Wednesday December 29th the team left from Dulles airport around 10 in the morning and we finally arrived at our destination on December 30th around 5pm (I think). I was completely exhausted at this point but we had to stay awake till at least 10 that night. As soon as 10 o'clock came I was in my bed resting up for the busy
day we had ahead of us...Friday December 31th: The day started out bright and early at 7:30am because we were off to the Great Wall, and it was most certainly great. The day was a lot of fun, but I was really excited for the next two which would be spent at an orphanage. (I'll spend the rest of this post talking about my experience there)
The first morning at the orphanage, the kids were broken up into groups and me and one of the other girls on the team were responsible for one of the groups and took them around to different stations set up throughout the building. There were crafts, line dancing, ESL, and gym. It was so much fun to get to hang out with the kids and watch them partake in the activities. We then had lunch with the kids and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with them
In the first part of the afternoon we had the younger kids inside and I played twister with some of them. Later on the older kids were inside and some of our team decided it would be fun to teach them all how to play ninja. (if you don't know what this game is then you are truly missing out on an awesome time) I have never seen a group of people catch on to the game as quickly as these kids did. They were even teaming up against all of the Americans, and we had no idea what was going on because we could not understand them, but it was so much fun non the less.
After dinner that night the kids put on a performance for us that was life altering. Two of the kids gave their testimonies and I knew after the first one that I was not going to make it through the night without crying. The girl who gave the second testimony was 15 and had a story that would tare your heart out. She had lost both of her parents, and after she had been living at the orphanage she was diagnosed with a heart condition that should have taken her life. Through a miracle of God she was able to receive the funds necessary to save her life. As she told us her story she broke down in tears because she knew that God had saved her life and because of it she was living for him.
After this testimony (with tears already rolling down my face), the kids did their final dance to a song with the lyrics "There are no orphans of God". I am fully aware of the fact that God is a father to the fatherless, but to see these children dancing to this song made it so real to me. These children who have nothing in this world that the world deems necessary yet they know they have everything through God their father.
We were only at the orphanage for the first Saturday and Sunday of the trip, but I knew after those two days that my life had already changed and would continue to do so over the following two weeks.
