Little Fish Opens Its Office!

Hi everyone! How are you? I hope well.

The Little Fish office has been open now for a little bit and I wanted to share some photos with you. This is a project that is near to my heart and one that many of you contributed to earlier this year. Ethan (the leader of the Little Fish project) wanted to make sure and say thank you to all of you for your support. He also caught me up on their work. They had three orphans move in when the office first opened. Living on their own is a completely new situation for these orphans. Ethan has been teaching them how to take care of themselves, things like; cooking, cleaning, buying food, and how to work together as a team. They are also continuing their lessons in learning music and dance. 

Here are some photos of the three that moved in when the office was opened. I hope you enjoy!

Thanks again to all of you for supporting this work!

much love,

the petersons

Update, New Friends and the Fundraiser ends

Although I’ve gotten some posts up lately I haven’t written much about what our family has been up to.  We’ve had many people here reach out to our family to help Heather and I.  It’s been great to have such support.  Around two weeks ago a group of people came over to our house to watch our kids so that Heather and I could go on a date.  And we made the most of it, going on the longest date of our marriage (four hours).  It was a lot of fun to get out with Heather and reconnect as a couple.

This week we are excited to meet some new friends!  A while back a family that was planning to move to Xian came across our blog.  They wrote us an email with some questions and quickly we discovered that we had a lot in common.  Well they are moving to Xian and tonight my wife and I are going to the airport to pick up their family.  We can’t wait to get to know them in person, not just through emailing.

Also, it’s been about a month and our Little Fish Fundraiser is coming to an end.  Our goal was to raise $800 and in the end you guys smashed that goal by raising $1,138!  Thank you everyone for giving and helping spread the word.  If you still want to donate money to the Little Fish just shoot me an email.  In the future I would like to try and keep everyone updated on how their work progresses.

"Sisters looking cute."

(Heather took this one and I love it.)

Much love everyone,

Matt, Heather, and the crew

Update on the Little Fish Fundraiser

Hey everyone!

The fundraiser that we started a little over two weeks ago has already raised $1,116! Thank you so much to everyone who has given and also thank you everyone who has helped spread the word. If you are still interested in making a donation, we're still interested in receiving them! Just drop me a message and let me know.

Much love,

the petersons

"These are a few of the orphans performing at a Christmas show."

A closer look at the Little Fish

It’s almost been a week since the little fish fundraiser was started. We’ve had a few donations totaling $316, so with the matching gift that brings our total to… hold on here a sec… carry the one... $632! Remember even if all you can give is $10 or $15 that can help this group. Let’s take a closer look at what the Little Fish project is aiming to do.

Before Ethan and his volunteers came in these kids would mostly sit around watching TV with little to no interaction. They had been abandoned by those who were meant to care for them, because in society’s eyes they were worthless. Ethan wants to show these orphans that they are important, that they are loved, and that they can do something with their lives. Ethan and his volunteers encourage them to be creative. They do this by teaching them how to; play music instruments, sing, MC on stage, perform fashion shows, read and study poems, and also to sing worship songs. They want to also teach them how to do dance performances.

In the future they want to put together a music group from these orphans that will travel around performing. It will be something they can do to show not only these orphans, but also the society around them, that although they are handicapped and disabled they still have value and significance. It will also be an incredible message of love that will challenge those that see how Ethan and his volunteers have reached out to those others have abandoned.

Also in the future they would like to be teaching these orphans one-on-one in areas like; computer skills, making crafts and various other subjects (Math, Chinese and English). They will do this so that they can learn to live independently.

That’s a closer look at the Little Fish organization.

Much love,

The petersons

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” -Jackie Robinson

Here are some of the orphans that Ethan works with.

Little Fish Fundraiser

I had an incredible experience a few days before Christmas that will impact me for many years to come and I would like to share it with you. A friend of mine here, Ethan, has been working with handicapped and disabled orphans for many years now. (Many of you may remember giving to his organization “Little Fish” by buying cards the orphans had made when Heather and I were home two summers ago.) This year he has seen a lot of progress in his work with these kids.

So it was only a few days before Christmas when Ethan and his group of orphans put on a performance at a local school here and that is where I was really impacted. The first thing that really touched me was watching these handicapped and disabled orphans perform. They sang a bunch of songs and even had a fashion show, which was super cute. Seeing the confidence, joy, and life that was coming out of these kids was amazing. To me, their smiles and attitude perfectly reflected the love that Ethan and his co-workers have given them. It moved me to tears.

The second thing that really impacted me happened near the end of the performance. One of the orphans came up to me; struggling to walk, struggling to control his movements and having difficulty communicating and handed me a pamphlet about the Little Fish project. Despite his circumstances he thought of me and wanted to give to me. I wish I thought of others the way this young man thought of me in that moment.

The reason I’m writing this, if you couldn’t tell from the post title, is that I want to help Ethan raise some money for his work. In a month Ethan is going to look for an apartment to rent and will use it as an office. What’s exciting about this is that the Little Fish group will use this office as a place to move some of the orphans who are more capable of living on their own. It will be a place for them to begin a new life outside the walls of an orphanage. It will also be a place for the staff to meet together to train and to pray for this work. I’m also excited because for future guests who visit Xian it can be a place for us to go love on these guys.

My goal is to raise $800 for Ethan's project. Ethan has already raised much of the rent money he will need for a full year, but this money will fulfill what he needs for rent. It will also be used in furnishing this office/living space and cover additional expenses like utilities. What's cool is that someone has already committed to matching donations up to $400! So that means that for every dollar you donate, two will be given to this work!

I don’t know what your financial situation is, but if you care about work being done with orphans, or work being done with disabled/handicapped, or if you take the words of Jesus about "loving the least of these" serious, then this is a great opportunity for you to help. Even a donation of $15 can be a tremendous blessing to this project. If you’re interested in helping, please write me an email to discuss how you can make a donation at mattpeterson83@gmail.com

Also, help me get the word out! You can post links on your own blog or Facebook page, or simply click the like button at the bottom of this post to get the word out for how to help this group. Heather and I love you guys, thanks for reading all of this!

We have a month to raise this money and I will keep everyone posted on how it’s going! Check out the total on the side of our blog to see where we’re at.

"A day lived without showing love to others, is a day not worth living." -Mother Theresa

With hope,

the petersons

"This is the guy who impacted me."

"Here are the "Little Fish" performing a song"

"Here's one of the guys during the fashion show"