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LittleBirdinChina
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Name: Melanie
Country: China
Metro: Qingdao
Gender: Female
Interests: Photography, running, outdoors, the arts, the ocean, large bodies of water, reading, learning, music, guitar, the moon, looking at stars, Illustrating my beliefs
Occupation: Art
Industry: Education
Message: message me
AIM:  melanie1102
Member Since:
6/14/2006
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| Please take a look.
Tell your friends!!!
i would love your support!
peace.
Mel.
http://melanievanderwal.squarespace.com/
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| “Recently I met 32-year-old Saw Lee. He was taking care of his sick 6-year old son. His other three children were dead. Just an hour before I met him, he was shoveling dirt on his 8-year old daughter’s grave. She had died from malaria during their 2-week hike through the jungle to Ei Tu Ta, a newly formed refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border. He had lost his wife to tuberculosis 6 years ago. What exactly do you say to someone who has lost literally everything important to him? What words could possibly help? I listened. It broke my heart.
During my time at this camp, I interviewed 7 families and 5 orphaned children. They shared their stories of devastating loss. They told me how the Burma Army had burned their homes and laid land mines on the roads and trails between their houses and rice fields. They described, in detail, starvation, torture, neighbors disappearing in the night, and women being violated. Their stories represent the daily grind of life under the boots of one of the most brutal military regimes on earth.”
-Steve Gumaer, Partners Staff
Partners in Christ:
This year the QingDao International Fellowship (QIF) Youth Group will be serving with an organization called Partners in the northwestern region of Thailand for our yearly international service outreach. Partners is an NGO that provides relief to the Burmese refugees on the Thailand-Burma boarder. The Karen and the Shan are two of main minority people who are crossing the border to escape from the civil war within their country. The military junta has controlled Burma since the 60’s and refused to abdicate their power after their 1990 elections where the National League for Democracy won in a landslide. The junta give 24 hour warnings to villages to evacuate or be forced into labor, the military or die. The people flee for their lives hiding in the deep jungles of Burma. Poor development in tropical areas provide a relatively safe haven for the displaced. Because their safety is never certain the IDPs of Burma have been fleeing to Thailand for safety.
The story written by Steve Gumaer is just one story about thousands of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Burma. Partners provides relief, development, longevity and capacity building to people similar to Saw Lee and his family who have crossed the boarder by providing shelter, education, medical care, counseling and sustenance. I along with two other leaders, Sara Harvel and Jason Harvel, will lead 8 high school QIF youth, HaEun, Joy, Riki, Michelle, Amy, Woo Jin and Jin, on February 4 through 14 to serve Partners in Thailand. Currently without knowing the exact form of service we will be providing we are preparing our hearts to be filled with the word and the love of the Father through accountability groups. We suspect that we will be working with one of the refugee orphanages doing various activities with the children. We hope to use our talents given to us by our Father to share His love with them.
Out of the 50 million inhabitants of Burma 4% profess Christ as Lord. Eighty-nine percent of the Burmese population is Buddhist with the majority having never heard of the Father before. The Burmese people are crying out for help and Partners is responding to their cry with the power and love of our Father. The QIF youth have heard their cry and are responding by going with support and love. With our main goal to share the love of the Father with the Burmese refugees the youth group leaders also have a desire for our participating youth to grow spiritually. In their one-on-one interviews many of our youth participants expressed a desire to grow into a better person through this experience. We desire our youth to not just grow into better people but to grow in understanding and relationship with our heavenly Father.
Without you this work cannot be done. When you come alongside us and the people we are reaching out to with the love of the Father you too are helping. The Father is using organizations such as Partners and the QIF Youth Group to show the world that there is still hope and love for those that have felt forgotten. I ask that you will reach out and help us through the love of Christ in the form of prayer. Please petition for the Burmese refugees, IDPs, relief workers and for the Burmese military junta to stop their war. Petition for the Spirit’s transforming power to come upon their land, for the land to be claimed in His name!
If after reading through the current situation in Burma you wish to help beyond prayer there are many ways you too can give aid. Here is how:
1. This year some of the QIF Youth will need to raise funds to participate on this service outreach including myself. By January 14 we need to pay the full payment of 1000usd in order to participate. I ask that you will prayerfully consider setting aside your tithes to support me and/or the participating youth. (If you do decide to financially support us please write checks payable to Melanie VanderWal and send to 1712 Blue Wing Ct.)
2.Also, it does not take a lot to provide tools for life and success for the Bumese refugee families. By going to www.partnersworld.org you can find more information on the Burmese conflict, Partners, and ways you can help.
Since October:
In late October volleyball season officially ended. We completed our tournament in Tianjin with good spirits even though we came in 6 out of 6 places. Our girls made new connections with other teams and their beautiful character awarded them the sportsmanship award.
Youth group remains steady in numbers since October. The desire of the youth to be a part of our weekly meetings has been a true blessing. Although our prayers for numbers to increase have been answered above measure, the depth of relationship with the Father of our youth remains low. As I have been discipling a small group of six girls this year my heart has been heavy knowing that the most they spend time in the word each week is the time that I spend with them on Friday nights. Please pray for wisdom for me as I seek the Father as to how best to disciple these girls in relationship with Him. Please feel welcome to check up on our youth through our web page http://groups.google.com/group/qicf-youth.
