for Today has translated our materials into Chinese and we have it all on a Chinese website. It has been wonderful for David Langley and his students. I would like to talk to them about the possibility of getting simple lessons translated and posted so our high school and college students who have access to computers would go to the web and take courses.

On Friday, we will drive to Paragould, AR. Ron will speak there Sunday morning. On Monday, we will be in Memphis, TN. On Tuesday we will be driving on to Atlanta.

Our trip has been very productive. We have accomplished a lot and have made some wonderful contacts for future support.

Keep us in your prayers. Thanks again for your interest.