Category Archives: Camp

Love & Defend Orphans

Volunteer on short-term mission trips to provide orphan from orphanages and foster homes with love, hope, a sense of worth, and long-term advocacy. Check out our volunteer page to get involved! 

One of the most common questions we get about our our mission trips to China to help children from orphanages and foster homes is, “What does a week look like?”  We decided to give you a glimpse of what YOU could do for a week, to change an orphan’s life.  Whether you are planning on volunteering or sponsoring an orphan, here is a week at Bring Me Hope camp!

 Day 1: “The kids are coming”

Kids coming to camp

 

This is one of the most exciting parts of camp.  Seeing the little faces peering out of the bus as they pull up to your camp location.  One by one these kids, both excited and nervous, exit the vehicle and are paired with you.  Their little hands slide into yours and you make your way back to your lodging, preparing for the rest of the week.

Day 2-4: “We are family”

Congratulations, you and your Chinese translator are now proud parents for the week with your amazing and beautiful child!  Your responsibilities will consist of making sure they are bathed, dressed, fed and physically taken care of throughout the day…this of course includes a bedtime story and tucking them in.Kids with Volunteer

 

Sleepy Boys

Throughout the day you and your family group will go out to experience many firsts.  These include swimming, going to the beach, eating ice cream, singing songs, coloring, crafting, shopping for snacks, playing games and of course your nightly dance parties.  While this is fun and an incredible experience, it’s the in-between moments that change lives…the times of comforting your child when they are sad, the times of carrying them around when they are too tired to walk and moments of just listening and loving them in the midst of the days events.  This is what brings healing and shows your child what it means to be loved and valued.

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Day 5: “The last day is just the beginning”

The last day of camp is just the beginning. We have seen how camp not only impacts the orphans while at camp, but continues long after camp. We have seen children adopted, advocated for, and helped in many different ways. Your job is just starting…and you are responsible to make that child’s voice heard, advocating for their needs!

 

For another awesome picture of camp, check out our documentary, Hannah’s Story and also don’t forget to check out our website to sponsor an orphan or volunteer in China. www.bringmehope.org

For the kids!

Caitlyn & Bring Me Hope Team

Volunteer in China this summer with Bring Me Hope! Bring Me Hope camps give you the opportunity to provide orphans with love, hope, a sense of self-worth, and long-term advocacy. You could be the only person to ever show a child love. What an opportunity!

Make your summer count and begin changing the world one life at a time.

“So what exactly does a week at camp look like?” We’re glad you asked! Here’s a week-in-the-life of a Bring Me Hope summer camp volunteer.

Former Camper & Orphan returns as a Volunteer

We always stand amazed when we have former campers come back to Bring Me Hope as volunteers.  They have a first hand experience to truly understand our campers and impact their lives.  This year (2014), we have three former campers back with us.  Eden, who was adopted and flew back to join our team…Tim, who came back as a translator…and todays feature Mier, one of our camps Chinese helpers.

Mier, joined our Beijing & Zhengzhou camps 2007-2009.  He is now 18 years old and we are beyond blessed to see his life impact the future.  Below is a short letter he wrote for us:

“First of all, I really want to say thank you to my sponsor whom I even don’t know. Because of you I can go back to Bring Me Hope summer camp.  I had a lot great experience in this week, even though it’s only 5 days. Loving and taking care of each other is a new lesson for me this summer.

This summer also reminds me of the camps I joined before, like 2007.  Time flies! Can’t believe it has been 7 years. Bring Me Hope summer camp makes a great difference on my life, I’ve learned a lot from all the friends I met in Bring Me Hope summer camp.

However, this time is so different, since I’m 18 years old now. I came to camp as a helper instead of child. One night, Queenah Jie jie and S. Jie jie asked me to help their three boys take shower. At beginning, I was not pleased to do that. Maybe I thought I was still a kid who need help always, but later I realized I’m a helper now.  After that, I started to help others. And then I realized I can do more than I thought. I’m so happy I can help people now. Especially, I experienced being a volunteer at camp.

