As her friends were carried up, she stood at the bottom looking up in fear at the great moving giant.
“Come on! Jump!” We shouted as we got further and further from her.
Finally, after a great crowd had formed behind her, she leaped onto the escalator and dashed up the steps to grab my hand. With wide eyes and a death grip on my hand, she watched as each step got sucked under the floor. I could see her contemplating how she was going to get off without also being sucked under. Her grip grew tighter and tighter until the moment came… she leaped over the step and landed safely on the 2nd floor of the mall. I could feel her relief as we walked away from the escalator. Little did she know we had three more floors to go before we would reach the arcade.
Soom is a 12 year old girl who lives about 5 minutes from the mall but neither she nor her 14 year old sister, Sook, has ever seen it, and they had never seen an escalator in their lives until now. On Friday, we got the chance to take 30 orphans, most whom had never encountered the inside of a mall, to an arcade and ice cream.
Walking into the arcade was overwhelming for a lot of the kids at first. It was 3 times louder than Chuck-e-cheese; with machines and flashing lights everywhere we looked. We handed each child a bag of coins, expecting them to run off and start playing. They just stared at us. So, we walked them to the basketball game and showed them where to put the coins. It wasn’t a big hit and some of my girls tried to hand the coins back to me. “I don’t want,” they would say as they held their coins out to me.
Kids who don’t like the arcade? How was I going to entertain these girls if they hated the arcade? We walked around the arcade trying to find a game they wanted to play. They tried the claw machine, but the claws at those places are always too loose to actually pick anything up. We walked a little longer and finally…the candy game! They quickly figured out how to play the candy game and spent all their coins trying to win the most candy. They were laughing and smiling more than I have seen the entire month here. They had absolutely nothing to think about except for being a kid.
When all the coins were gone, we dragged them out of the arcade and back down the escalators to get ice cream. They were mesmerized by all the pretty clothes and shiny new things as we passed each store. I know that material things are not what should bring us happiness but there is something about a brand new, from the store, dress or toy that makes a person feel good. Walking through the mall I had to fight back the tears. I can’t imagine my childhood without memories of shopping with my parents, going to an arcade for a special birthday, or getting BRAND NEW clothes and toys for every holiday. Even if these children never get brand new things, my heart is just overwhelmed with the way God worked this weekend.
Here it is.
The Reason We Went to the Mall…. The short version.
Through a series of divine events and unlikely reunions. God used us to put the owner of our orphanage in contact with a past contact who helps fund orphanages.
3 weeks ago these kids didn't know where their next meal was coming from. Now they will have sponsors and have all they need to grow-up healthy. There is so much more to this story about how God did the impossible. So read my next blog! It will be posted in the next 24 hours.
If you would like to help support me in staying in the mission field please click here. I am still in need of $1,990 to finish The World Race. Thanks to all my supporters to making these stories possible.
