More from Tuesday – We are family

I wasn’t able to post everything from the past two days, so will add on a bit today. After the wonderful counseling time in the morning, the men from our group spent the afternoon with the young street guys, whose numbers swelled to 70. The reports about these young men are humbling and convicting! Despite having nothing, they are so hungry to mature in their faith; they so desire to be able to work, read, mature, yet they are still on the streets. And can they ever sing and dance and praise the Lord! Our guys have really connected with these young men and are praying about how they can be helped.

The gals of our group went to visit with Sarah, a 32 year- old young woman who has been a part of the ministry here. She herself was an orphan, and God gave her a burden for orphaned children. She took her first orphan in when she was 18, a one year old. She now has 19!! We met the whole family, most of whom are teenagers. The oldest is a 22 year -old boy; the youngest is Sarah’s three year old daughter, Stacy. What a doll she is! Sarah shared her own story of rape and abuse, marriage to a Muslim who deserted her when she accepted the Lord, her love for these children and the struggles of feeding and providing for them. You wouldn’t know they often don’t eat by the smiles on their faces and songs of praise! They have their own angelic choir! The teenage girl who is the latest to join the family about a year ago shared her own tragic story and praised God for bringing her to this family. She repeated over and over again how grateful she is, that Sarah is the best mother in the world, and God has redeemed her and given her life!! Sarah’s prayer was for food, school fees so that the children can continue in school, and that they could add on a few small rooms for the children and have an indoor bathroom (the only bathroom they have is a latrine outside). We prayed, praised and hugged them all. When we got back into the bus and the driver attempted to start it up, it just coughed and sputtered. He rolled it backwards several times to jump start it; nothing. Here came the kids! They started helping the driver to roll it some more and then get behind the bus, along with our ladies, to push the bus up the hill to the road! As we reached the top, the engine finally fired……everyone cheered!

We are constantly struck by the humility, thankfulness, and kindness of the people here. We are continually being thanked for coming, just for being here with them; the power of presence….His Presence!