Inspire, Summer 2008

Tremble daily tasks, provided hygiene packs to refugee camps, and played games with children in an attempt to help them deal with the trauma.” Adelle, who has been teaching at CDIS for the past four years, was sitting alone in her classroom, planning lessons, when the building began to quiver. “At first, I thought it was students in the choir room above me moving furniture,” she said. “Then it kept shaking, and this tremor of fear hit me.” She joined the teachers and students as they filed into a field and waited until the vibrations stopped. At first, the earthquake gave Adelle a glimpse of God’s power, but her feelings turned to grief as she heard about the great loss of life, the many injuries, and the number of people who were now without a home. “You feel so vulnerable,” she said, “like you have no control over your life at all. Never knowing when the next aftershock would hit, I had a bag by the door, ready to run downstairs. I heard rumors of chemicals leaking into our water supply from plants that had exploded. Ambulances raced by constantly, and we feared dams breaking and flooding our city.” But in the midst of uncertainty, Adelle has seen God at work, from the donations they have received to the numerous volunteers who have journeyed from around the world to help. Knowing that people would leave the comfort of their homes to come to a place of such tragedy has served as an encouraging reminder of God’s grace and provision. The day after the earthquake, Adelle began working with the relief organization Heart to Heart, an experience that has been one of the highlights of her life. “When I began, I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she said. “We would work from early morning until late at night, answering phones, taking donations of supplies and money, sending teams out, and assessing needs. It was an awesome opportunity — and extremely exhausting!” Through it all, she learned to depend on God for strength and perseverance. Dan, too, found his eyes focused on the power and providence of God. As evidenced by the many Christian meeting places that stood firm through the quake, he believes that God has strategically mobilized the Christian community to share the hope of Christ. “I don’t claim to understand the mind of God,” Dan said, “but I do know that centers of paganism crumbled, while centers of Christianity were left standing.” Dan also believes that God spared their own area so they could minister to those in need. One of Cedarville’s professors also joined the relief efforts. In June, Dr. Luke Tse, an associate professor of psychology, spent several days in Beijing assisting a counseling center as it prepared to train counselors for their work in the Sichuan province. He also provided training material and presented training sessions for the center and other organizations. With many people still living in tents, Cedarville grads and all those helping in the relief efforts have much work to do. In May, CDIS began working on ways to build tent schools in the quake zones. Adelle sees this as an amazing opportunity for the Chinese school system. “It has the potential to open many doors,” she said, “and build a strong foundation of solid schools in more ways than one!” As the people of China rebuild their lives after the earthquake, God continues His work of renovating hearts. And according to Dan, believers have been able to minister “with a level of freedom never before seen in China.” “That people would leave the comfort of their homes to come to a place of such tragedy has served as an encouraging reminder of God’s grace and provision.” Cedarville University 15 i Adelle Schanely ’04 currently teaches middle school math at CDIS. You may contact her at aschanely@cdischina.com . Since this story was written, Dan ’05 and Sarah (Thengvall) Roeber ’04 have moved to Texas for Dan to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. But the Roebers are still involved in China earthquake relief, working through Leadership Development International. You may contact Dan at danroeber@gmail.com . Sharyn Kopf enjoys her role as senior writer with the public relations team at Cedarville. You may contact her at skopf@cedarville.edu .