China 2006: February 2007 Archives

I am amazed afresh at the kind providence of God. Last June my wife and I led a team of 13 college girls to Fuzhou, Jiangxi, China to serve in a government sponsored orphanage. Our desire was to live out James 1:27 as best we could. I am convinced that “visiting orphans in their affliction” is ultimately accomplished through adoption (I argue for this position here), but adoption was not possible for any of us. So, we went to serve these children in any way we could, short of taking them home with us. One of our chief desires and prayers, though, was to see these children adopted by Christian families. Well, yesterday, to my surprise, I received this e-mail from a 2005 BBC graduate:

Mr. Cruver,

My name is ____________________. I graduated in 2005 and I had you for my senior theology exam. I am writing because my parents are adopting a little girl, Fu ________ ___________, from the same orphanage that you and a team from BBC visited this past summer. Fu __________ _________ is “13” years old… When I read the Summit article on your trip, my family was pretty excited! That same day my parents had received a bunch of pictures from another family that had adopted one of Fu __________ _________’s friends and was back in the states. I’ve attached one for you to see. My parents are waiting on their Travel Approval from China – any day now! I am so excited and can’t wait to hug my sister! Thank you for carrying Jesus’ love to the children at the Fuzhou orphanage and maybe even my little sister! If you are interested – my parents have a website where they’ve begun recording our Journey to Anna (this is the name my parents have chosen if she likes it) www.caringbridge.org/visit/coiner (maybe you will recognize some of the other girls in the pictures.)

Waiting for our Fu girl to come home ~

I can’t begin to describe the joy that filled me when I read this e-mail. Are you aware of just how many orphanages there are in China? There are many… What a kind providence that God would allow us (1) to serve these children at the Fuzhou Welfare Institute and (2) to hear first hand that several of them have been adopted by Christian (I had the opportunity of spending a considerable time with the girl, Anna, who is being adopted by this family). I am amazed and thankful.

In a follow-up e-mail I received last evening I learned that another one of these young ladies that was adopted by a different Christian family. We were able to spend significant time with her as well. You can even find her pictured in the film strips below.

This week is missions conference here at BBC. As a result, I've found myself thinking a lot about orphans in China, particularly about the ones we visited last summer in Fuzhou, Jingxi. Here are a few video memories from our trip to China this past June. If you would like to read a brief biblical theology of the mission of adoption (i.e. visiting orphans in their affliction), check out this article: Orphans, Adoption, and Fuling, China: James 1:27.

Video One: Waterballoon Toss (I was undefeated in this event)

Videos Two and Three: Clips from our birthday party celebration. The children sang a number of songs for us.

Video Four: One of our many trips through the city of Fuzhou.