Anyway, this is a special summer for me ! I’m so thankful for all the people who helped me before and who are helping me now. Thanks Bring Me Hope and all the Gege jiejie!”

We want to thank everyone who has financially sponsored our past and present campers.  YOU are changing lives and impacting futures!

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For The Kids!

Caitlyn & Bring Me Hope Team

Blind and Beauty

“I’ve never met a person who was ugly, unless they wanted to be. I’ve never seen my wife’s face, but I’ve listened to the sound of her smile.”
– Tom Sullivan
“During the last week of camp I met a little boy named “Timothy.” He was blind. His face, where his eye sockets should have been, was flat and kinda empty, and on one side the eye was missing completely. When I first met him, it was really hard for me to look at him…I was disappointed with myself that I couldn’t love him instantly the way I had with all the other kids. I remember emailing a friend one night and expressing how sad I was about this little boy – I felt like he didn’t just have a minor disability but that his disability actually defined him. Eyes are so key to a persons’ soul, and to hardly even have eye sockets just seemed so unfair. 
 
On the first day i went up to Timothy and his caregiver to see how they was doing. She was sitting their crying. Tears streaming down her face. Timothy couldn’t really engage in the art activity that we were doing so she had her iPod out and was letting him listen to her music. She was clearly overcome at the intensity of his disability too. 

As the week went on. I got to know Timothy a bit. He was a pretty passive kid, in his own world a lot of the time, obviously had not received much education or one on one attention. He seemed very oblivious and quite removed from the real world. But still, I fell in love with him. I started teaching him guitar and just kinda interacting more with him – figuring out ways to include him and make his surroundings come alive to him. I ran his hand over the contours of my face and through the length of my hair. I started to explain about how my skin was a different color to his…but then i stopped – does color even exist to him?  We connected through touch and he could tell instantly when it was my hand he was holding and when it was someone else’s. 

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Then on Thursday – this was the highlight of my entire summer – we took him to the ocean. At first he didn’t want to go in, he kept saying he was scared, and so his caregivers just let him play in the sand. But I really wanted to try taking him in. I knew he would love it once he got in, its just that he didn’t know what the ocean was – and how would he? He’d never been there before, he couldn’t see it and I’m sure the sounds of crashing waves weren’t the most inviting.
 
I held his hand and explained that i was going to take him down into the water. He said, “姐姐我不要,我害怕,害怕” – “sister! I don’t want to go in, I’m scared.. scared”. But we went nice and slow and I explained all the sounds and textures and smells to him. When his feet first hit the water he was a little surprised and kinda hesitated but I kept reassuring him, and then, he decided to trust me. We went further in. His face showed a mixture of raw curiosity and deep peace. He seemed to be enjoying it. When he was in up to his waist he was still holding both of my hands, but visibly starting to relax. Then I put his hands in the water and rubbed them together,  he let out a little giggle and started saying 洗手洗手!”I can wash my hands!”  He put his hands up to his face and giggled further, exclaiming 姐姐!看看我!我在洗脸!”sister look at me! I’m washing my face!” it was the coolest thing – so innocent, so pure. 

We ventured in further. It was incredible. He was in awe of all that he was sensing. The way the waves gently lapped against his body, the saltiness on his lips, the all encompassing presence of water. When we were deep enough I told him to lift his legs up and that I was going to teach him how to float. He tried it immediately, trusting me fully, and relaxed onto his back. The look on his face was one that i’ll never forget. He was so delighted and kept doing his little giggle thing. He could have stayed there for hours. 

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I think it was then that I realized he didn’t need eyes to communicate delight. I didn’t need to be able to look into his eyes to understand what he was thinking/feeling, his voice and facial expression was plenty. It was also at that moment that I stopped defining him by his disability, but by his name – Timothy. He was no longer the little blind boy with no eyes. He was Timothy, the brave adventurer who I had the privilege of taking to the ocean for the first time, the innocent child who was so willing to trust, the young man who had no qualms expressing emotion and embracing freedom.
 
