To all of our dear friends who have been a part of Hannah’s story by prayer and support. Sorry that an update about Silas’s surgery has been so long in coming to you. The family has been back at their village for about three months now. Silas has been recovering well. It is a slow process of healing but he has been recovering day by day. He is even able to get in his wheel chair and help in the garden which is much more than he has been able to do in the past. The children have been doing well in school. Their school master gave them both some new clothes for the winter and bought Hannah a new winter jacket. It is so neat to watch as the community and local fellowship come together to support this family. God is really taking care of them!
Right now we are planning on the family being back up in Beijing in mid February for physical therapy. We are working on all the details right now with the help of Angela, Hope, and Anna (such amazing sisters who work alongside of us to help this family). It looks like they will be there for about three months or per doctor’s desire as far as therapy goes.
We received these letters from Silas and his brother about a week ago expressing their thankfulness and love for all who have helped them through this hard time. We stood in awe of God’s sovereignty as we read this line in the letter “…We will ask Hannah to join you to help the poor and helpless when she grows up”. When Hannah chose her English name we had no idea that her family would be dedicating her to the Lord for His service, just as Hannah in the Bible dedicated her first born to the Lord. What a beautiful example of God’s hand silently working, even in the choosing of a name. Obviously we do not know what the Lord has in store for Hannah, but we do know that we are a permanent fixture in this families life and we will do all we can to lead each one of them closer to the Father.
We hope you enjoy reading these letters. Please keep the family in your prayers as they venture up to Beijing for physical therapy for about three months. We will keep you updated as we hear from the doctors and Angela. Thank you all again for your prayers and support. God is doing so much and we are so blessed to be a part of it each step of the way.
Letter from Silas:
To all the helpful people at Bring Me Hope camp
My name is Huaifu Ma (Silas). I have fell and hurt my neck nerve then cause me paralyze for more than 3 years till now. Lack of money to treat myself, I have had to stay in bed, and my kids can’t go to school since they had to take care of me. It was a huge blessing to know and meet you great people when we went through this huge difficulty without anyone to count on. Its your sponsor that my kids can go to school, and my family start to see the hope of life!!
This time you sponsored my trip to Beijing to see doctors. And Dr. Wu gave me the surgery successfully. You gave me the hope of standing up, walking and working again!!
I am so grateful to you all and can hardly express my gratitude to you. I have been waiting to write a thanks letter to you for a long time, but I haven’t recovered and can’t write myself. I just want to thank David, Rose and Dani, our amazing American friends; Angela, the nice, helpful teacher; Hope, Dennis, Tony and many other people who have been helping us diligently. Finally, thank all the people from Bring Me Hope!!
With the most respect and gratitude to you all
Silas
Dec. 1st, 2010
Letter from Silas' brother
To all the helpful people at Bring Me Hope camp
This camp is a great, glorious, holy organization which commits to help helpless people. I watch you help my younger brother Silas in such a unselfish way that my heart is touched deeply.
As a farmer with only 3 years’ education, I am full of gratitude to you all but do not know how to express it. You are great models for us. We will ask Hannah to join you to help the poor and helpless when she grows up.
Finally, let me say these from my bottom heart, salute to David, Rose and Dani, our amazing American friends; Angela, the nice, helpful teacher; Hope, Dennis, Tony and many other people who have been helping us diligently. Finally, thank all the people from Bring Me Hope!!
Huailiang Ma (Silas’s elder brother)
Dec. 1st, 2010
We Are Grafted In is a wonderful blog that is set up to reach out and encourage adoptive families and those that are interested in adoption, as well as promote ministries that work in orphan care. This week they highlighted Bring Me Hope. We are so blessed by you guys, thank you so much!
If you have an adoptive blog and you would be interested in sharing about BMH, please contact Kristen at bmhkristen@gmail.com
Check out the blog below!
http://www.wearegraftedin.com/1702/bring-me-hope-giveaway/
Let’s show them what love really means. Pray about coming to camp this summer with Bring Me Hope. There are children waiting for love… and you could be the one to change their life.
The Vidler family has been in Xi’an working as doctors and helping orphaned children that have HIV. They are now looking for a long term care giver to help with a little girl named Grace. Here is her story:
Grace is three years old. She has been with a foster care family since she was found at a railway station over a year ago. They recently found out she was HIV positive and though they love her so much they took her back to the orphanage. However the orphanage does not know much about HIV so they sent her to the hospital. She has since been sitting in an isolation room all alone. No one is allowed to enter, even though she is not at all sick. Her foster mother visits her each day and would take her back if she could, but the others in the family will not allow it.
