Wow it’s day three already! Each day feels so long until the next day, when we wonder where the time went. This morning’s Bible study struck a chord in our hearts as we prepared to work with those precious little kids again. We were reminded that this trip is not about ourselves and challenged to cast all of our personal worries aside so God could use us. When I think about it, I have already acted selfishly with these kids. Whether it was getting cranky because I’m tired or feeling irritated when the kids don’t always act perfect, I and other team members realized that this trip is not about us….not one bit. We are here to take care of God’s children because He loves them just as much as He loves us; I just pray that they remember that after we leave. It is humbling to put yourself on the level of an orphan because, after all, without Jesus we are all orphans. All this week, I have been reminded of the lyrics to a beautiful song- “There are no strangers, there are no outcasts, THERE ARE NO ORPHANS OF GOD”. Whenever I start to think selfishly, I sing these lyrics and remember why we team members are here. By now, these children have really become part of our hearts; each of us can list a handful of kids we wish we could smuggle away in our suitcases. The smallest smile or biggest hug keeps us going every day. We will come home and try to describe it but, fortunately, we cannot. I say fortunately because perhaps when you see how broken we are for the kids and how we cannot even describe the bond we share with them and each other, you will be challenged to step out in faith and come see just how amazing it is here for yourself. We are not special or better than you because we are here; we simply followed God’s call on our hearts and I pray you will do the same. Day three has been awesome, exhausting, tear-jerking, wonderful, and Divinely planned-what more could we ask for? (Sarah Pappas)
HOUSE # 3
Today we built our third house in the Tejar community, north of Antigua, in a little less than four hours! The house building team is really coming together, with everyone knowing exactly what needs to be done and when. Having some men that are very skilled and experienced in construction certainly helps! Today’s family was a young woman named Brenda, with two adorable young children. They were simply overwhelmed with their new house, and thanked us and blessed us over and over during our dedication and prayer time. This house is the Cornerstone Vacation Bible School house, and the family was amazed to learn that a group of children in the US had collected the money necessary to build their house. We passed out candy and toys to a couple of the neighborhood children that were watching us build, and soon had a real crowd of them. Even though they are heartbreakingly poor, they are beautiful children and it was a joy to give them treats that they don’t often see. It was hard to get back to work after being with them!
No comments:
Post a Comment