Reaching Out

We have been so blessed with the opportunities here. Both Pete and I feel so fulfilled by the work we are doing. I have also been so glad that Pete has really taken the initiative for us to step out a little on the weekends. 

Two weekends ago we went to an Orphanage with a group of 30 or so Cameroonian young adults.  I was impressed by the number of the group and their “can do” attitude.  They jumped right in and scrubbed the large compound including the classrooms for 130 children living and schooling there. The young adults had put together a program for the kids including some singing.  The Newburn Family was also able to teach the kids a favorite of ours including hand motions.

This is the 2^nd orphanage we have visited.  The first was “Helping Hands”.  It houses 40 children and the children attend a local private school.  Because of its smaller size and larger budget they are able to provide a lot more resources. Our kids got to participate in the weekly bible study and praise time. I just kept snuggling with all the little ones.

Then last weekend, we attended a distribution of Christmas boxes from Samaritan Purse.  Over 60 developmentally delayed children received boxes filled with school supplies, toys and toiletries. It was quite a moving experience. The kids were so thrilled to see what was inside.  Though it was funny to see how the kids didn’t understand what the gifts were. Josh spent 40 minutes putting together a lego helicopter.  The boy was very happy when it was done and the mom was grateful, as they never could have done it.

My kids and I have been filling those boxes for years. We even got to go to load them on the truck one year. I never dreamed that I would actually see them opened in a country I had never even heard of 18 months ago.  I made it home and then just cried - so full of emotion.

I still feel like I am “easing in”.  I sometimes pray a prayer that I heard form Rick Warren’s wife, Kay Warren. “Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours”.  But at times, I don’t want to see some of what breaks God’s heart let alone feel the pain of His broken heart.  Yet I feel I can enter into at least some of the injustice of the world and do some small part of making it a better place. I hope when we get back to the States, we will make even more time for community outreach and not just settle back into “occasionally reaching out”

-Joy