Updated Photo Albums

I have spent the last few days updating the photo albums for all of our recent mission trips so that they can be uploaded to our website. If you check out the bottom of my blog you will see that I have added some new team photos to the map. The website will have full photo albums of each trip so that you can see what each team accomplished while they were serving on their trip. I'll post something the day they are available.

China: Day 5

Today our schedule included visiting an orphanage, the Forbidden City and an acrobat show.

The kids at the orphanage were great. This is a place that takes kids with major health issue and then gets them the medical help they need and then works to get them adopted into a home. These kids would not live very long in a regular orphanage, but thanks to these people, they have a chance for a normal healthy life. The little guy on the right has had surgery on his back and he moves along pretty quickly with that walker.

From here we headed to the Forbidden City and then took in the acrobat show. Although this trip was mostly informational, my prayer is that God will use these expereinces in the teams lives to go back home and make a difference in missions in our local community. We have learned a lot about prayer and spiritual warfare and have seen the needs up close and personal. Anytime we step out of our normal comfort zone and expereince someone else's world we are changed. The next step is to do something with that change that will impact the world around us.

China: Day 4

Today we had the chance to visit Beijing University and meet some of the students. It was very interesting to see that college students are the same everywhere. Many of those we met had a number of questions for us. We walked the campus asking God to raise up this next generation of Chinese young people to know and serve Him. The future of China is there studying on that campus and God has a plan for them. We need to make sure that we are interceeding for them on a regular basis.

After our time there we took a trip down to Wa Fung Jing street to sample some local treats like snake, silk worm larva and a number of other things you don't want me to mention. Here are a few photos...

Apparently you can get most things on a stick in downtown Beijing. I think there were a few heart and kidney kabobs, something that looked like a tiny little lung kabob as well as the very popular lambs testical kabobs. By the time we had finished walking through there I was not the least bit hungry...in fact I wasn't sure if I would eat again...and then we saw McDonalds and of course...I was hungry.

China...Day 3

Today we visited the Temple of Heaven. To me, this was one of the most interesting places that we visited. Our friend was telling us the history of this place and of the many similairites it had to the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem. The Temple of Heaven was the place where once a year the emperor would come to make sacrifices to the God of Heaven and Earth for the sins of the Chinese people.



The Chinese culture was built on the foundation that the God of Heaven and Earth was in control of everything and just like the nation of Israel, they would atone for their sins once a year with the sin sacrifice of unblemished animals.



The picture below is of the Circular Mound Altar where the sacrifices would have been made. Around the outer edge of this altar the courtyard would have been filled with musicians who would play worship to the God of Heaven and Earth.



Over the years the Chinese culture has turned more toward ancestor worship as well as other things, but it was interesting to see that back in the early foundation of this culture, there was an understanding of the one true God who ruled both heaven and earth and that they chose to worship and sacrifice to Him.

As we walked in this place, we prayed for the people and the nation of China. We asked that God would open their eyes to the truth that is already a part of their own culture. The roots of Christianity are growing there in their own history if they choose to see it.

There is an excellent book that does a great job explaining the roots of Christianity in the Chinese culture called "Faith of Our Fathers: God in Ancient China" If you are interested in finding out more about this topic that would be a great book to pick up.

China: Day 2

Today we went to the Great Wall. We took the gondola to the top of the wall and walked for about an hour across to a toboggan slide that you rode to the bottom of the mountain. It was pretty cool. Everyone did pretty good walking on the wall. We ate at a Jaozi (pronounced jout-za) restaurant, which is a dumpling type of dish that is filled with different things like meats and vegetables.

We brought with us to the wall two Chinese nationals. Both of them are believers and they shared with us their story of life in China as a Christian. I was humbled as they shared of the persecution that they face and yet the boldness with which they choose to talk to others about Christ. The lady was telling us of how around 20 people had come to the Lord during a long trip she had recently taken on either a bus or a train...I don't remember which. She shared how house church leaders were being persecuted, but that things seemed to be getting better and tolerance of these groups was coming. Throughout the day with them, they did everything they could to serve us. We came to serve them and they ended up serving us.

A few funny things...the team had it's first chance to barter at the markets and that seemed to overwhelm some of them. When we shop we are not use to having people grab us and pull us into their store, but they is the norm here. Speaking of being grabbed...many of us have been pulled into pictures today with the Chinese people who are visiting the wall. I guess it is a big deal for them to take home pictures with Westerners. Many of the people we saw would not have had much interaction with people like us so it was a big deal to them. We found it funny!

In the coming highlights you will notice that I have not included photos of any Chinese nationals with us. That is to protect them.

China: Day 1

The Summer Palace

Here are some highlights from each of the days we were in China...



Sunday...we have been traveling for two days and have had a decent nights sleep. We are heading to church this morning to celebrate Easter with people from around the world at the International Christian Fellowship. This is a church where you have to show your passport to enter because Chinese nationals are not allowed to attend. There were people from over 70 different countries worshiping there together.



Today as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ I was reminded of a quote that impacted me and left me thinking.



