Senior returns to birth place to serve
By Heidi Heater, a junior from Jackson, Ky.
WILMORE, KY—Sara Hatcher, a senior elementary education major from Flemington, N.J., was born in Taipei, Taiwan where her parents were missionaries. Her family left the country when she was three, but Hatcher recently returned to Taiwan with an Asbury College Initiative Grant to spend two months at The Home of God’s Love orphanage, caring for orphaned children and assisting in prison ministry.
More than 40 children live at The Home of God’s Love. Hatcher said the orphanage had 12 babies when she first arrived, but three were adopted during her internship. Many of the older children aren’t adoptable because their parents didn’t officially resign parental rights.
“The whole trip has been amazing,” Hatcher said. “It has been incredible to get to know the babies and then see them go to families that have prayed for them for a long time. I love kids and to be able to hold and love them unconditionally is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.”
Hatcher has learned her love can be communicated despite the language barrier between her and the children. “Some speak a little English, and I speak a little Chinese, but not enough to really communicate well,” she said. “But we worship the same God, and we sing the same songs and our love is the same. There are some things that can be communicated without ever having to speak.”
According to Hatcher, her time in Taiwan has more fully prepared her should God call her long-term to the mission field. “I have experienced things that I would not have experienced had I not left the country,” she said. “It has made me see that God has provided a wonderful home for so many kids when their own homes did not want them. Hearing the stories of these kids has opened my eyes to how big God really is.”
The Home of God’s Love orphanage is a non-profit Christian organization that is sponsored by individuals and independent Christian churches. Their main ministry is to provide a Christian home for children who cannot live with their families. These children are either sponsored or adopted by a family.
The Asbury Initiative Grant provides summer internships for Asbury College juniors, seniors and graduating seniors to perform volunteer service in the areas of international community and social and economic development in developing countries. This grant covers all of the expenses incurred for this opportunity.
This grant was established in 2003 with a pledge of $1 million from Phyllis McRoberts ’53 West and her husband, Stephen R. West, in honor of the life and ministry of Ernest M. Steury, M.D. ’53 and Mrs. Jennie Sue Groce ’54 Steury who served as missionaries in Kenya with World Gospel Mission. To date, this program has allowed 49 students to perform volunteer service in 28 countries. Total dollars awarded exceed $291,000. For more information, visit http://www.asbury.edu/studentlife/service/initiatives.
Released: July 16, 2007
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Tagged: features and initiative-grants
