Be Tho Orphanage...

As I mentioned in a few previous posts our main reason for going to Vietnam was to deliver the money that our youth raised for the orphanage there. On Sunday morning we had an opportunity to visit the orphanage with the national church there in Vietnam.

We took 2 buses from Ho Chi Minh City and drove about an hour to Be Tho Orphanage. The picture below is the final road we turned on to get there, a little different look from where we are staying.

A few times a year Grant and Molly and the national church visit the orphanage and take them a supply of rice and other items. They have built a relationship with the orphanage and the kids enjoy seeing them when they arrive.

There are approximately 130 children/teenagers/young adults at this center. The ages range from 2 months to 25 years old. This center becomes their family as they grow older. Molly told me that sometimes parents or family who have had to leave their children will come and get them on weekends or over holidays, so some still have families but they just can't afford to have them live with them.

All of the pictures from today I got from our team members Dennis and Jonathan, both amazing photographers. These first two pictures means a lot to me. I was thankful when I first saw that one of the guys had taken a shot of this little boy. When we first arrived a girl came over to me and took my hand and lead me over to see this little boy. He just sat there, no emotion, no words. As I took his hand it showed no response to my touch. It was hard. I stepped away and began to take in all the other kids around me. Throughout our time there this little guy stayed in the same place, never moving, different people gathered around him. I don't know anything about this little boy, but the picture of him hasn't left my mind since we left that day.

I know I did what I could for the short time that I was there. I smiled, I hugged, I rejoiced with them over our youths donation, I handed out candy...I wish I could have done more.

Casey from our team.

The girls did some traditional dances for us.

The boys were enthralled by the guitar

I love the smile.

Our youth have a place on the wall in Be Tho

Showing off their new toothbrushes and toothpaste.

 

This little baby is actually 2 months old even though she looks 2 weeks old.

This little girl kept repeating something over and over to me. One of the nationals told me she was saying "Candy, Candy".

Beautiful dancers.

Jason presented the sister who runs the center with the money from our youth group and she was excited to receive it.

The last thing that will stand out in my mind is "Hollister" bags. The center does different things to bring in money to help them, such as making quilts, hand drawn pictures and some other things). One of the other things is to put these Hollister bags together. For those of you who may not be familiar with Hollister it is a store similar to Abercrombie or American Eagle. Now whenever I see these bags or even carry one I will think of these kids at Be Tho and maybe one of their hands put them together.

It wasn't a completely easy morning. It was hard to see how these kids live, even for as good of conditions the orphanage is in. I was blessed though to be able to bring a gift to them from youth half-way around the world. I was blessed to see their smiles. My heart and mind were given a fresh perspective on things and I pray it will forever change me. I don't want to come back home from this trip just to settle back into life as I knew it before, I want to be changed.

More to come...

P.S. I slept from 10 p.m. straight until 7:00 a.m. last night. Felt great. Still dealing with the tiredness in early evening, but we are getting there.