The People of Anhui

Last Friday, I (Lindsey) and my dad had the privilege of going on a trip to Anhui Province with 25 other people from church. Anhui is a very rural province and the second poorest in all of China. Friday afternoon we took a four hour train ride out to Lu'an, Anhui, China. Riding the train is a great way to see the countryside of China! Saturday morning we took a 2 hour bus ride deeper into the country. We started off by going to an elderly home and handed out bags full with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other toiletries. We heard the Mayor give a speech and sang a few songs for them. Afterwards, we went to visit 6 families that had all received a donation from our church of things like goats, chickens, plants, etc. Each family has their own story - like one who had suffered from a fire and lost all their belongings, many who raised vegetables for a living, many are elderly and still need to keep working to raise their families. While we were there, we handed out gifts like stickers and notebooks and pencils to all of the children. It was so sweet to see the look on the kids faces when we handed out the gifts to them! We drove back to the hotel after a very long day of walking around and helping people. We got back and had a nice meal of KFC at 10pm that night. The next morning, we woke up at 5:30 to go on the bus for church back out in Sanyuan. It was a very cool experience! Our team was responsible for the first hour of the service - the kids led some worship and many adults (including Dad) shared their testimonies. The rest of the service was all in Chinese but was very neat! Afterwards, we headed back to the train headed for Shanghai! It was a very cool way to spend a weekend and I built a lot of good relationships!

(Pictures include one from the elderly home, a family home bedroom, me with some of the adorable kids and, just couldn't resist, a picture of the split pants that the younger kids have everywhere!)