Dear Family and Friends,
It’s been a crazy month. Some of you are celebrating graduations, some are wearing Dutch costumes and wooden shoes, some are gearing up for a summer of camp staff and kids, and some are counting down the days to the end of school and beginning of summer. We spend much time looking forward to May when it’s the middle of February, and then when it arrives we barely have time to enjoy it before it’s gone.
Our team has been a bit crazy as well…at least our schedule has been crazy. May has been the traveling month for most of the team. Our landlord was able to sell the house we were renting, which is a huge blessing for him. However, we basically had two weeks in which to find new office housing. Thank you so much for praying, because God provided a place within walking distance of the orphanage and friends to help haul everything up 4 flights of stairs.
Personally, I am beginning to understand and feel the reality that the kids live with here in the orphanage. My soul aches for how much they need and how broken they are inside. The same ache you have when a close friend goes through something tragic, and you don’t have words to take away the pain. All you can do is sit next to them and hurt together. That ache has begun in my soul for these kids. A friend with experience helping children in this part of the world noted, “I often was comforted only in the notion that God must know about this and that in His divine plan and focus there would be some concessions made for kids that lived that daily horror and oppression. That the grace of God is all they have…..but it’s all they need because they aren’t going to get anything else, at least on earth. That He would catch them up in his arms…”
For the children, I am reminded that God sees them. He is their advocate. He is their parent. He will make things right. “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.” (Psalm 10:14).
And the ache? Kiboko, a pastor and friend, once said this is how compassion feels. He said, “You hurt so much, you want to throw up? Good. Now you are Jesus. Go into the world.”
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the children…and for us.
Much love,
Annie