I hope that next time I see a little boy with no eyes I don’t have to wait a few days before I start seeing his heart. I hope that I will be able to remember that he is not defined by his physical features or lack there of, just as I am not. I now see that beauty is not only something seen with the eyes, but it is the delight that seeps out when you allow yourself and others to embrace  freedom.
Timothy, thank you for redefining beauty for me, and for revealing something of my own beauty to me.”  -Rach 
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We meet so many kids each year at camp that from the worlds view are “flawed” and “unlovable.”  These kids are more than a number, more than a face and more than their disability.  Timothy is like so many other children, is longing for someone to show him he is beautiful, he is loved, his life has purpose!  Through HIM, we see the beauty of this boy and so many other children!
For The Kids – Bring Me Hope
P.S. Below are all the videos from this week’s Yantai blog features!

Foreign Perspectives

Every year BMH camp brings around a new set of volunteers that are pumped to fly over to China and get camp started.  But some people don’t realize, there is another huge group of volunteers that make camp possible…our Chinese staff.  They are a group of amazing college students that make our communication with the kids possible but also add the extra energy and fun needed for our summer adventures.  It is amazing to be able to form a relationship with them, become part of a camp family and leave at the end of the week with a new friend.  Personally, some of our favorite memories with our translators were being able to bond over life experiences, learn about the culture differences, be parents together for the week and attempt to learn some Chinese (attempt being the key word).

How we would sum up camp life with our foreign volunteers, “The beginning of the week brought a bunch of confident university student eager to practice their English.  Five days later we were looking at a tight knit team of people who had been broken and transformed by these precious children.  Childen who needed constant diaper changes, who always pushed the boundaries, who didn’t act like other children we’d seen before…Children who needed love!”  Thank you to all of our foreign volunteer staff that help make camp possible!  pinkflowerphoto_0005

“I learnt this week that love is not about what you can receive in return, but what you can give. Love doesn’t have any expectations.” – Vivianpinkflowerphoto_0004

“Today at lunch, my little boy said “I would really love to become your son”. After I heard him say that, all the things I previously thought were important no longer seemed important. I no longer simply want to pursue academic achievement and a good job, I want to pursue a life of significance.” -Lunapinkflowerphoto_0003

“I learnt so much looking after my buddies this week. When I saw them being thankful for seemingly insignificant things, I suddenly realized that I haven’t ever really thanked my parents before. When camp is over, I’m going to be intentional about expressing my love and thanks to my own family.” Heysonpinkflowerphoto_0006

“Before I came to this camp I was afraid of kids with disabilities. But after this week I see that they just need more love, they need us.” -Reaganpinkflowerphoto_0007

“This summer camp changed me a lot, I feel like I learnt the definition of love for the first time.” – Olivia pinkflowerphoto_0002For The Kids,

Bring Me Hope

 

Running From Love

Summer Camp 2013 has come to an end.  Although goodbyes have been said, there are stories waiting to be told.  This year Rena (one of our volunteers) shared her personal thoughts about working with orphans and running from love.  I highly encourage you to get your box of Kleenex before you start reading.lokasari_pinkflower2013_0028For the past three summers, I’ve attended Bring Me Hope summer camps for orphans in China.  Going to camp has left me with some of the sweetest memories and some of the deepest sorrow my heart has ever known.  Getting to know and love some of the orphans I’ve met has had such a deep impact on my heart.

For the first two summers, I went enthusiastically to meet with these children who have experienced much suffering and abuse.  Many have attachment disorders, which keep them from forming deeper bonds with those around them for fear of being hurt again.  They run from good and from love because they are self-protecting.  Most of them have no idea how to receive love because they’ve been abandoned and mistreated.  They run from the very thing they need because they are afraid.

Summer after summer, I meet these children. I have attempted to purse them with as much love and faithfulness as possible.  I have made it my goal to bring them hope, show them love and tell them they have value. I have formed deep connections with many of the children. I’ve placed them on a bus on a Friday afternoon and have waived goodbye to them with tears streaming down my face and theirs.