"Resurrection means that the worst thing won't be the last thing."



After church we went to the Summer Palace and did a bit of sight seeing. In the evening we went to dinner and met with a Chinese man who shared with us about the church in China. He lost his job for being too outspoken about Christ and it was amazing to hear his story. He is very upbeat and excited about all that is happening and was not at all defeated by his change of position. He saw each day as an opportunity to tell others about Christ.



At the end of the day we were all exhausted and feel asleep quite early as the next day we were heading to the Great Wall.

Hey...What Happened to the Updates????

Well if you have been checking the blog for updates on China, you have probably been wondering why I haven't written. Well here is the answer...

Blogger has this really great feature that lets you blog in a bunch of different languages...Chinese being one of them. So when I got on to the computer at the Internet Cafe the site came up in Chinese, which would make sense since I was accessing it from China. The problem comes in the fact that I don't read Chinese and the layout is a bit different than our US site. I couldn't figure out how to log onto my blog. And even if I could have, it would have been in Chinese. My friend that I was visting said that happens to him sometimes. Sites just don't come up in English and unless you can read enough to figure out how to change the language you are stuck. So I was stuck!

That is the main reason the blog was not updated...the alternate reason is that even if I could have logged on, I would not have had much freedom to write as everything on my blog was subject to being read by the authorities. After realizing that my blog mentions that I am a mission director, it didn't seem prudent to take that risk, even if I could have. My friend in China said that a number of those serving in China have recently been kicked out of the country and I didn't want to risk endangering anyone there.

So in the next few days I will be posting a day by day recap of the trip, along with some pictures and some of the things that we have learned while traveling. Thanks for praying for us. We had a good trip and have gained a new appreciation for all that those serving in China face on a daily basis.

Mexico Day 6

Hola from Rio (Brooke), Sister Ann, Esperanza Smellybud Damprock (Brittini), Pedro (Mary), Mamasita Christy, and last but not least El Guapo (Dan).
Well, it is another beautiful sunny day here in Puerto Vallarta and we have been working hard all the while wishing that there was at least 8 inches of snow on the ground and freezing temperatures.
This morning we went into the dump area to a little playground near the School for Champions to pick up all of the trash that was there. The job started to go very quickly when three of the local boys ( Raul, Andy and Juan) came by and started running around the place helping to pick up. As we were finishing up and the park was looking great a mom came in with her little baby boy and then said to me "Hola mi amiga" (hello my friend) and then went to push her little boy on the swing both with smiles on their faces. We then continued on to the School for Champions just down the road and our new friends that helped us to clean the playground followed along wearing their new work gloves we gave them. They so wanted to come and help us do some cleaning within the school grounds but we had to say goodbye because only those children who attend the school are allowed in. Hopefully by leading by example we have made an impression on them as well as those that have seen us working hard in the community this past week. Anyhow, we did another cleaning of the School for Champions and now we are preparing to go and have a meal with our new friends at the church.
Our trip to Mexico has turned out to be nothing like we expected but full of blessings that we never even imagined. Our team has worked so well together as a unit and laughed all the while. We have all remained flexible and done whatever was needed by those running a very huge ministry in areas surrounding Puerta Vallarta. We are all looking forward to coming back to visit with you and share all of our photos and stories. We´ll see you soon

--Brooke

Mexico Day 5

Today is my day to write about out days activities. We went back to the church we painted on Tues to finish the iron gate. We got it almost finished but it is quite a chore. We mix black paint with paint thinner and it smells great. After Brittney has been painting for awhile she comes alive and she tried her hardest to tease Anne and get her to break but Anne held true to her composure and gave it right back which made us all laugh. Dan on the other hand spent the whole time trying to bribe Enhenio to kill the rooster that kept cockadoodeling. He kept saying he would pay 200 pesos if he would kill the rooster. Dan finally yelled - in Spanish - kill the rooster and just then 5 of then let loose which even made Enhenio laugh. Once we were finished we went back to the church where we said goodbye to Anne, Brooke stayed back because she was not feeling well and Anne wanted to be with her. We, on the other hand, stayed back for a lunch that none of us, but Christy, liked. Really hot soup with sponge cheese and some kind of chicken salad on a toastada. After that we took our VBS material and went to the School of Champions. The was the best part of our day. Before they told us we could not give lessons about Jeses because it was on Govt property but then all of a sudden there we were with the material and a fabulous translator. We told the story about Jesus and the little children. They colored happy/sad faces and made a necklace from the Bible verses with wild colored string and beads. They loved it and our translator had them repeat the verse multiple times. Then we spent time talking to them well the only thing we knew how to say was What is your name and How old are you. The smiles and their big eyes said it all. We had bigger kids who kept trying to come into our classes because they wanted to do the craft. The best part was on our last class there was a boy - we will call Brandon- who was desperately trying to get his necklace and beads just right, and at the very end Dan gave him his hat that said Mexico and the smile would have melted your heart. He ran out to show all his friends. Then Dan played soccer with the kids and Philipe made Dan go on the girls team. They all giggled and put their hands to their mouth - but they loved it. After that we went back to the church and we were suppose to go home but they needed Dan to go for 5 min - turned out to be 20 to get furniture from someone who donated it to the church. Dan had the ride of his live on the back of a truck going 60 mph down these skinny side streets. People pay good money to go on rides half as fun. I on the other had still can not look when they drive we are millameter away from the other car. When we got back we went to dinner at Dominos - yes some members of our team were craving pizza. They bri ng the pizzas to your table, we ordere 3, and we had no idea what kid he was saying but there were 3 so we took them. Turns out we had the other two tables pizza and they went crazy when they opened it and it was our Deluxe pizza - they gave us dirty looks but we tryed to offer them the right pizza. Just as we were about to leave there appeared a little girl who looked up at Anne. Anne kept looking at us - like what am I suppose to do - so she gave her a piece of pizza. After she left we all just started laughing like who was she and where did she go. Well I will end this and would have written this in Spanish but not even Spanish speaking people would have been able to ready this - according to Dan.

