Last night I was laying awake for most of it with this guy on my heart.
This is Hoper (pronounced “Hope-ah”). He is my 12 year old friend from Swaziland. The first day I met him all he did was ask me for shoes and point at his feet. He wanted them so badly he was even willing to take my tennis shoes right off my feet. Hoper had an infected wound on his foot from stepping on a thorn with his bare feet, an open wound burn on his thumb from stirring the pot of food in his house, and a decaying tooth. It broke my heart that I couldn’t do anything to help him but send him to the clinic to get patched up. The next day, and almost every day after before we left, he came and waited outside our home until we were free for the night. He would join us on walks, runs, soccer and shenanigans…
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He brought so much joy to my day with his huge smile and laugh. We had inside jokes and secret handshakes.
I’m not sure why Hoper was on my heart so heavily last night, but I would love to invite all of you to pray for my precious little brother along with me.
i tried to upload a video of him telling you how to say “I love you” in Saswati. He thinks he’s the best thing since velcro, which I would have to agree with, but I couldn’t get it to work! Woops 🙂
