9 Bible Students

Last week we had 9 Bible students from Oredea Romania come and help us. They were a great blessing to us here and we look forward to their return soon. They helped us with the everyday task of feeding the kids and sending them off to school and helping them with their studies.

A special project they did was clean out an apartment for a woman and her family. It was toxic and they had to wear hazmat suits! As I stood in the doorway taking pictures a rat ran out of the room. There were maggots and bugs to big for a name. Unbelievable. They were brave and up for the challenge! We also traveled to some outside villages and visited and prayed with families. It was a very busy week.

Now I am off to Sofia Bulgaria until Monday. I will meet a Texas team and we will work together ministering to several Gypsy churches there. Please pray and I look forward to sharing all the things God did while we were there!

What I See and Don't See, I Must Believe!

When I write on the blog I always want to write something profound! Something that will allow you to see, taste and smell everyday life here. The photos help but there is always just something missing from them, as they do tell a story but there is an element that is missing. Like you believe but you can't believe unless you see it. Soooo...after much consideration here is what I ponder today.

I know it is a windy day, not that I can see it, but the trees are waving and my hair is blowing and the dust makes little tornado's all over the city. I can't see my breath but I know I am alive, so it must be there. I can't see my muscles but they hurt when I carry two 5 litre bottles of water up five flights of steps.

What I can see is 5 children everyday playing on the swings with no parental supervision. What I do see is the same man standing on crutches begging for money a the bakery. What I do see is 3 girls who got a bath and clean clothes one day and then next they are wearing filthy rags and don't have any shoes. What I do see is those same 2 girls carrying a baby around on their hip begging for food. One more thing, 2 people, a man and woman living at the dumpster, who take very good care of their area and are happy to take your trash and sort through it and feed the 5 or so dogs living there as well.

What I don't see is if the bread and food I give the kids on the swings makes a difference. What I don't see is the money and bread I gave the man the day before makes a difference, because he is back the next day. What I don't see is that the clean clothes from the day before made a difference as they were back dumpster diving by the evidence of the clothes the next day. What I don't see is the the 2 people who live in the dumpster area moving any time soon.

So as I ponder the things I see and the things I don't, it seems the things I see I want to change and the things I don't I just believe it is there. Just like the wind, the breath and the muscles I don't need to change those things, I just believe and then know they are there.

So maybe instead of me trying to change things I should just believe and have faith that it is already there and know the seeds being planted in bread, clothes and water are changing from the inside and I just can't see it but I have to believe it is there. Even if we can't see the results of what is going on in our lives because of what we do, can we just believe that it is already there? It is by faith!

Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

and

By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.

Hebrews 11: 1 and 3

Buy Some Shoes and Run!

There are so many things in one day it is hard to tell you all the stories. However, there are days like Tuesday that I won't forget. After 15 kids come for breakfast and are leaving 3 kids come in that I have been praying for since I got here and first set eyes on. I posted the picture of them previously and had pictures from Tuesday but I deleted them by accident. I will try and tell in words what you might of saw in the picture.

Two girls and a boy...It is a damp cold spring morning. The rain from the night before has left the dusty city in a muddy mess. The temperature 50, and in walks a 9 year old girl with flip flops, no socks, a 8 year old girl with woman's sling backs and a 5 year old barefoot, the only thing protecting his feet is the mud. They sit close together at the table and continually look at the oldest at every step to see if it is okay to take cereal, water, milk and tea from me. They begin to eat and the life that the streets has sucked out of them begins to return. Beti runs and looks in the donated things they have and brings shoes, socks and clothes for each of them and their eyes begin to dance and their weariness turns to laughter.

My heart aches for them and their lives but now my heart begins to feel the same joy they feel. They finish eating and I pack their clothes in a plastic bag, put socks on their dirty feet and they put their shoes on and that 5 year old was jumping, running, laughing. He ran up and down the hallway at least 10 times as the girls joined in with him. I mean come on! A pair of shoes?! I still cry at the sadness and now smile at the joy of telling this story. I wish I had the pics but gone!

If you feel like life has sucked you dry and you feel weary...Buy some shoes and run!

... And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.

Nehemiah 8:10