美國哥哥的日記: 20 Oct 2010
Version 4 Vol. #7 Oct. 20th , 2010
Greeting from the Unique City of San Ming, China,

Happy 5th Anniversary
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday Children’s Village. Happy Anniversary to you!!! October 9th 2010 was our official 5th anniversary celebration. We had a big celebration with many supporters coming from America and Hong Kong. It was also encouraging to have many local officials, friends, teachers and neighbors join in our celebration. The children had a program with singing, piano and guitar recitals , and dancing. One girl even gave a well prepared speech of appreciation in English. It was hard work and took a couple months to prepare the children for this celebration and program but when it was all over it was worth it. My boys from the summer woodworking camp displayed some of their projects and received many much needed compliments. I believe the guest and the children were both encouraged. This made it all worth it!

I “HATE” you
“I do not love you!” “I HATE you!” These were the words written on several notes passed to me over the span of several days from one of my young girls. Wow! You can imagine my heart problems and the questions when I read these notes. What is the meaning of this? Why the harsh words? This same girl left me a note several day before the hate messages that read “You is cool”. I have since come to the conclusion that girls have attitude problems. Some days these girls are so nice and mannerly, but the next day for no apparent reason the exact some girls have big attitude problems and go out of their way to be rude and completely ignore me. Yes, true love is patient and it is not always easy. I now can understand more the Love of God.
Sooo Lazy
How do you teach teenage boys not to be soooo… lazy? I am having some trouble with some of my boys being very (very x100) lazy. Because of the Chinese National Day on October 1st my children had one week off from school. During this time I had short list of things I needed done during this holiday from school. If all the boys worked together it really was not that much work maybe about 15 minutes of work per day. So easy right? Heh! The first day was a national holiday so I was okay if they did not work, but The second day no work was completed. So I gave my boys another chance and said please help me do some work tomorrow. The 3rd day still no work was complete. This resulted in me confiscating all their games. By the fourth day still no work was completed and my boys just went and borrowed another dorms games. Arg! By the fifth day I lost my patience and decided I must reside to my homes rules. He who does not work, does not eat. I regret to say but 4 of my boys had to miss lunch because of their choice of not working. By evening these four boys were very hungry and they were starting to decide that work is better than a hungry and an angry stomach. Some people say I have too much patience and others say I do not have enough. Please pray for patience and wisdom as I teach and train so many teenager boys!

One Year of Thanksgiving for a Healthy Body
It is hard to believe. Time truly flies! One year ago on Oct 10, 2009 this is how I looked….
I was being wheeled into a Chinese hospital operating room looking up at the ceiling and wondering if I will ever see this world again. I only had a swollen appendix removed, but I was in the hospital for about 5 days and unable to run or work for a couple months after the surgery. But Praise God I am once again restored to health and have been blessed with a year of a very active and healthy body. A lesson I learn from last year never take your healthy body for granted. Be Thankful!!!

Thanks for your prayers and support,
Stephen Burkholder
Peace, Joy and Love Always!!!