This summer, I realized something.  The children and I are not so different.  I’ve been hurt. I run from love and I lack hope.  I understand them.  I know what it’s like to keep locked inside because more heartbreak seems unbearable. During a volunteer meeting Kelly, one of our camp directors read a description of attachment disorder to us.  For the first time, I realized that I’m prone to the same.  I was never orphaned but I’ve been neglected and mistreated and I carry those scars with me and sometimes they ooze with pain.  Self-protecting has also been my tendency and this year I’ve done it more than I’ve desired to. lokasari_pinkflower2013_0027Earlier during my week at camp this year, I communicated with Kelly that I thought it best not to connect too deeply with the children because the tearing when we said goodbye would just hurt them more.  I didn’t want to hurt them more.  I wanted to bring them a little hope not more pain.  In some way, this thought made sense but I was not opening my heart as wide as I possibly could to these children and that is not love.  I was acting and thinking in my own wisdom, which failed me.  Here is a description of love that Kelly’s kids recited from memory.  Here is my rock when my own wisdom fails me.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.   If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b]6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 

 “Love does not keep locked inside.  It is not afraid for “perfect love cast out fear.”.  Love endures forever.  It is the only thing that makes any sense.  If we are acting in love and laying down our lives for the sake of others we will gain more love and hope will rise. Self-protection makes sense but self-protection is not love.  I’ve been guilty of trying to protect myself from good.  I understand, but thankfully my week at camp did not end in self-protection but with love, the patient kind that waits.

I waived goodbye to one of my little boys.  He hugged others as he began to weep. I drew near and hugged him.  He lost more control of his emotions with that hug and his self-protection was crumbling. I could finally see hope rise in his heart.  I hope love continues to bear fruit in his heart. I hope the love he received he will pour out on others. And I hope that love would fall right back on him.  lokasari_pinkflower2013_0026My time at Bring Me Hope has been a journey.  I’ve learned what love really means.  I’ve seen it in the faces of each of the orphans.  I see the Father in them.  My heart both rejoices in them and mourns with them.  I see the Father more now than I ever have.  Caring for the unloved, the orphan has healed my heart from self-protection. I see this pure and blameless religion washing over me.  I’m so thankful for the wonderful opportunity to have gone to China for the third time this summer.  I went in brokenness and came back whole.  Thank you Father and thank you little broken beauties.  I’ll never stop loving you.  I’ll never give up hoping for you.  If you desire a family, I’ll hope that with you and mourn that with you.

 Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) -Rena

Past Camper to Future Volunteer

This week I was contacted by a young woman interested in volunteering for Bring Me Hope 2014.  As we continued to talk, I squealed with joy when I found out this girl, Anna, was one of our past campers!  There is something about reconnecting down the road with a kid that came to camp that makes life so real!2013BringMeHopeSummer_0045v

“My name is Anna Coiner. I attended Camp Bring Me Hope when I was in the orphanage in Jiangxi Fu Zhou . When we heard that we were going to Camp Bring Me Hope, we were all very excited. When we got to Camp Bring Me Hope, we did lots of fun activities. We went to the bowling place and played games, that was our first time went bowling.  We colored  our shirts and made key chains.  It was so much fun.  When we finished designing our shirts we all put the shirts on and take picture of us all together.  We also went to the river to swim.  I also remember that David Bolt jumped to the water because he saw snake but when he jumped in it was not snake it was just stick we all laughed.  I really loved the volunteers.  They were so kind to us.  I felt loved by them. We all really liked when the volunteers said “Good Night”  to us in English.  We also played musical chairs, it was an awesome game.  When Camp Bring Me Hope was almost over, we were all very sad.  We all were crying because we didn’t want to leave Bring Me Hope. 2013BringMeHopeSummer_0046 2013BringMeHopeSummer_0047

The next year, a couple kids that attended Bring Me Hope at they got adopted by an American family.  I was the last one to get adopted by an American family.  My family loves me and is taking care of me now.  I have been America for 6 years. Now I want to volunteer for Camp Bring Me Hope. I want to help the orphans just like when I was an orphan at Camp Bring Me Hope. I want to tell them about my story when I was in the  orphanage and then I got adopted by an American family.  I want to tell them all the fun things we did.”  Anna Coiner
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And here is Anna today…I already love this girl!