Over Thanksgiving I was delighted to travel with our third grade student teacher Kristen Long to Beijing. While needing to visit the doctor at Beijing United for a sports injury, Kristin and I took the opportunity to see the city for the first time. We spent four full days traveling in Beijing seeing sites such as the Olympic Nest and the Summer Palace. We also hiked six miles of the Great Wall. It was a challenging trip as we relied on my meager Chinese to bring us from one place to the next. My doctors appointment proved to be beneficial and not so surprising. My injury was determined to be a torn muscle to my lower left leg from running in sports and for pleasure. After quickly noticing my bad posture the doctor hypothesized that it is highly probable that my injury happened because I run unevenly putting more weight on one leg than the other. My doctor stressed the need for me to be disciplined in daily stretches to straighten my spine to help prevent further injuries. I want to thank those of you who have been petitioning for my recovery, I have not had pain to my lower leg since mid November and hope for continual recovery as I begin running again soon.
The art department at QMIS has been taking on major projects for major purposes these past few months. As a part of our color theory and perspective units the middle school art class did the set design for our high school production of Narnia. Taking a modern adaptation of the script our high school students performed for an audience of both believing and non-believing spectators. Many people in the audience were from the Chinese Bishan school that QMIS shares a campus with. For the majority of these students it was their first time to hear the story of our Father. What an incredible victory! Furthermore, my High School drawing class has been working on a mural on our QMIS campus. After studying the community murals of Los Angeles my students were instructed to create a conceptual mural on our campus. Out of three mural proposals our science department mural that portrays believing physicists and their quotes that direct the viewing audience to the Master Creator was chosen. Currently the mural is 50% completed and is hoped to be finished in late spring of 2008.
Next Year:
As Christmas quickly approaches so also does the need to know whether or not to again sign a contract with International Schools of China for another two year committment. In my October newsletter I wrote that I felt the Father was calling me back to the states. Since then new developments of an art center who’s vision is, “To enrich the world with gifts of Truth and Love presented through the Arts” have come along. With these developments has come an opportunity for me to stay in China and work as a manager for this arts center. The hope of the arts center, known as ArtsCounterpoint, is to empower national and international artists to use their work to redeem the arts and to tell of the Truth and Love of our Father. Please petition along with me for this arts center. If the timing is right and the Art Center is awarded a grant this spring I plan on staying and managing ArtsCounterpoint. In faith I make this known as I will no longer receive an income by working with ArtsCounterpoint. My hope is to teach high school part time while managing ArtsCounterpoint. Please pray for wisdom in this decision and that the Father will show me what path he has for me and that I will have faith in His provisions. For more information visit www.artscounterpoint.com.
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| Year 2 Quarter 1 Newsletter: Summer Sojourn Although currently rusty at speaking Chinese, I took four weeks of intensive Chinese language classes this past June. Being able to speak the language of the people around me has been one step in which our Father the sustainer has helped me further acclimate to China these past few months. Graciously our Father who provides beyond our needs supplied the means for me to visit family and friends in America this summer for a time of rest. These three weeks were a rejuvenating time that reenergized me after a hard first year of change and adjustments. My family was all together for the first time in a year and I spent more time with my sister and brother-in-law than I had in over two years. The love and support of family and friends made the return trip to China all the more exciting as I had opened my heart once again to the possibilities of our limitless Creator! Fall Facts This year has started off 110% easier than last year of which all praise is due to the Father who compassionately gives wisdom to those who seek Him. This year has been simpler to get into the hang of things with fewer changes to orient myself to. Although this is so, there have been significant changes that the Father has granted me patience with. For example, having moved into a new facility this year that is still under construction I and fellow teachers have needed to be flexible in dealing with leaky roofs and lack of power. We continue to be stretched as we persevere through less than ideal circumstances. In September, not only at school but also at home, my roommate and I have dealt with flooding. What Satan sent to destroy only brought friends closer together as Kira and Anna, our good friends, joined us in laughter as we mopped up an inch deep apartment of water at 3am one Friday morning. Our sink pipe, which suddenly burst in the night, was quickly fixed and fully operational by our Chinese fix-it-man from our school. Coming Concerns This fall I along with Allison Altmanshoffer, a Middle School teacher at our school, have been coaching the girl’s varsity volleyball team. This coming weekend we will be traveling by bus to Tianjin, 8 hours north, to play in an ACAMIS tournament. Please be thinking about us during this time for safety and opportunities to share Him. Furthermore, September 3 marked the beginning of Youth Group for the 2007-2008 school year. After asking for your petitions this summer we have had a phenomenal increase in attendance from an average of 10 to 30. An amazing blessing! Currently we are starting to select students to participate on a short-term service trip that will happen in February. Please begin to petition for the students that will go and the organization we have yet to find to serve. Also, this winter I will need to sign or decline a second contract with QMIS. I am currently seeking yet not certain to what the Father has in His will for me. I