– In the Philippines our cook named Roxanne demonstrated what it meant to serve a brother or sister with joy! One of the sweetest and genuine people I have ever met!
· — Brenda, a public school principal in South Africa, is bringing the gospel to her school. We got to sit and talk to Brenda and many of her teachers about what was different about this school. Then they invited us to their Christmas program where the children celebrated with songs and by reading and acting out Luke’s gospel account of Christ’s birth.
· — Then there is John who started an orphanage called Kedesh Sanctuario near Beira, Mozambique for street kids and who don’t have anywhere else to go.
· — Blondie, one of John’s boys actually doesn’t live there, but following the death of his father he just started hanging out there more and more because Kedesh is a place where boys want to be. He was there so much that eventually he began participating in the activities of the days including 5am exercise, daily chores, tending to his own garden, cooking, and also making popcorn before the nightly movie. Blondie is incredibly talented, has charisma and now has an opportunity!
· — Then there is Mark in Swaziland who coordinates and facilitates over 30 carepoints that provide feedings for the youth of Swaziland. The reality is that right now the average life expectancy in Swaziland is between 35-40 years which leaves many chilren without parents and grandparents and hence a means for food, water, and money for school. The reality to is that there is a lot of corruption and coordinating all of this isn’t always easy but Mark pushes on in faith.
· — In Serbia we stayed and work at a church that was passionate about helping people with drug problems. So passionate that they restored a house that is attached to the church so they can house and rehabilitate drug addicts.
· — In Romania, one man tirelessly works at a church camp, day in and day out, so that each summer the children who come might receive the gospel, and by workings of the Holy Spirit, they do, but it takes 9 months of service to keep up the site where so many lives are changed.
Many of the people above I may not see again in this lifetime. However, I will remember them and I hope they will continue to remind me of the love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13, the book of John, and one of my favorite verses 1 John 3:16, “greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for a friend.”
