The Heng Feng Team visited China in June 2008. The following is a recap of their trip...
Our team of 13 was representative of three states, five churches, as young as eleven on up through the highly esteemed nai nai (grandma in Chinese). It was an honor and privilege to share love and hope with the orphanage in Heng Feng, China. Heng Feng is considered a rural community with a population of 200,000. To help illustrate how "rural" this is, our translator even had some challenges with their dialect at times -- at one point our guide spoke Mandarin to the orphanage director, and he translated for his staff in their local dialect. It was amazing!
Currently the Heng Feng Social Welfare Institute has 30 babies (5 rooms of 6 babies each) who stay at the orphanage, and 10 of them were recently adopted. They are all about 10-12 months old. They are also responsible for 11 special needs children who are all in foster homes. There are 22 people on staff who work at the orphanage. There are 8 nannies (3 male and 5 female, which includes two married couples). Their desire is to develop a school on-site so that the babies that are currently in foster care can come back to the orphanage and learn together in one setting.
This "small town" in China is very friendly, hospitable, and welcoming. They had never received help before at this orphanage -- so to have a team come in and hold babies, bearing many gifts, was very new to them. We witnessed the transformation from the beginning of the week when they were somewhat reserved and skeptical, to the end of the week when they were so trusting and warm and delighted with the gifts of love we shared with them. Our team grew so close to each other, to the babies (naming each one and looking forward to the bonding time each day with them), and to God through our team devotions and reflections in the mornings and evenings. Our relationship with the guides was also very special as we spent time with them; we learned some Mandarin and taught them more English. They took fabulous care of us and we look forward to seeing them again.
It was an incredible, life-changing trip! Many on our team cannot wait to return, and some are considering adoption. We have fallen in love with the Chinese people, as we saw a window into God's heart for the world and the nation of China. It was a powerful mission experience, and we clearly saw God at work in all of the details. It was absolutely awesome!!!
- Julie Richards, Team Leader
