Leadership Development Intl

1635 Highway 34 East, Suite B
Newnan, GA 30265-2173
Phone: 770-683-0808
Fax: 770-683-0809

“God is our refuge and strength … so we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.”

We’re in the US, but Sarah and I were reminded this weekend again of the effects of the recent earthquake.  While short-term needs are being met, there is a long way to go in the recovery efforts.  One practical thing our company is doing is raising funds to buy coats for those in need during the winter months.  Also, this website is helpful in organizing many of the collective efforts of people in Sichuan between individual groups.

Being in the US has reminded us of how much we have.  Times are tight with gas and food prices, but anything would be appreciated to help those affected.  Thanks!

We will be sending out a newsletter saying this, but it’s important to us to let you know how thankful we are for your encouragement, prayers, and support over the past three years.  It’s been a wild ride, and a heck of a way to start a marriage!  We highly recommend it.  Especially if you come teach with our school system.  (How’s that for an ad!)   We covet your thoughts as we transition this summer to our new stage of life in Dallas.

In case you were wondering, we still plan on chronicling our exploits – but for the next 4+ years, they will likely be American-based.  And I (Dan) will be at seminary, but I’ll try to leave the intricacies of dispensational theology for the classroom.  Maybe.

Good bye, Chengdu.  We’ll miss you.

We had dinner with our friends the Ye’s on Thursday night.  It never fails to be an interesting experience, but they made home-made hot pot which was really yummy!  Our conversation was probably the best understood that we’ve ever had, which was a blessing and humorous at the same time.  They said when we have a “pang pang de” baby we have to return and visit them.  Although it has the connotation of “healthy,” “pang” is the word we learned for “fat,” so you can understand why I laughed out loud.  Mrs. Ye was quite serious though, and repeated the phrase several times.

Today is a packing day, but we have dinner lined up for tonight and the next two, so the goodbyes are being stretched out to the very last minute.  I don’t think it will fully hit until we leave NY for this “Dallas” place, wherever that is!  One exciting note – I’m in the running for an accompanist position with the Greater Dallas Childrens’ Chorus!  The director has been in touch multiple times and wasn’t able to fill the position after the June 3rd audition, so she wants to meet me when we arrive!  Yeah for networking! 

Here we go!!

Even though the earthquake has changed plans, we have still been finishing up the school year and preparing to make the transition back to the States.  So after our adjusted High School trip to areas affected by the earthquake, we have had:
- a music concert
- a student awards ceremony
- a staff banquet
- finals
- graduation
- movers come take much of our stuff
- sales to get rid of much of the rest
- and lots of goodbyes.

We have lots of pictues of many of the above mentioned activities; for now most of the pictures are in albums on Sarah’s facebook profile.  We appreciate your thoughts as we prepare to leave China for the foreseeable future on Thursday.  Thanks!

This picture was taken on our way back through the town of Mianzhu.  If you look closely, there is a woman washing her clothes in a small “canal” running past what presumably was her home.  Even more incongruous… there were two small ducklings nestled in the midst of the rubble behind her.

 

This is just one of the maps found on the USGS website.  It still blows my mind that Chengdu suffered such little damage despite being so close to the epicenter.  The area that we visited on Saturday was near Mianzhu – not on this map – but just a little southwest of Mianyang.

Makeshift shelters in our own complex.  People are still living outside in tents, simply because they are afraid to go into their homes. 

It was hard for me to reconcile this today… seeing people in our school complex with a tent for every family member, their car parked nearby and their brand new, intact apartment behind them.  We had people on the roads around Mianzhu begging for tents or tarps – anything for shelter.  These people were setting up shelter in the midst of the rubble, with the clothes on their backs and whatever they were able to pull out from the piles of wood and bricks.  Perhaps a month from now, when the rich residents of ZhongHai and XiQuHuaYuan are tired of living outside, they can send their tents to those in the countryside who have lost everything.  Having said that, the Chinese citizens have contributed over 3.5 billion yuan (500 million dollars) to the rescue effort – and that’s just the official count through the Red Cross donation centers!

As we drove, we saw very little damage until we arrived in Mianzhu.  Then we began to see collapsed roofs, walls and damaged power lines.  The countryside was almost surreal, with people living in makeshift tents in the middle of their leveled homes.  More than once, we had people flag us down from the side of the road and ask for whatever we could give them.  Most were looking for tarps or face masks, but seemed to have plenty of water. 

We only saw one major rock slide, and otherwise, the farms were intact, and people were moving along as usual, harvesting rapeseed and wheat.  In fact, the government sent a text message asking people not to burn their fields in order to allow rescue pilots better visibility!

There were two events that especially struck me today:

We stopped along the road where a small group of people were gathered.  One man among them had very little control over one arm and seemed to have some mental issues as well.  When he was handed a cup of instant noodles, his face lit up like I’ve never seen before.  The group was told that we would be pr*ying for them, and they responded excitedly, saying they were part of the Family!! 

Secondly, we stopped at a distribution center and were directed to a village a few kilometers away that had received very little attention.  We loaded things from the large buses to the smaller vehicles and made our way up the hill.  When we arrived, people cheered, and told us that this was the first delivery made to their village.  They helped unload the vans, and rather than run off with the things, they stacked it neatly for later distribution and talked and talked with us.  One lady was sobbing – overwhelmed by the fact that no harm had come to her family and now this sign that their lives could be rebuilt.

Pictures to come later, but I’m off to bed…

EastSouthWestNorth: The Sichuan Earthquake