Okay, so they’re not “my” kids – they’re God’s kids, but He has let me hang out with them for a week. It’s amazing, really, that I just met them and they have already run off with my heart.
I think I spent much of the first week of camp trying to figure out what I could offer God from my own efforts and abilities. I was nervous and felt overwhelmed. By week three, I have learned that in myself I have absolutely nothing to offer these kids. They need an encounter with God. So everyday this week, during the morning car ride to camp, I would simply talk with Jesus. I would ask Him to come and touch the lives of these beautiful children. Then, every day, He did.
This is Sydney. He is one of the 12 to 20 ten-year-olds that were in my group this week. Another lesson that I have learned in the third week is that when you surrender the day to the Spirit of God, you must be willing to venture from the pre-setup curriculum. Most days, we would talk about the Bible story that demonstrates an aspect of God’s Love. Some of the best conversations, however, came from Question and Answer sessions.
These children have some awesome questions. “How did God create the earth?” “Why are God and the devil against each other?” “Why did God create us?” And my personal favorite – “If God is in Heaven, how can we hear His voice?”
We spent a lot of time talking about prayer. We talked about how prayer is just having a conversation from God. We also talked about how we can hear God’s voice, like the sheep follow the voice of the Shepherd. Of course, we also talked about our authority in Christ (I used smaller words then…) and how to know that it is God that we are hearing.
One of the highlights of my week was after I asked if any of the children had heard the voice of God. Tebogo raised his hand and said “Yes. I heard God’s voice. He told me that He loves me.”
This is Romeo. He is holding up his student book with his drawing of Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego walking around unharmed in the fiery furnace. Romeo was shy the first day, but we really saw his personality emerge when he was leading our team during the cheer competition! Suddenly he became a rap star in the making.
These are my girls. Phindile and Nhosisphile (Pindy and Nono for short). Pindy seemed very quiet and socially ackward at first. I noticed that though she is only ten-years-old, she was always looking out for her younger sister and making sure she was okay. Nono was one of my two English-speakers. She loves to dance and hates playing soccer. One day after camp, I went to visit her home and meet her family. Nono and her three sisters are being raised by their mother and grandmother in a two room shack. Nono was always smiling and was my little cling-on of the week. The girls progressed from holding my hand to actually sitting on top of me during group sessions.
Palesa and Sipho were my translators for the week, and they did a wonderful job. Together, Palesa and I prayed for fifteen children to ask Jesus to be in their lives. Both Palesa and Sipho are sixteen-years-old and are stepping out to be leaders and to invest in the lives of the local children.
The voice of the Lord was so present to me this week. It was heavy on my heart to try to get Bibles for these children. I was able to have one-on-one conversations with many of the kids, asking them what they know about Jesus. After many of them prayed for Jesus to be in their lives, they also told me they didn’t have Bibles. Team Agapetos was able to purchase fifteen Bibles. enough for each of the children and one in English for Sipho! Please pray for these children, as they begin their own Journeys with God. Their names are Nhosisphile, Karabo, Lucy, Phindile, Thato, Sydney, Tyron, Tebogo, Ali, Winnie, Charity, Romeo, Thapelo, Boyboy, and Zaza. God blessed me with His love for them, and I can say that I truly love them. These are my kids, and I hope this blesses your heart like they have blessed my heart.
