Last night I took some Advil PM and blogged a little bit... And then I was OUT. I slept for about 9-10 hours, which was great.
Our luggage arrived this afternoon! We were able to get the stuff needed to the Butterfly House, and send all of our New Day donations back to Beijing, and we now have our Chenzhou stuff. So it worked out well.
We also had some troubles trying to figure out how we could get to Chenzhou, because the bullet train only allows one suitcase per person. But in answer to prayers, someone is driving the suitcases down to Chenzhou to us free of charge, and we are riding the bullet train. YES.
After breakfast we checked out and went on our way to the Butterfly House.
We met with the woman who runs the orphanage (which we found out is more of a hospice), and she was amazing. The work that this woman does is phenomenal.
She's an Australian woman named Lynn. She said that when she was 8 her mother took her to see a movie called the Inn of Sixth Happiness, and she knew then she wanted to do work in China.
I kind of freaked out a little bit. For those of you who don't know... Ever since I was about 5 or 6 I would watch that movie over and over and always on my birthday. And it really inspired me, too.
Basically what they do here is take children in that are dying and won't receive sufficient care at a normal orphanage. Many of the children have lived because of the care they have given them, and many have died--but they die knowing love... A nanny singing or praying for them as they pass away. It's amazing to me.
Out of the 13 kids they have at the orphanage, there are 5 who are either in the process of being adopted, or have paperwork submitted. Let's just keep in mind that these kids were helpless at first... Almost going to die. Now they appear perfectly healthy!
After meeting with her, we split up into two groups. One group went to the SWI (social welfare institute) of Changsha, and the other went to the Butterfly House (they're meeting at a different building now because they're renovating the other one).
I went to the SWI, but unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures. It was actually very nice. The kids had school classes, and we got to meet lots of them. Tim showed them his tattoos, and they all thought they were amazing. Haha! A lot of the children there had some sort of special needs, and it was great to see the nannies really taking their time to feed them and care for them. I've heard stories of some orphanages who just give up on those that need that extra care.
Back at the Butterfly House, we washed our hands, put on aprons, and shoe covers--very sanitary. We were able to take a tour of the building they're in now, and see the kids. Many times my eyes swelled with tears as we heard stories of how far these kids have come, and stories of children who have no cure. Its sad to hear, but I couldn't imagine a better place for them to be. They were just amazing... I can't even put into words. All of those kids were precious... I just wanted to take them home.
Shannon a few months ago found a girl that she wanted to adopt from here, but after praying about it they felt like God was telling them no. But the next day a family stepped up to adopt her. They're in the process now. We were able to take lots of pictures and give sweet Angel a care package from her family, and tell them how she's doing. She's absolutely precious, and I don't think they'll have much trouble with her. :)
Right now we're on the bus to the train station so we can get to Chenzhou. We'll get there tonight (hopefully with our luggage!) And will stay for 5 days, I believe. I'm excited. :)
Anyways, that was the amazing day we had today. I'm still completely blown away by this woman and her amazing work.
Hopefully I'll be able to post more tonight. But if not, I definitely will tomorrow. It'll be our first day at the Chenzhou SWI! :)
UPDATE:(Megan's mom here) I heard from Megan this morning (night for her) and while her group was eating at KFC this evening, their group leader had her purse stolen with $1,000 US dollars in it. This was money they were going to use to buy something for the orphanage in Chenzhou. The police were called, which caused some commotion. Most of the people in Chenzhou rarely, if ever, see a caucasian and here's a large group of them w/police and all...exciting, I'm sure. Surveilance tapes identified the thief, which also makes me more than a little concerned for the young girl whom supposedly stole the money...what happens to her if they find her? I've heard they are not kind to thieves in China. In fact, from what I understand, theft in China is surprisingly rare because of the consequences. I'd prefer they just find the money and not the girl! On the positive side, thankfully the group leader's passport wasn't in her purse as she originally thought! That was the biggest concern. Please pray that the situation is resolved in God's perfect wisdom. Who knows, maybe this young girl needed the money more than the orphanage? Either way, I believe He will use this situation to bring Himself glory in one way or another:)
MEGAN'S UPDATE (a little more about her day):
We pretty much had the scare of the century today.
We took the bullet train to Changsha--it was fantastic. So much better than the 5 hour bus ride we took last year. I was so happy. I sat next to Shannon, our group leader, and she's an amazing woman. I'm happy I got to get to know her better.
We made it to our hotel. It was weird walking in because its the same place we stayed last year. It was like... Being at home. I was so happy to be there, in a familiar place.
Our team is already sick of Chinese food... (Yes, day 3, and they're already sick of it. HA. Good luck.) ...so we went to KFC. I wasn't thrilled, but I mean, its okay. Go with the flow haha.
While we were eating, an elderly woman came over to us and started begging for money. We told her to go away (it sounds rude of us, but we're told not to, and if we do more will come). She got mad, and I'm pretty sure we got cussed out in Chinese. Hah.
After we got up, our group leader says to us, "my bag isn't here." She had put it along the back of her chair, and it had disappeared.
Stolen.
She said her passport, money, and camera were all in there.
We kind of freaked out. A lot.
We talked to the workers and they ran around like crazy. We caused quite the commotion--people trying to get all up in our business. Everyone was so interested. We thought it was for sure the elderly woman who came by that stole it.
I never thought I'd meet the Chinese police, but we did tonight. I was really surprised by how chill they were. 3 showed up, and 1 only seemed to be taking our situation seriously.
Before our guide got there, we had no one to translate for us. So these young students came and helped us--they were way too excited to be helping us. It was funny.
Shawn and Katie came running down to the KFC with Shannon's purse in hand--someone had dropped it off at the hotel because they saw our key. The bellboy had recognized the two ladies and gave it to them.
We opened it up, all the valuables were gone.
We finally were able to look at the security cameras, and found it was a young girl sitting behind us who stole the purse.
We went back to the hotel, and Shannon said she had left her passport in her room. THANK GOD SHE HAS HER PASSPORT. That's the most important. That's what I was most worried about. Unfortunately, we lost about $1,000 (at least she thinks) that was in the purse--our orphanage donation money. Not cool.
I'm not sure what will happen now, if the police will look for the girl or not. I don't know how all that works in China. So who knows if we get the money back or not. Its really a shame.
At least we all learned a valuable lesson today--always leave your passport in the safe, and always keep you bag with you at all times.
I guess there's always a little bright side to everything..... Right? :/
Everyone seems to be having problems with internet. Gmail doesn't work here... Luckily I have email on my phone which I can send to my mom these posts, but those of you whom I said I could email you, I'm afraid I won't be doing so.
Anyways, I don't even know what to ask you to pray for. I guess that this will be resolved, and that the rest of our trip will be pretty chill. We've had a rough start, and I think we're all pretty tired. Haha.
Thanks guys.
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