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Thank you Anna for contacting me and sharing your story!  We hope to see you next summer as a volunteer at Bring Me Hope Camp 2014 (woot woot, which will also be our 10 year aniversary)!

New Shoes │Taiyuan Recap

Today is story time from camp Taiyuan.

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pinkflowerphoto_0049 pinkflowerphoto_0050About a week ago we had a little girl named Suzi join us.  Suzi was a kind & warm hearted girl who loved her camp family to pieces.  One day Ciara, her Irish volunteer, brought her to the store and went straight to the shoe section.  Suzi’s shoes were “in bits” and didn’t fit her anymore, so it was Ciaras intention to surprise her by buying a new pair.  As they were looking at shoes, little Suzi began to cry and explained she didn’t have money and could never buy a new pair.  It took her awhile to finally understand that Ciara was buying the shoes and that she didn’t have to pay her back.  Ciara said, “She finally realized that I was going to give her a gift and her eyes got so big!  She couldn’t believe that someone would buy her new shoes!”  The rest of the day was all smiles from Suzi as she happily received the simple gift of new shoes.pinkflowerphoto_0052 pinkflowerphoto_0053 pinkflowerphoto_0054

One of our favorite parts of camp is giving out camp awards. Every night the ‘Award Fairy’ comes to our Assembly Hall (the Award Fairy is played by our crazy-fun staff member Keri) and each night new campers receive awards such as, “Most Generous” or “Biggest Smile.” We wish everyone could have the opportunity to see these orphans nearly burst with pride when their names get called to receive an award. They come up to the front of the stage and everyone cheers and claps for them as they hold up their awards. One of our little campers who joined us last year brought her award from last year which she keeps in a special folder because she is still so proud; even a year later!pinkflowerphoto_0055 pinkflowerphoto_0056 pinkflowerphoto_0057

This week we sent a few of our volunteers to ride back to the orphanage with the kids. They said as they looked around on the bus, so many of the kids had opened their memory books to the page of the ‘family photo’ and were just staring at the picture. Many of the kids looked at the picture and cried as they drove back to the orphanage. This really touched our hearts because we put a lot of time and effort into making the memory books, but we didn’t know how important they really were to the kids. These orphans cherish their memory books and many of them keep them in special places to keep them safe.pinkflowerphoto_0058

Although each week our little campers are carrying home lots of new things with smiles on their faces, our biggest hope is that they carry in their hearts the truth that they are special, important and very loved.  Camp is so important for these kids and in many cases is considered one of the highest points of their lives.  These are lives changed when you and I show love to these kids through volunteering at camp, sponsoring an orphan & standing alongside of them and advocating!  We want to thank you all for the difference you are making in the lives of these kids…who now can see that they are loved and have a hope that can carry them through.pinkflowerphoto_0059 pinkflowerphoto_0060 pinkflowerphoto_0061 pinkflowerphoto_0062 pinkflowerphoto_0063 pinkflowerphoto_0064 pinkflowerphoto_0065 pinkflowerphoto_0066 pinkflowerphoto_0067 pinkflowerphoto_0068 pinkflowerphoto_0069

For The Kids,

Bring Me Hope

Welcome to Yantai Camp│Week #1

We love featuring updates for everyone about camp life.  It is a great opportunity to share what HE is doing in the lives of orphans & volunteers and how you can change lives by sponsoring orphans and advocating for our camp kids!  Who knows…maybe it will inspire you to become part of the adventure and adopt a sweet little kid or volunteer at Bring Me Hope summer camp 2014?