Please join us in praying for a foster caretaker for Grace. No little one should sit in a hospital room all alone. If you or any one you know is interested in going to China to help the Vidlers with this amazing ministry, and fostering little Grace please e mail Sam and Julie at julesam5@gmail.com
A wonderful blog wrote a review of Hannah's Story! Check it out at http://www.wearegraftedin.com/1735/hannahs-story-review/
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:6-7
We pray that your year has been filled with growth, your holiday season is filled with Him, and this next year is the most blessed one yet!
Merry Christmas to you all from Bring Me Hope and all the children of China who we love and represent!
To all of you who are looking for the perfect Christmas gift…look no further! Come and check out Bring Me Hope’s store located on our website. Today I would like to draw special attention to our latest book “These Three”. It is based on true stories of orphans, volunteers and translators who have come to camp. “No one is unimportant and no one will leave unchanged”. Check it out at http://www.bringmehope.org/store.html
Here is a letter written from a former camper. She came to camp in Jing Gan Shan, Jiangxi in 2006. She has since been adopted and lives here in the States. What a happy new beginning for this beautiful little girl. It is such a blessing that we were able to be a part of her amazing journey. Thank you Danielle for sharing your heart with us.
Bring Me Hope means a lot to me!
When I was in China, they brought us hope and took us out to play and see a different world. We spent one week at camp, and it was so fun! The first day we arrived there they put us kids into a group so we had a group game that we could play. They also gave me an English name, and my first English name given to me was Joy. They gave it to me because I love to smile and laugh a lot.
More days passed by and we went to so many places! We went swimming, bowling, ping pong, etc. It was so fun to be with them. We had a blast time together, and they changed my life.
When I was little my parents abandoned me in a street. Then I thought no one would love me and all I did is hate people. So when I spent a week with Bring Me Hope, I finally knew outside the world there are a lot of people who love us, and also God. Even though we are orphans, they are always there for us and loved us.
The day we went back home, I treasured all these memories. I love them all so much and want to say thank you for all the time you spent with us! We would never forget it! Always in my heart!
Danielle
Have anyone musical in your family?? Check out Sound Delivery- a CD produced by BMH that features real artists writing songs based on the stories of Chinese orphans. You will listen to it over and over again... it's really that good!!! And it makes a great stocking stuffer!
visit http://www.bringmehope.org/sounddelivery.html to preview and purchase the CD!
November Newsletter from the Hedden Family- also an opportunity to give shoes to needy children this Christmas!
Xiao Hu and YaYa
We had another opportunity to have two of the orphans from the De Xing School spend a day with our family. As brother and sister, Xiao Hu (Little Tiger), and his sister YaYa entered our home with wide eyes, we were amazed at what
unfolded before us. After showing them around the house and giving YaYa a bath (Xiao Hu would have nothing to do with a bath), we let them sort of gravitate towards whatever they wanted to do. It's hard to know exactly what will hold their interest ahead of time. We have a tendency to think that they might not have a natural sense of “play” because they don't have toys and play in general isn't encouraged in their culture. But we were pleasantly surprised as we watched and played with them. Xiao Hu went immediately to the trucks, blocks, and cars to play with the boy stuff; while YaYa sought out Natalie's little dollies. Xiao Hu played rough, loud, and hard, while YaYa gently and lovingly dressed, “fed”, and coddled the babies,making sure each had a blanket and pillow, as though she was really their mommy. It's amazing how these two little ones with no real direction, guidance or nurturing, already have an innate sense of what their roles are. We were so pleased to see that in the midst of an obvious lack of parental affection, YaYa
especially has a God-given capacity to show love and affection to others. Her bright little eyes sparkled as she played with those babies, while her brother “conquered” our house with a vibrance that only God could have put inside of
him. Our hope is that as we model appropriate love, affection, and play, they will grow into loving, caring mommies and daddies themselves!
32 Feet
This Christmas we would like to provide the orphans at the school with new shoes. While spending time with them, we've noticed that every single one of them is wearing shoes that are old, broken, and worn down to the last string. Our plan is to take them to a nearby shoe store where we have already bargained a discounted price and buy them each a brand new pair. The cost is about $7.50 per pair, and there are about 16 kids to buy for. If you'd like to pitch in on the “32 Feet” project, you can send your gifts to the address below and mark your checks “32 Feet”.
To support our work financially, you can give with a check, Visa, Mastercard, or via Bill Pay. Please make checks payable to
Bring Me Hope and send them to:
Bring Me Hope
P.O. Box 164
Big Lake, MN 55309