Compass

23 Days in China—

1-2) Travel

3-4) Shanghai: trip to Disney & a tour of the city/Great Wall

5-6) Xuzhou: 2 days of training w/ local employees

7-10) Lianyungang: 2 days of training & Speech therapy with elementary children, attend Children’s Day program on 3rd day

11-16) Nanjing: therapy in various clinics

17-19) Changzhou: more therapy, lecture in universities

20-22) Qinhuangdao: love on kiddos, lecture in clinic, camp ?

23) Fly home

[May 23-June 14]

My undergrad university, California Baptist University, has recently poured into the global health engagement department that is linked to the college of Allied Health (which houses PT, OT, Speech Therapy, etc)— it is led by a previous full-time missionary Dr. Salley, who opened up his own private practice after college and pursued his medical profession until he had his life radically revamped, provoked by earthly health issues and God’s divine plan, which moved his family to Africa until he was brought to Cal Bap just a few years ago.

Each week in the semester preceding these ‘global health engagement’ trips, the various teams meet for a three hour lecture, discussion, & team activity, accompanied with various assignments pertaining to one’s assigned country (This year we are sending two teams to China, one to East Africa, and another to the Philippines).

My team consists of 10 undergrad and soon-to-be graduate students studying speech and hearing sciences and two practicing SLP’s who also teach at Cal Bap (they happen to be the two professors I am closest to and wrote all my letters of rec for grad school— I love them both so much; Namhee lived in South Korea for most of her life and taught the majority of my major courses, while Appie taught in Colorado, led my senior internship course, and has a daughter who is a missionary in Washington DC. Each of them have great stories.)

Appie (Professor Appenzeller, but I love to secretly call her Appie) is our main lead, she loves China with all of her heart and says that whenever she steps off the plane and touches its solid ground she feels at home— “this can only be the Lord” she says.

She has organized our trip according to her connections and relationships in the Shanghai area, no organization or missionary board is sending us, just the good Lord and all of those that have sponsored us; she has asked that we have our cities learned, supplies packed, and hearts prepped for whatever comes our way.

Her long time friends are missionaries in Shanghai and spoke to our class a few months ago when they were in town; we could potentially be spending a few days in the underground church camps with them, but who knows.

Last year her team was not able to go directly into the orphanages she wanted to visit (some came into the clinics)- it was something to do with the government official that was overseeing the group at the time. But we will keep our fingers crossed!

So, what is our agenda? What are we doing?

—>Primarily training those who work with special needs children regarding assessments and therapy— helping employees who work in the clinics but have no background in child life, development studies, physical, occupational, or speech therapy and showing them how to love children, encourage them, and make therapy engaging and useful.

We will also be presenting a few lectures (I have been assigned cerebral palsy) and jump in on some dinners with teachers, board members, and families.

Our literal formula in the clinic will be one child + three workers + two students.

(There is one student on our team who is PT and she is my partner which is helpful because of our presentation on CP).

But our overarching approach will rest on requests, asking for God’s direct hand in everything we do and the ability to convey the value of every person as a child of the king, cherished and loved by him.

I don’t speak mandarin, I’m not in the least bit Chinese, and I’ve never been to Asia. Whatever work is done will surely be the Lord’s doing— I ask that you join me in prayer for my team, leaders, the families we come in contact with, the children we get to hold, and all that this unique opportunity has to offer.

May I cling to the spirit and all that God is saying.

I love kids so much. I love my profession. I love the God I serve.

& I love you too, thank you for all the support and encouragement.

My team will have blog updates throughout our trip— feel free to check in for some cute photos of our kiddos!

Blogs.calbaptist.edu/ALLIEDHEALTH

Otherwise, stay tuned 😉