recently have been feeling the call to return to the states to work with minorities using art as a medium of connection. Please petition that doors will open or close making the Father’s will clear to me as to what direction he would have me go with my art. Finally, I will be traveling to Beijing over Thanksgiving to see a doctor about a sports injury to my lower left leg that I incurred last winter during the start of soccer season. Please petition for safety as I travel with friends from Qingdao for a few days as well as wisdom for the doctor to best diagnose and help heal my injury. Please Pray - School facilities: patience and improvement - Student’s salvation - Safe travels for volleyball tournament - Youth group growth and service - To see what the Father’s will is for me in the next year, healing and continual growth - Praise for all He has done and has yet to do this year! Contact Information: Skype: mavanderwal Email: mavanderwal@gmail.com www.xanga.com/littlebirdinchina/ Qingdao MTI International School Shazikou Dongjiang Qingdao, Shandong, China 266102 | | |
| 2ND PLACE LADIES!!!!! Our girls rocked my socks off at the International Schools of China Tournament in Shenyang! 4-3 wins to losses. There were six teams at the tournament including ourselves and we ranked second. Our girls put up an amazing fight to win this honor. Hay Ran, passing up beautifully and always-positive attitude. Julie, from America, our setter stepping up with stiffs galore at the net along with tips! Yoo In, from Korea, with her beautiful passes to the setter. Jessica, from Korea, stepping up out of nowhere with killer serves! Eun Yi, from Korea, with her always ready and wonderful spirit. Gennee , from America, with her elegant but nasty serves. Eun Young, from Korea, with a minor injury and flawless serving. Lily, from Korea, with a sprained ankle stepped up and pulled together some amazing plays at the end. Aerim, from Korea, with her soft and ready spirit. Ha Eun, from Korea, with her wonderful smile and love of the game. Miriam, from America, with her killer hit and aggressiveness on the court. They are a great bunch of girls. None the less, it is hard as a coach to be able to balance moral with each individual and with the team in general. For those of you that have coached before perhaps you understand. It has been difficult and something to continue to petition for. We have three more tournaments this season; one Chinese tournament, one International schools tournament and one ACAMIS tournament. The ACAMIS will be the other big one outside of this ISC tournament. It was a little crazy preparing for being gone over the weekend so I have a bit to do between now and Monday, but it was worth it. | | |
| Hello family. Hello friends. It has been three full weeks of eventful days of school. Our new campus has less than new buildings in which we occupy. Therefore, we have been taught great patience through teaching there. My present circumstance is less than ideal with mold that is growing through the paint on the walls of my classroom. I was less than thankful for this situation, so the Father rained on my parade quite literally. The one day it rained happened to be the day that our building was being re-roofed and it started to pour in my classroom allowing for the ceiling to loosen and fall in certain locations. After that day I listened to a Message on tape. The speaker talked about how we need to stop and recognize the goodness the Father has done in our lives. I soon realized that I was less than grateful in my current situation. Through this I have learned that I need to work hard to maintain a grateful attitude in all circumstances. Since then, the room has been cleaned and scheduled for repair within the next few weeks, air conditioning has been installed and the extra stools that I have needed suddenly appeared out of no where. The Father provided when I began to recognize his goodness. I am loving teaching more this year than last. I was listening to a Message on tape yet another time that spoke of how as soon as we start thinking that things cannot get any better that those thoughts are from the accuser (hasatan). Hasatan is unoriginal and restrictive. The father can do more than we could ever imagine. He is expansive and full of endless good possibilities. Its true! As soon as I start hearing voices in my head that are pessimistic it is not from the Father. For he is the one that sent me, he is the one that does more than we could ever ask or imagine for His name sake. Youth group started up this past Friday. We had about 35 kids show up and 5 leaders. This is phenomenal with last years record being approximately 20 or 25 kids and averaging about 7. We met on the beach just after sun down and had a bon fire. We played crazy games that included frozen T-shirts, watermelon helmets and eels used as flags. The pictures explain a lot… http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.harvel/YouthGroup0708 and a message from our friend Isaiah about trees planted by streams of live giving water topped off the evening. In a couple words: It rocked. Volleyball has been going good. Although, being a coach means my work day stretches to 11.5 hours it also means growing in relationship with young ladies, some of which have yet to meet our Father. I start practices and games with petitions and words of encouragement from the word, or the girls will give little words of encouragement for each other. This next weekend I will be flying with some of our ladies to Shenyang for a tournament. One of our girls is out for a root canal another one for a twisted ankle. Petitions for Kylie and Lily would be greatly appreciated. As for me, I maintain sanity by keeping my eyes on the father and relying on his promises. My daily act of worship typically involves scripture, trust and faith based obedience. The Father has been slowing me down with an ankle injury from sports. After shin splints from soccer last spring I have never fully recovered and have played on my injury while incorrectly compensating for it and causing further injury. I have not seen a doctor yet, but I do believe that I have either pulled a tendon or torn a muscle in my left lower leg. I have had constant pain in my ankle for the past two weeks. Please petition for a recovery. As for updates, that is all I have for now. Until next time, may your obedient faith daily increase the numbers of our Family for His name sake. | | |
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