At the compound where I live we have 28 kids living there too. There are seven houses with little families in each. There is around 5-10 kids and then a house mom. HOPEthiopia has set this up beautifully. They bring these orphans in and reclaim what family means for them in what they call the children’s village.
Every morning I walk down to the children’s village to hang out with the house moms. We usually fellowship with some coffee but there English is very broken so it’s either a lot of smiling and nodding or one of the kids will translate for us. I love the new relationships I have made with these women because how they work and love these kids is a beautiful thing to see.
In the afternoons I get to go down to the children’s village and teach about six kids everyday. During this time we listen to music, color, and help them with there homework. I love being called “teacher” again and getting to claim these students as my own. These kids bring me so much joy and laughter just with there smiles. Often when I ask them questions they just tell me, “I don’t know, ask God”. They are full of Jesus and His joy.
This last week is was one of my two favorite kids birthdays. We celebrated with bread and chocolate, crystal light, and subway surfers. It is so sweet to see how such simple things like that can bring such fun and joy.
Melissa, one of my students, turned 9 on Tuesday. He threw a huge birthday party. The whole squad was there while he “cut the beard” (which is similar to cutting the cake). There were snacks and candy it was quite the rager. A couple of my teammates went to what I like to call the after party and hung out with the kids. It was so sweet just to hang out with them, love on them and laugh our heads off. We had a dance party, a dance recital and a photo shoot that makes the night look a lot litter then it seemed.
These kids bring me so much life and I love every second I get to spend with them. I am going to be living in the same place for the next 2 months and I am so excited for how these friendships are going to continue to grow.
Prayer requests: this part of the race is hard and I definitely just need a lot of peace and strength from the Lord because I can’t do this on my own. Some of my teammates are still fundraising and we believe in faith that God is going to provide in crazy ways. We are at debrief right now and just pray during this time we will be refreshed and ready for the next two months!
Thank you for all the constant prayer and support! Love and miss you all!
I want to hear about your guys lives and how I can pray for you guys as well. Email me with a life update!! [email protected]
