Saturday, March 30, 2013

He gives us hope


Last week we had a team from Windsor CO here to serve with us. They were awesome! 46 people all here to give up their spring break and serve the least of these! We decided to take this team to an orphanage we hadn’t taken teams to in the past. This orphanage had never had a team from the US come and serve so this was new for them.

Monday was our first day there and it was like most of our trips to an orphanage. There were a lot of really cute kids, all with different stories.
A 2 month old baby that had been abandoned in a Hotel, a 2 year old girl and 5 year old boy that were both with their mom when she was shot and killed and they both suffered from bullet wounds, a 5 year old girl that was in the process of being adopted by a family in the US but didn’t get out in time before adoptions closed down. I could keep going with story after story.
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We spent Monday getting to know the kids and helping with chores around the orphanage.When we returned Tuesday morning we noticed there were two new girls there. The staff told us that they had arrived Monday shortly after we left. These girls were older than most of the kids at this home and it was obvious they weren’t comfortable there yet.
The girls had been living on their own because their mother ran off with her boyfriend. The only way the authorities found out was because the youngest of the 2 (8 years old) had a seizure Monday and someone called for help. The girls were then taken to the orphanage when they realized there was nobody caring for them.

Tuesday while we were there the 8 year old was taken to the hospital because of another seizure. After she returned her older sister (probably 11/12 years old) took very good care of her to make sure she got food and something to drink. Throughout the day I noticed the younger of the two was really having a hard time there. She would lash out at the other kids and cry when she got in trouble.
Wednesday we returned with some of the Doctors from the team to examine all the kids. While the Dr’s saw the kids one at a time, the rest of the team entertained the rest of the children. The 8 year old girl was throwing fits and becoming very violent with the kids and the nannies. We were concerned about this and all the nannies seemed to be too but none of us knew how bad it was about to get.

As the day went on the girl had gotten really angry. After being removed from the room where all the other kids were, she then was trying to leave the orphanage to run away. As the nannies and people from our team would try to stop her, she would try to hit them with sticks or throw anything at them she could find. At one moment she threw a brick at me and thank God there were no kids near me and she didn’t throw it hard enough because it came short of hitting me.

One of the nannies was able to get her into a room away from everyone, where the girl screamed and cried and tried to break the windows. The nannies appeared to be very scared of her and just stood back as she started throwing things all over the room. When she started to attack one of the nannies they asked me to run and get her older sister. She seemed to be the only one that could calm her down. Her sister came in and got her to lie down but she continued to scream and kick and throw herself around.

At this point everyone within that orphanage was very concerned. Nobody knew what to do. The director of the orphanage had been working for the last two days to get the girl moved somewhere else where they could better care for her. Because it was Holy week, everything was closed so they weren't having any luck.

It was time for us to leave back to the guest house but it didn’t feel right leaving them with this going on. It was only getting worse. They told us they had finally gotten someone to agree to come get her and they were on their way. They asked if we could please stay until they got there because at this point they had 4 people restraining her and needed help with the rest of the kids. We took the rest of the kids outside to play, while the young girl continued to scream and cry while being contained until someone got there. 

Both of the girls were moved. Unfortunately they had to be split up. The older girl was sent to an orphanage with girls her age and the younger girl was sent to a Neurological Hospital.
I can’t help but think about the choices that were made by the parents of these girls and how it is affecting them today. They didn’t ask to be where they are today. 

Tomorrow we celebrate Easter and this gives me hope for them and all the orphans/people around the world suffering like them.

1 Peter 1: 3-9 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.


Evil does not win!  Sometimes today, it seems that the bad guy often wins. It seems that there is no hope for the orphans or the poor on the street to ever get ahead.
I imagine the disciples and the followers of Jesus felt on this day almost 2000 years ago that evil had won. But on the third day He rose again and because of that we all have hope! So tomorrow I will celebrate Easter a little differently........ with hope!

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