Sophie

It was Monday morning, July 16th, when our thrown-together-family met at the International Liami School in Beijing. Two kids, a college student and an American teenager-plus-one-year.
My translator/student, Sophie, was a very soft-spoken girl with a shy, cute smile. We got to know each other better before the children came with some team building activities.


*an old building in the village*
Monday morning we went to the small village about a ten minute walk from the school. Our entire team was given 40 RMB to spend (chinese money: about 7 RMB are equivalent to 1 US dollar.). Every team member had to buy one item from the village and we HAD to spend the entire 40 RMB, not a penny more or less. The object was to learn to work together as a team, preparing us for the week ahead with the children. It was neat to see the chinese and americans working together.
Our team members bought a variety of things from a roll of tape to a dirty towel bought right off someone's clothesline to a manequin I bought off the display of a very meager clothes shop.
I felt like a walked into a completely different world within China. It was so poor and dirty. An image that sticks in my mind is a little baby sitting on a small mat next to his dad who was selling herbs and veggies. The little boy was sitting there chewing on a shoe.
The needs are so huge they are overwhelming. What can someone like me do???
Anything???
Only can my meager efforts make an impact when they are placed at Jesus' feet!