I wanted to share with you probably the best moment of my
trip so far. It is about my best friend here named Nano(I wrote about him in my
last blog about him and his brother Cisco, who are actually twins [11 years
old] and have been at this orphanage for 2 years- filler details I know).
Nando and I hang out every day and I have recently started
to tutor him in the afternoons. We have become teasing buddies, movie seat
buddies, and life-talk buddies. We have water fights, play volleyball, and herd
the goats together.
Needless to say when I think about leaving I tend to tear up.
I have begun to trust him and all that he tells me as he proves over and over
how good of a friend he is. I can hear him now, “Why you not trust me Rauren (It
is hard for him to say Lauren)?” And “When
you gonna trust me?” after each time I think he is up to no good.
So as my trust for him has grown I have seen how his trust has
grown in me which leads into this moment…
I was trying to have alone time with God, which is almost
impossible when you live in an orphanage. I headed to my tent as many little
boys followed. I zipped myself in and heard the boys hanging outside of my
tent. I choose to unzip my rain fly of the tent so I could see them. I asked if
they would like to join my time with God. Three boys got cozy close to my tent
as I continued to read in John 17 where I had left off the day before.
Boys came and went as I read until it was just Nando and I.
I continued to read through the book of John into Jesus being arrested and put
on the cross. I stopped reading and
asked him,
“Do you know what is happening in the story?”
Nando- “Yes, I have seen the movie.”
I giggled to myself and continued on reading. As I read into
the part of Jesus not being found in the tomb I heard,
“Excuse me.”
“Ya, Nando.”
“Is this story true?”
“Yes it is Nando. Do you know what that means?”
“Umm…”
” That means that Jesus was a real man who died for you”
“And for you! And for all people”
We continued to talk about what that truly meant, freedom
from sin, power in Jesus name, and love for us. My heart has never been so
happy to tell about Jesus. To someone who trust me. To someone who is my best
friend. To someone who doesn’t have a father but a Father in Heaven.
I have so many other stories of fun times with Nando but out of all of them I pray he remembers this one. I pray he sees God’s goodness and presuit of him in the one month he spent with a girl named Rauren.
Pictures taken by Cisco (Nando’s twin brother who insisted he had to be inside the tent)
