and the home of the brave.

The 4th of July is one of the greatest ways to mark a perfect summer day, don’t you think?  So we Americans hosted a picnic yesterday for our Chinese friends, complete with burgers and dogs on the grill, rice krispie treats (a personal favorite of mine), potato salad, peach cobbler and fresh watermelon.  There were also games like water balloon volleyball and musical chairs.  And we can’t forget the dancing. (We may or may not be responsible for bringing the “Chicken Dance” to China.)  There was much silliness.

And we had FUN!

This is going to sound like an Academy Award acceptance speech for a second here, but I just have to say that this party simply wouldn’t have happened without the most incredible team of volunteers.  A group of 8 unbelievable people have been here from L.A. serving in any way they can.  I can’t even begin to touch on everything they did, but allow me to at least try by making one of my beloved lists…

1.  They trekked a mile in the heat and humidity to the busiest, craziest farmer’s market you can imagine to help me purchase a massive amount of fresh produce (including 5 enormous watermelons). 
2.  They filled about 200 water balloons for various outdoor games and only chucked two of them directly at me.
3.  They stood for hours in the summer heat grilling 80 burgers and 70 hot dogs on a pretty finicky Chinese “charcoal” grill.
4.  They made all the food.  All. The. Food.
5.  They brought 4th of July decorations, paper plates, etc. all the way from America to add to the festivities
6.  They moved and set up our sound system outdoors and played summer favorites (translate: the Beach Boys)

This is just scratching the surface of what a blessing they’ve been to us this week.  Whether it’s disinfecting toys in our foster home, cleaning windows in our dorms, or weeding the back yard with our gardener, they have cheerfully done whatever we have needed, no matter how insignificant the task may seem.  

I have been learning so much this summer about what it looks like to serve.  Coming overseas for short term trips, groups come with such a desire to be a blessing.  And that is a beautiful thing.  People make such sacrifices of time and money to come to China and put their hearts into working here.  There is no way we could effectively do our work here without the time and effort of volunteers.  I would never make light of that.  

But now that I’ve been on the long-term, in-country side of things for awhile, I’m also seeing such a marked difference between coming simply to serve with no expectations at all, and coming with a very specific expectation of how one wants to be a blessing. 

Bottom line, I think if you are thinking about serving overseas in any capacity, I encourage you to lay aside your goals or expectations.  You’ll find your experience will be much richer if you do, and you’ll be much more of a blessing to the organization you come to help.  Just know that very often it’s the tasks that seem the most insignificant that can leave the everlasting fingerprints.

I recently found THIS DOCUMENT that articulates all of this so much better than I ever could.  

And now…some photos of a pretty fun party!