We had a crazy week here at Yantai but I guess that’s to be expected with a new location, constant rain and daily power & water shortages 🙂  However, the great part of all of this is that the kids didn’t even notice the number of times our schedule was thrown out the window.  They were smiling and having the time of their life.  What a joy it was to see them squealing when we brought the ocean to them (the rain prohibited us from going to the ocean) and they got to “go fishing” in a blow up pool.  I think the comment that I heard the most throughout the week was, “Wow, I thought I was coming here to serve orphans and teach them life skills, but it’s the kids that are teaching me!”  We’re super thankful for all the opportunities He gave us this week to learn what it means to rely on His enduring strength and unshakable wisdom.

This is one of our favorite camp transformations and we can tell from the pictures not only that she is loved but His daughter…she is so beautiful and deserves to be treated like a princess!

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May (Chinese Camp Director) >“This beautiful girl is delayed and it is clear that she has received messages her whole life that she is not worthy of love.  The first day of camp she was constantly looking down with hunched shoulders and cowering in the corner.  It was amazing to watch the love of her translators bring about transformation to her whole body stance over the course of the week.  They didn’t let her disability disarm them but instead treated her like a princess.  They were true sisters to her.  They taught her how to look up and face the world and created a safe place so she could!”

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Nancy (Volunteer) > “It was amazing to see how the children changed from Monday to Friday.  Only He could bring that kind of transformation.  I hope that they will allow this transformation to carry them through this year!”IMG_86002

Graham (Chinese Staff) > “I learned how discipline can bring two people together.  I was afraid of disciplining Mike at first but then I took him aside and talked to him about bullying.  He didn’t take it well at the time but by the next day and throughout the week he would always initiate interactions with me and constantly come find me to chat or hang out.  These kids need LOVE – and it comes in many different forms.”IMG_35145

“She was crying all night and wouldn’t let me go.  I whispered to her, “You can fall asleep in my arms.”  She finally calmed down and went to sleep.”2

Kate (Volunteer) >“I had two buddies, they looked so similar I could have sworn they were twins. The first one I bonded with really quickly, the second child was  little resistant.  We were sitting outside McDonalds one day and I was teaching the first one how to kiss me on the cheek (she had never seen this done before) and then the second girl randomly came over and planted one on my cheek too!  What a privilege…teaching two little girls how to express love with a kiss on the cheek!  It was definitely a highlight for me!”

Thank you for reading and letting us share our heart for the orphans…what the world deems as broken is made beautiful by sharing Him and loving on these kids!  What a privilege it is to be part of their story!

P.S.  We are still taking “Orphan Sponsorships” to cover camp + kid costs!  If you would like to take part and see more lives changed like this past week at Yantai visit this link >http://bring-me-hope.myshopify.com/products/sponsor-an-orphan

For The Kids!

Bring Me Hope Foundation

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Love Like an Ocean 2012

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Videos, photos and updates from our summer camps in Kunming, Taiyuan, Nanchang, Xin Zheng, and Yantai.

Staff Summit

All of our summer camp met up in Xin Zheng at the beginning of July to prepare for camp. Between out meetings we managed to get some fun in, including a game that ended in people eating snails and chicken feet.

Kunming – Week 1 – Ballet and Waterslides

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Week one in Kunming was a success! It was an amazing experience, yet again, to love on these little kiddos. The girls put on a ballet show for us, while the boys enjoyed all of the outdoor activities. What a blessing to have them in our lives for this one short, but awesome, week!

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Taiyuan – Week 1 – Camp Kicks Off in Taiyuan!

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We jumped right into summer camp in Taiyuan with an amazing group of volunteers from Texas and whole bunch of energetic kids!

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Nanchang – Week 1 – Back in Nanchang! Thank you, JMC!

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Our one week mini-camp in Nanchang was a huge success! This was the first time since 2008 that Bring Me Hope held a camp there. There were many happy reunions and new friendships made. In Nanchang, we had the added benefit of being near the headquarters of one of our biggest sponsors, JMC, so several JMC employees were able to join in the fun! We are so thankful for all the support JMC has given us over the last seven years. Not only have they been involved with the Nanchang camps, they have covered the entire Bring Me Hope transportation budget! Wow, we appreciate their heart to help orphans so much!

