I am so excited to go as a part of one of Show Hope's Student Global Training Projects to Luoyang, China. The team is comprised of approximately twenty young adults ages 15-22. Our team will be exploring God’s heart for orphans and the role we play in caring for them. This once in a lifetime trip is intended to help us discover their unique response to God’s instructions to care for orphans and to provide the tools needed to start advocating and leading others upon returning home.

When God says in James 1:27 to “care” for the orphan, the word used for care also implies “visit.” There’s a sense where we can’t just stay in our comfortable world, but we’ve got to go out as a light into the darkness. We must go to the waiting children who need hope and care for them in their distress.

This trip will pack a lifetime of orphan care experience into 10 days as the Show Hope staff leaders guide the team through a training curriculum focusing on God’s heart for the fatherless. I can't wait to see how God is calling me to further care for orphans and what His vision for orphan care is in my life.

 

How I came to hear about this trip is a pretty cool story. I was on Facebook in January 2015 after recently discovering that my original plans for my summer were not going to come to pass. After that discovery I was unsure about what to do with my summer, but my family mentioned mission trips. I did some research about different organizations and trips, but had not decided on one. 

 

While scrolling through Facebook that day, I saw a post on Steven Curtis Chapman's page about Show Hope Student Trips to China and Haiti to work with orphans. Immediately I felt the Lord work in my heart telling me that that was what my summer needed. Just over one week later I submitted my application and letters of recommendation to Show Hope and the rest is history. 

 

I am beyond blessed to be a part of this Student Global Training Project to China with Show Hope. Orphan care and advocacy has been a passion of mine for quite some time, and I am excited to be a part of this adventure.

 

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for my teammates, team leaders, staff and children at Maria's Big House of Hope, and me, as we embark on this incredible adventure.