Memorable Tuesday #8: Oriental Orphans

Children in China

On Tuesday February 24, 2009, I adopted a Chinese orphan. Ok, I didn’t really adopt a Chinese orphan like when the Bluths adopted Anyong from Korea in Arrested Development, but I am now officially supporting an orphan from China through the Peachtree City church of Christ.

I feel very strongly about mission work in China. According to the CIA’s World Factbook, in 2008 there were 1,330,044,544 people living in China! To put that in perspective, a little over 300 million people live in the United States and about 6.5 billion people live in the whole entire world. That means that a very significant portion of the world’s population lives in one country. China. This country also is ruled by a communist government, which makes it difficult for Chinese citizens to practice Christianity.

The Peachtree City church of Christ has set up a wide variety of mission works in China. One of their largest works is helping care for orphans in China. I believe they currently have five care centers set up throughout China. They also help financially support children who are in foster care. A second work this church has set up is their medical missions work. This works focuses mainly on giving medical care to children with cleft palates and to children who need open heart surgery. They have a yearly medical mission trip that Adam and I are hoping to help out with in the near future. The church also recently had the opportunity because of the Olympics to set up the Beijing church of Christ. For more information on this church’s work in China you can go here: http://www.ptccoc.com/china.html

JCBCCC Building

So what motivated me to help sponsor an orphan in China? Like I mentioned before, I have felt very strongly about mission work in China for awhile now and I found out about the program to sponsor orphans through a friend who was my roommate at the time. She had been helping sponsor an orphan in China for awhile, so I asked her all about it. Not long after, the preacher from the Beijing church of Christ spoke at the church I attend because the church helps financially support the Chinese mission work. Seeing the pictures of all the orphans who needed help and hearing some of their stories pretty much sealed the deal for me and I decided once I could financially help out, I would.

So starting on March 15th I will have the wonderful opportunity to help out a young girl who is in 4th grade. Her father passed way from heart disease and her mother abandoned her to go to Vietnam. I will get updates on how she’s doing and can even build a relationship with her by corresponding with her through letters. I’m super excited about this opportunity and will be praying that it all goes well!

I really encourage everyone reading this to strongly consider helping out this mission work! You can co-sponsor an orphan for as little as $20 a month or fully sponsor an orphan for $35 a month. For more information you can call 678-423-4396 or contact Pat Brown at patbrown5@charter.net (she is the secretary for the China mission work).

The pictures included in this blog are pictures of the newest care center building and the orphans who are living there! Even if this is something you aren’t interested in helping out with, I really encourage you to resolve to do something this year that will help out someone in need!