Xin Zheng – Week 1 – Something Beautiful

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Wow, what an amazing week He prepared for us in Xinzheng! We cannot even begin to describe everything that took place in the last week, but we are thankful and humbled to be a part of something so beautiful.

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Yantai – Week 1 – A Rebuilt Camp!

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A great week which happened courtesy of the One who can take a broken camp with no pool, waterslide, swimsuits, bedding, first aid supplies, (or pretty much anything essential to a summer camp) and rebuild it, overcoming the difficulty and giving us all that we asked for!

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Kunming – Week 2 – Another Amazing Week

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Week two in Kunming was a huge blessing! It was another amazing week to have these kids in our care. Thank you all who participated this week! It couldn’t have happened without you!

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Taiyuan – Week 2 – Zoo, Crafts, Songs, and LOVE

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With over 100 people at camp this week we had the biggest Bring Me Hope camp of the 2012 summer here in Taiyuan, China. It was an amazing week! So many kids had the opportunity to leave their orphanages and enjoy a week of fun. The kids got to go swimming, go to the zoo, do crafts, sing songs, and experience lots and lots of love.

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Xin Zheng – Week 2 – Eagles Wings

2012Marissa

We had an amazing week with so many beautiful kids from the Eagles Wings foster home! The rooms were echoing with laugher the whole week! Many of these kids are available for adoption and ALL of them need sponsors. You can find out more information here: www.eagleswingschina.org

2012XinzhengDressUp

2012Bethany

Yantai – Week 2 – Blessed

2012YantaiKid

We had some wonderful children from the orphanage join us. What a blessing to spend this week with them!

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2012YantaiSinging

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Kunming – Week 3

2012Andy

2012WaDaLi

2012Ruby

Taiyuan – Week 3 – Talent Show

2012TaiyuanDancing

Our third week here in Taiyuan, China. We had 20 kids come, 15 Chinese translators and 14 American volunteers. The kids were so sweet and had such a fun time. They especially liked swimming and even got to go to a water park! On Thursday night we had a talent show and we were amazed at our kids’ singing and dancing skills. We were sad to see the kids go but are so glad that we all got to meet each other.

2012TaiyuanAwards

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Xin Zheng – Week 3 – Returning Orphans

2012XinzhengWeek3

This week we had the opportunity to have kids from the Zheng Zhou orphanage come to camp. Some of these children have been coming to camp every year since 2008! There were a lot of hugs and happy reunions when they got off the bus!

2012Lucia

2012XinzhengSmile

2012Rose

2012Katie

Yantai – Week 3 – Rejoicing for Forever Families!

2012YantaiOcean

Week three of Yantai camp was full of rejoicing as four returning orphans prepare to join their forever families. The rest were showered with hope and joy as we rode bumper cars, ate a whole lot of ice cream, and visited the ocean to see what love like an ocean is like: high, deep, and wide!

2012Lulu

2012YantaiWeek3

Kunming – Week 4

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2012KunmingRaft

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2012KunmingBoy

Taiyuan – Week 4 – An Unforgettable Week

2012TaiyuanSinging

Our final week here in Taiyuan was so memorable. We had 12 of the sweetest orphans. A lot of the children this week had a range of more serious special needs than we expected and also brought us more joy than we could have imagined! Many of the children went swimming for the first time in their lives. They got to eat delicious food, sing and dance every night, and they got to visit a theme park and ride some fun rides. It was a week none of us will forget.

2012TaiyuanKid

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Xin Zheng – Week 4 – Amazing Kids

2012Cash

Our last week of camp at Xin Zheng! All of the children were from a private orphanage and we are amazing by how friendly and well adjusted they were. It was a great testament to how loving care can change lives! We were so thankful to spend the week with them!

2012Crafts

Yantai – Week 4 – “I’m going to have a family…”

2012Ryan

Week four was a celebration of victory and triumph over pain in orphans’ lives. One orphan’s quote sums up why we do this: “I am going to have a family because of the summer camp. I am very thankful for that.”

2012YantaiIceCream

2012Meghan

2012YantaiWeek4

Last Week in Xin Zheng

2012Walking