For the Team....Mary

Mexico Day 4

Happy Valentines Day everyone, or as our unmarried people on the team say....Happy Single Awareness Day!! We had a very busy day yesterday, we put together 450 sandwiches and then drove to 3 schools located in the Dump area to hand them out for lunch. Then we went to Vallarta Adventures, a resort tour company who donates left over food to the Church . We then took this food, and set up in a town square to hand out a hot meal to children. We fed over 200 children and a few grateful mothers. We brought along some toy cars, crayons and toothbrushes to hand out. What amazes me is that children are children no matter where you are in the world! They laughed, helped thier little sisters, said "thank you", tried to sneak back for more and the boys refused to take a pink toothbrush. Cute!! It was a wonderful day and to top it all off ,we even had a Valentine party with cake, courtesy of friends of Pete and Selena. We cannnot believe we only have a couple of days until we come home...to all that snow!!

We love you all and miss you... but we love the hot weather.... see ya soon!!!

Christy for the Mexico Team

Mexico Day 3

hey guys!

We are having a great time!!

Today we painted the gate thingy (iron security fence- Ann told me to say that) at one of the Pardon y Amidad churches and we learned that black paint does not come off very well with water but it does come off with turpentine (which smells very good) We also cleaned the bathrooms and swept the santuary out so it would be clean for their service either tonight or tomorrow night. Their vision for the future of the church is to one day become a kindergarden.

God is teaching us all different things. For someone of us we are learning patience and for me personally I'm learning obedience.

Tomorrow we will be feeding the childen of the dump -breakfast and dinner.

Tommorrow on the blessed holiday of "Single Awareness Day" Christy will be writing and i think she will have a nice peom for you all!!


Yours truly,
Brittini
(aka Esperanza as i have acquired that nickname for ann)
(aka Shorty by Dan)

Mexico Day 2

Well friends and family another day has gone and it has been a good one. Last night the team took me (Dan Hamrick) out to a place called the Noname restaraunt for my birthday. It was awesome and had really good food. Later in the evening we went and saw some authentic mexican dancers by the ocean, lets just say there were a lot of sombraro's and weird clothing but good dancing none the less. Afterwards the team (by team I mean Ann since the group was just as surpized as me) suprized me with a Birtday party at Pete and Celinas house. I was completely floored they got me a gift and all so that made me super happy I even got to wear the ceremonial red birthday sombraro for the evening. They woldn't let me take it home though. We had a good team meeting last night talking about our day and what we were going to do today. Everybody was pretty much tired so we all went to bed early. This morning we woke up and started our journey at about 7:15 (Yes I do know that there is a 7:15 in the morning thank you very much) and took a bus to the local church we are working with. From there we traveled across town to the dump. WOW that was a shocker we saw people digging through the garbage trying to get things before everybody else did. From there we went to the local school that is located in the dump and helped clean it up a bit. We mowed lawns, moped floors, cleaned toilets, washed some roofs pretty much if it was dirty we cleaned it. So now we are off to take a tour of the rest of the dump ministry sites I hope everybody is doing well tomorrow you will get another update from Brittini.

Yours truly,Dan the Man Hamrick

p.s this was censored by ann harrington

Mexico Day 1

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico...a place of contrast. This picture shows the landfill where many families make their living and find their food, while in the back ground you can see the land of plenty where those with money come to play. It was with the children of the Dump that we went to work.

The next few posts are going to be a recap of our trip to Mexico with each post written by a different team member.

Dear Everyone,We have gotten some sleep...well some of us have. We went to church today and it was just like the Venue, but in Spanish. We knew all of the songs but one. Tomorrow we are cleaning...bathrooms, basketball courts and cutting some grass...if we can find our way back to the church. Just kidding! The weather is great...about 80...yes we are suffering for Jesus. Seriously tomorrow we will be suffering. Ok, well tomorrow´s update will come from Dan. Hard to tell what that will be. Thanks for your prayers.
For the team,
Ann