Friday’s Notes

Birthday party in the dining hall.

Today is the day for the Birthday Party.  We are giving them a birthday party because many of these children never get to celebrate their birthdays.

When we arrived we headed down to the prayer garden (have I mentioned that I love this place!  And I am thanking the Lord that we have one more time to join in worship there.) for worship with the kids.  It’s kind of a given now, that they lead in some songs, and we lead in some songs and it works beautifully.

Praying

Testimony

Worship in the prayer garden.

While we were having worship, some of the team members were up at the dining hall decorating for the birthday party. When we were finished with worship we went back up the hill and all gathered ready for a party. Jen Gash explained what a Birthday party was and then we distributed gifts.  The little kids started getting their gifts first and the bigger kids helped them look through their bags. Once they saw what they were getting they started singing “We will no more suffer, we will no more suffer, we will not beg for bread.”  There are no words to describe that moment.

Gift bags for the kids.

Kids with their gifts.

The kids sang for us again. This time Jen had her cameras charged and ready to go. They sang their thank you song again.   I just can’t wait for you to see the video.

When I thought we were about to pack up and go, they asked us to all come to the front.  Then they proceeded to give us these little change purses that they had made out of banana stalks.  Later at lunch Mama gave each of us girls a prayer mat and each of the men a hat.

Anthony also spoke before we left and I really enjoyed listening to him. He said, “We know that it took months of preparation for you to come. We know it was much work of the hands and of the knees. And we know that involved more than just your hands and knees.”

Anthony and Josephine

You can also see in the shot above the sheet that the kids made.  We traced their handprints with a marker and they wrote their names in the palms.

Jen and Stuart talked to the group much earlier this morning to remind us that although bonds were made, our crying will do nothing to help these children. It was hard enough for us not to cry and then some of the children started to cry. A young lady named Scovia, about 14 yrs. cried the hardest.

I have alot to process from this week, but right now I can tell you for sure – I will never be the same.