| 2007 China Love Trip Reflections....
“Jie jie!”
yelled one of the kids as she ran up to me and gave me a nice, warm hug. She was one of the sixty lovely children at
San Ming Children Village, China. I will
never forget the wonderful two weeks that I was able to spend with these
beautiful children and the remarkable lessons that God has taught me through each
one of them.
As I packed
my luggage at home in Los Angeles,
preparing to travel thousands of miles to China
to see the children again, I imagined each of their brightly lit faces. I had not seen them for a year since the
last Love Trip in 2006. I wondered: Have
they changed a lot? Will they remember
us? Seeing their faces in my mind
brought a gigantic smile to my face.
In no time, the seventeen of us on
the Love Trip landed in Xiamen, China. We were full of energy and could not wait to
see the kids. Finally, after an eight-hour
train ride from Xiamen to San Ming,
we were very excited to be greeted at the train station by some of the kids,
each one holding a beautiful red carnation to present to us. I was warmly greeted by Alex. As he gave me the flower, I patted him on the
head and commented, “Wow, how you’ve grown!”
He was happy to hear that. Seeing
the kids at the train station, I knew that my journey has finally begun. The faces that I saw in my mind back in Los
Angeles were now a reality.
The first
day we spent at the children village was very memorable. We were greeted by all the children with
songs and dances. I will never forget
the “Chicken Dance” that Alex and some of the younger kids performed for
us. They were good! We had taught them the dance last year, and
they remembered every step of it! After
a very nice performance, we visited the children’s dorms and I reunited with
the wonderful kids. One of the most
memorable experiences was when I visited Janice. She was one of my
students from last year’s English class and the youngest child at the
village. She greeted me, gave me a hug,
took my hand, and brought me to her room.
She then opened one of her drawers and pulled out a photo album. Inside the photo album were many letters. Gently, she pulled out a card and an
envelope, which I quickly recognized.
In a sweet voice, she said, “Jie jie, this is the card you gave me! And this envelope also! I use the envelope to put my tickets
in.” My eyes were almost in tears. She remembered me! I was so happy at that moment that I just
gave her another big hug.
Throughout
the next two weeks, the seventeen of us each had our responsibilities. I was in charge of teaching piano, math,
English, singing, and recorder. It was
so much fun to teach the kids. They
would come up to me and ask me to teach them more songs or ask me to read them
an English book. I looked at the
eagerness in their eyes and was overjoyed to see their enthusiasm to learn.
From this love trip I learned
several very valuable lessons. One of
the lessons is to appreciate and be thankful for what I have (even the little
things in life) and not take things for granted. The children have a very special way of
beginning their meals everyday. One of
the children would always say a word of thanks before the meal. They would say things like, “Thank you to
those in the kitchen for cooking delicious food for us.” They also eat every single grain of rice from
their bowls. None is wasted. I can see that the kids appreciate those who
worked for them and are thankful for whatever they have. Although they don’t have much, they are
content with whatever they are given. I
reflect upon this and am reminded of my own life. A lot of times in America,
I take for granted what I have: my family, friends, food, car, a place to live,
etc. After seeing the kids, I am
reminded to cherish everything that God has given me. I should not complain about not having this
or that. Instead, I should be grateful
because God HAS provided me with a lot, more than I need.
Another valuable lesson that
I’ve learned is how to love and serve one another. Prior to coming on this trip, I always
thought about how we should “love and serve” the kids. However, through this trip, I realized that
the kids were the ones who taught us how to love and serve. They taught us that to love is to serve with
a servant heart. And to serve is to
sacrifice. Throughout the two weeks we
were there, the children would serve us meals and help us whenever they saw our
needs. One of the most remarkable
experiences involved Alex, who was in my third grade math class. Alex knew that prior to teaching his math
class, I was upstairs in the fourth grade English class. As soon as my English class was over, I saw
Alex standing outside the classroom, waiting for me. I greeted him, “Hi Alex!” Immediately, he grabbed my heavy backpack and
my huge blue folder, and said, “Jie jie, I help you to bring these
upstairs!” He didn’t care if my backpack
was heavy (and yes, it was as heavy as a brick!) He did this almost every day. Alex had a heart of a servant. He was like Jesus, who did not mind going out
of his way to help those in need. It was
a beautiful picture to see Alex, a little boy, with a big backpack on his
back. Alex was not the only one who has
offered a hand to me. Lucas
and Toni also did the same. When I told them that the backpack is very
heavy, they replied, “It’s okay. I can
do it. I want to help you.” It is amazing what little kids can teach us
about love and service.
Another
beautiful picture that I saw was of a child named Michael, who daily swept the floor after meals. He faithfully cleaned the floor without
having to be reminded. As soon as each
meal was over, he looked for the broom and waited for everyone else to finish
eating. During the second week, I said
to him, “Wow, Michael, you are such a good boy.
I saw that you swept the floor last week already. Why are you sweeping again this week?” He replied, “I will do it for a month. It is very comfortable! (好舒服!)” WOW. I never imagined sweeping the floor as a
comfortable thing to do. However, I see
the heart of a servant in him. He does
not mind doing the dirty work. In fact,
he sees the job as a pleasant one. After
speaking with him, I realized that it is important to have a right attitude
when serving. Because he saw cleaning as
a positive task, he was able to do it with joy.
Now every time I clean my own house, I am reminded of the picture of
Michael sweeping the floor.
These are
just a couple of the many lessons that I’ve learned through this trip. I will never forget the experiences that I’ve
had with the wonderful children. They
will always remain in my heart, and I pray that God will watch over them and
help them to grow to become followers of Him.
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