Excitement
filled their eyes. What should they pack? Who carries the bag? Paul and Mark
stuffed handfuls of little toys into their backpack as the aunties laughed
saying, “You’re going to be coming back! You don’t have to take everything!”
Mark and Paul skipped to their aunties to give them a quick hug before throwing
the overflowing bag onto Paul’s back. They were going for holiday. It didn’t
even matter that they weren’t going with family; they were going! The
boys jumped into the GSF staff van. They were wide-eyed, trying to take in
every passing motorcycle and scene. We arrived in Nyenga, and by this time Mark
had a million questions. “Where does Daniel sleep? Where do you keep your
clothes?” I explained to them that Daniel and I are married, so we stay in the same house and keep our clothes on the
same shelf. Paul stood quietly, but wonder bubbled out of his eyes. Paul loves
to help, so I asked him to help me wash some dishes. “Where is the faucet?” I
just laughed and explained that in the village, we don’t have running water.
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| Paul helping me wash some of the jerrycans |
Every
school holiday, Good Shepherd’s Fold sends as many children as possible to be
with their relatives. We focus on reunification of children with their
families, and school breaks provide a great opportunity to step in this
direction. But as you can imagine, these kids are at GSF for a reason and each
family situation varies; some families are stable and others jeopardize the
safety of our GSF kids. As a result, some children go to their relatives’ house
for weeks at a time, others for a day with supervision, and others not at all.
Then of course there are situations where there are no known relatives because
the child was completely abandoned. As you can probably tell by now, each
child’s situation is very unique.
Now
think of yourself as a GSF child. I know it’s probably tough to think like
that, especially if you’ve never even been to GSF or an orphanage. But just try
=) It’s school break, you typically live in a house with 8 other kids, and 7
out of 8 of those kids are gone for the holidays to be with their relatives.
They come back with elaborate stories of riding in vans, eating different
foods, and playing with new kids. And this happens 3x a year. Imagine the
thoughts. “Why don’t I get to go? I’m still not wanted? Am I not good enough?” Or even, “I want a chance to ride in a van,
too!”
This
school break, several of the GSF staff stepped up to take in kids over the
holiday. Some took a child for several days, others for a weekend, and others
for a day. It meant so much for our GSF kids. They got to go! Some of these
kids had never gone for holiday.
Their joy and excitement was just amazing.
Daniel
and I were blessed to take Mark and Paul, two 7-year-old boys, for a few days. It was awesome. God blessed us with
great conversations. We talked about everything from how electricity works to
what will happen when we die. One of my favorite conversations was about
marriage. After telling the boys several times stuff like, “Daniel and I stay in
the same house because we are married.” “Daniel
sleeps in the same bed with me because we
got married.” Paul finally asked me, “So where is Mary?” Then Mark said,
“The married. Where is he?” Wow. I had the privilege to talk to the boys all
about what it means to be married and what the Bible says about husbands and
wives. That was one of the highlights for me.
As
for the boys, a highlight for them was riding on the motorcycle with Daniel. For
a 7 year old, I can only imagine that there are few things more exciting than
sitting on the back of a shiny, blue motorcycle =)
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| Mark and Paul singing and drumming with some of my old tins. |
Thank
you for your continued prayers and support. Here are a few ways that you can
pray for us in the coming weeks:
1. Daniel is preaching at the church of one of his workers this week.
Pray for him as he prepares to preach!
2. There’s conflict in the baby house among some of the house moms.
Pray for wisdom for mediating and for reconciliation.
3. There was a
terrorist attack that somehow got found out over the weekend. The government
along with supporting agencies dismantled the plans and recovered the
explosives and made some arrests. Sounds like it’s a branch of Al-Shabaab in Uganda.
Anyway, it all happened in Kampala, the capital city (which is over 2 hours away from where we stay - not very near). Nothing happened, but
please pray for peace and protection over Uganda. It can also be a little
unnerving for everyone, ex-pats and Ugandans alike.
4. Please continue praying for our children at GSF, to feel and experience the love of Jesus Christ.
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| Mark and Paul with some of the neighbor boys at the end of our time together |
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| Paul (left) and Mark (blue shirt) with the three neighbor boys, Joel, Sam and Hassan. |
