Sunday, July 7th

Sunday, July 7^th

So today was a pretty chill day. We didn’t spend a ton of time at the orphanage.

At breakfast Steve actually ordered less food. He’s catching on that we don’t eat so much. After every meal he always says “You didn’t eat very much!” And we do, he just orders a lot.

We went to the orphanage today to get the school kids. We each grabbed a kid, and we headed out. We were so worried at first that they weren’t going to actually hold onto our hands and would run out into the street. But they ended up behaving. I help Hope’s hand to the orphanage. She was very good on the way. Then she ran so hard through the big intersection that we had to cross.

When we got to church they had already started, but they brought us up to the top of the balcony. It was SO hot up there. I don’t think I’ve ever sweated so much in my life. We were all sweating bullets. Dripping down my face. My back. Everything.

They announced to the whole church that we were there and the whole congregation turned around to see us, and they told us to stand up. They said “welcome our new friends”.

The kids sat pretty well during the whole service. We brought candy and coloring pages to color for them in case they got restless. Hope sat next to me and kept coloring and would show me her picture like she was so proud of it. Then she would hide her crayons behind my back.

 

At one point we were literally all dying of sweat. Sarah and I were getting light headed. I leaned over and said, “If Jesus came now, I would be SO happy.” Hah!

There were so many people spitting in the back of the church. It was so gross.

Annie recorded a video that Jian’s (macy) mom made of them coming home, and Leah (now named Dani) watched it 3 times on her camera. She loved it. Whenever she saw the picture of Jian asleep on the airplane, she laughed so hard. So sweet.

We snuck out a little early because the kids started getting a little restless.

Back at the orphanage we had an hour before lunch, so we grabbed some fruit loops and string to make necklaces out of.

I helped sweet Lena make a necklace. She was so proud of it. At one point she noticed one of the fruit loops in her pile was broken, so she held it to her mouth and made a face to see if she could eat it. When I shook my head yes she put it in her mouth. I wish I had a picture of her face the first time she took it. It was so sweet. She LOVED them. She would put one on her necklace, and then eat one. Put one on her necklace, eat a few. It was so funny. And she kept giving me some to eat. I was honestly so grossed out by that at first, but I figured… what’s the worst that could happen. I get sick. I’m sure her hands were dirty… but, whatever. I’m in China. She was so happy when I would eat them. She’s such a sweetheart. She even let me wear her necklace for a little bit.

Anyways, we ate lunch at the orphanage today, and it was such good food. We were worried about offending them by not eating the stuff if it was bad, but it was really good! We all ate so much. Best meal we’ve eaten so far.

Annie told Leah that she would be able to see Jian in the states sometime, and she was so happy.

We left right after lunch, and said goodbye to the school kids, because they had to go back to school. We walked a few yards behind them, and the nannies didn’t even hold the kids’ hands… they just stayed so well with them. And we all laughed because we were so worried about that.

We spent the afternoon at the hotel. We decided that we were so tired and wiped out from the morning (the heat just takes it out of you), that we didn’t go back in the afternoon. Kathryn, Charlie, Julia, Danielle and I went shopping around town, which was fun.

We did a devotion at 4… Shannon called it “a date with God”. We had little stations we went around with different prayer activities. Hard to explain, but it’s really cool. I enjoyed it.

We went to dinner at Pizza Hut tonight. So good. We got there and they said we had a 1 hour wait, so we walked around Walmart for a bit. Elyssa, Charlie, and I got matching pajamas. Yes, we are in 6^th grade.

Pizza hut was a such a nice restaurant. Like, fine dining. We were impressed. The pizza was so good. I think we all enjoyed it a lot.

Over all, it was a good day. It was very chill, and I think we all needed that.