The first day in Shanghai

By Ezra

Hello from Shanghai,

Today's events have helped better develop our appreciation  for cross cultural experiences. The adventure began with a delectable breakfast buffet in our hotel that included but was not limited to, a plethora of colorful deep fired greens, hard boiled eggs, puff rolls and much more. We then gathered ourselves together for the days events. The director of Mifan Mama, Terry met up with us at our hotel and then traveled with us on the Metro to the Shining Star Home. Upon our arrival at the Shining Star we were greeted by some of the cutest children in all of South East Asia. 

We had the honorable pleasure of hearing the history of  the Shining Stars journey over the last few years. Currently there are seven partially to fully blind children, ranging in ages from one to nine years old at Shining Star. We had the chance to play with some of the children and even eat lunch with them while at the home. After our meal we were able to help out by cleaning the play areas outside and disinfecting the sandbox toys for the kids. We deeply cherished our time visiting with the children and getting to hear their stories, fears and hopes. The day passed quickly and before we knew it it was time for us to depart. We left Shining Star in a rather run down taxi van, to say the least. Before we even pulled out of the driveway one of the bench seats collapsed giving several members of our team a startling shock. However,  the driver was able to fix the seat in short order by placing two empty plastic bottles underneath the seat and then we were on our way back to the Metro station. We arrived safe and sound to the Metro station with no physical injuries.

We then traveled to downtown Shanghai to People's Square. It was a breath taking skyline to see. The City of Shanghai gives visitors feelings of both awe at the ingenuity of man and the natural creativity of God! While taking a group photo by the river front, we attracted a multitude of Chinese who began photo bombing our group. Dozens of people began running over to us and taking photos with us as though we were some type of celebrities. It was a pretty funny experience! As we walked back towards the Metro station we stopped in the Shanghai Mall for dinner. We ate at a lovely restaurant that served many traditional Chinese dishes. We all enjoyed our meals there and had a delightful time of fellowship during our dinner. We then made our way back to our hotel and settled in for the night. We were all pretty exhausted from the days events and were all ready for bed by the time we arrived back at the hotel. 

We send you our love, thoughts and prayers from the Far East! Keep smiling and have a great day.