The final part of camp is when we thank our translators and give them an award. After that, we had free time to go to downtown Xian and then a fun dinner and a trip to the Karaoke place. These are very popular in China and we had a blast!

We say goodbye to the children and to the Translators. We also visited Old Xian it was a fantastic day!!!

We have all had an emotional day!  Saying goodbye was NOT easy — you really get attached to these kids!!

Museum

Day 4 at BMH Camp was lots of fun. After breakfast, we took all of the kids on a bus to the Shaanxi Museum in downtown Xi’an to see exhibits on dinosaurs, insects, and animals. They seemed to really enjoy learning about different things. We then ate lunch on the museum grounds and headed back to hotel for rest.

We finished up the Family Books with stickers, markers, glitter, and added the pictures we have taken to go in them. We then took some time to write letters to our sponsored kids as well as the translators to tell them how much we love and appreciate them.

Award Time for Wen Wen and Fang Fang!

Another incredible dinner and then time for the last nightAssembly — The Talent Show and Awards! Almost all of the children did some type of act (as well as many of the volunteers), and the Ankang teenagers sang a popular Chinese song together. It was great fun! After the show, we gave out certificate awards to every orphan such as Best Smile, Best Laugh, Most Loving, etc…..

Tomorrow will be a tough day, as the kids leave after lunch. Amazing just how much you bond with them in a few short days. Ours won’t be so bad since we are heading down to Ankang on Sat to see the kids. But Saturday will be emotional!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support of our trip and A Mother’s Love. This camp experience has exceeded our expectations. All of the AML group has bonded with their kids and shown Jesus’ love to them and our translators.

The BMH Team here in Xi’an and the other volunteers (mainly from Australia) have been absolutely incredible. We have encouraged each other and bonded quickly because we ALWAYS try to put the kids first. That makes our time very fun and we all help each other. These Australians really love Jesus and are crazy fun!!

We had an absolutely awesome Day 3 at camp! After breakfast, we took the kids to make pottery (with wet clay and the wheels) and they had a blast playing with the clay and making different shapes.

Then, we walked down the street to this huge fountain area and played in them for about an hour with the kids! All of the Chinese were staring at us as we danced and played in these huge water fountains soaking wet. We especially had fun with Mei Ling, Fang Fang, Wen Wen, and the Ankang nanny in the water.

We then headed back to the hotel to let the kids have a nap while we went to Wal-Mart to buy them some gifts (books, hair clips, etc…). After nap time, we worked on their Memory Books and also made some tye dye shirts for the Ankang kids. Dinner was excellent (as usual) and Assembly time consisted of fun games and awards (which they loved!).

After Assembly, the volunteers gathered for about an hour for Praise & Worship and sharing about the day. We try to encourage one another and also talk about the various “God Sightings” we notice throughout the day (and there are many!).

Finally, we spent some extra time with our translators (esp Yvonne and Crystal) talking about differences between China and America. Mostly, we want them to know that we volunteer at camp because we love Jesus and want them to as well!