Farewell posted by andrew

Today we started out by going to the Freetown market to get a few souvenirs. I was amazed at how many friends I had. I am sure it was because of my irresistible personality and not the fact that I had a roll of Leones in my pocket. I was able to pick up all the souvenirs that I needed with a lot of negotiation. Just like most countries other that the US you have to haggle for prices. I hate doing that most of the time, but sometimes it is fun playing the game. After the market we went and met Mrs. Mansaray for lunch. She is the Asst. Director of Social Welfare and we had a great meeting. She is going to be an integral part in saving the orphan here in this country and after meeting with her it is evident she has a big heart for children. She just took in 2 disabled children herself. We were able to bounce some ideas of each other and we are both exited about the future of this project.

After lunch we went and checked on the hovercrafts we are taking back to the airport tomorrow and headed back to family kingdom. They have a playground here and the staff of the Covering brought all the kids over to play. It was a blast to see them playing and having fun. For almost all of them this is the first time they have played on a playground. We had a picnic lunch that included sodas, a huge deal to the kids. The kids surprised Tina by getting her a birthday cake and singing her happy birthday. It is really going to be hard leaving them. I am going to miss them tremendously.

I bought an Africa shirt to wear to church tomorrow at the market. I might have to rock that thing to work one day.

We headed over to the Covering and the kids had a farewell ceremony prepared. They sang songs, prayed, danced, did skits, and gave farewell statements. Once again the love of Christ is overflowing at this place. They opened the floor for the kids to come up and thank God for something in their lives. Quite a few kids came forward praising and thanking God for the Covering because they can now have food to eat, a place to sleep, and can go to school. All of them are so grateful to be able to go to school. It is a joy to be a part of lifting up praises to God with them. They did something really cool during the program. They had each team member come to the front of the room 1 by 1 to be prayed for. When the team member was a man they had a young boy come up and pray over him; a young girl would pray over the women. What a sweet sound to hear these kids pray and what a humbling experience to have them pray over you.

Tomorrow we are going to Osseh and Quami’s church. I am really looking forward to that. I really enjoy worshiping with believers in other countries. It gives you a little glimpse of heaven when all the tribes and nations will be at the same place before the throne. After that we are heading back to the Covering for 1 last farewell and to finish up some of the bios and last minute items. We have to be at the airport at 5pm so that they don’t give our seat away for our 11:40pm flight. Yep, we have to be at the blazing hot airport almost 7 hours before we take off. That should be fun. We get back to Nashville at 5:00pm on Monday, so with the time change we will be in transit for about 24 hours straight. We have gotten very little rest this trip and are completely exhausted. Hopefully I will get a little sleep on the plane this time.

This will probably be the last blog post I do on our trip. God has done some amazing things on this trip and I have honored to be a part of this organization. Thanks to everyone who read along all week. I am really looking forward to sharing all of the pictures and video when I get back. I want to take this last part to encourage everyone to sponsor one or more of these precious kids. They need our help and they have so much potential. They will be the ones that change this nation, not us, we are just helping them to get there. If you are not able to sponsor please get the word out to as many people as possible so we can reach people who can. Funds are desperately needed and after being in a place like this, believe me, we have it to spare. Continue to pray for these kids, the staff, TRS, and the children who need to be sustained until they can come home to the Covering. For sponsorships or 1 time donations please go to www.therainingseason.org

I will be back to this country many times and I am looking forward to seeing how our Almighty God changes things through these kids

Grafton posted by andrew

We had a pretty relaxed morning today. Jason and Tina had a meeting in our room at the family kingdom with Quami and Osseh all morning so we were kicked out for about 4 hours. I spent some time in the word praying through Ps. 27. It was a pretty cool time because I walked out to the beautiful beach and sat on a log to do it. I was able to pick up a few souvenirs and meet a young boy named John who I talked with for about 20 minutes. The countryside is gorgeous here and some day this could be a resort destination if anyone decided to start developing it.

After their meeting we headed out to visit Wellington Orphanage. It was a great facility started by a very passionate man named Pastor Mansaray. He took us on a tour and we got to meet some of the kids. They are a lot older than the kids at the Covering. These kids were rescued by Pastor Mansaray right after the war 8 years ago and he does not have room to take in any more kids right now. They are very well taken care of and it was refreshing to see their center.

After Wellington we went to Grafton Refugee Camp. That was exciting, but tough. This is where the children we are sponsoring are from. I was able to see their house and see their old bed. It was terrible thinking that they have spent the whole first part of their lives in those conditions. The house was a mud brick house with a rusted sheet metal roof. Their bed was just an old mattress on the floor that they shared. I was able to see John’s toy. It was an old red plastic truck with no wheels. After seeing where they came from it really makes me want to bless them with our sponsorship. I was talking with Quami and he said a house like that is a hell during the raining season because there are leaks everywhere. He said a lot of times no one sleeps at night because they have to stay up bailing water all night to keep their house standing. He said because of the mud bricks the walls fall down a lot during that season. Unfortunately I was not able to meet their father. He was away looking for work. I did get to meet their older brother who I didn’t know existed. He is 18 years old and they have 3 other siblings that live up country quite a ways from Freetown. What a shock it was to meet them, but also a blessing. I was able to tell him that we were their sponsor. When he found out he lit up with a smile and was thanking us for supporting them.

After Grafton we headed back to the family kingdom and we were able to eat dinner with Quami, his wife, and Osseh. After dinner we went back to the room and Quami shared his testimony. It was incredible and I mean incredible. To see how God literally saved his life over and over again and to see the kind of man he has become is unbelievable. He was literally tied up with 3 other guys during the war awaiting execution and he prayed and shared with us the scripture that God put on his heart. It was 1 John 5:12, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Just after he finished praying another soldier came up to him and released him and his friend. Soon after that the other 2 guys were executed. There are more stories to his testimony that I will share when I get home. I wish that I had a recorder. We are trying to get him to come to the states soon to do a speaking tour. We are completely exhausted and every day we get more and more drained. Please be lifting up our health and energy levels so we can finish strong.

Olive posted by andrew

It has been evident over and over this trip that he has prepared the way for us. He has mended some relationships we didn’t think would be mended, he has set up some meetings that we did not expect, he has prepared children to meet us, he has caused us to meet people that are going to help dynamically change the impact we are having on the people, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for the next couple of days.

In saying that I wanted to share something else that came to fruition this trip. One of our team members named Karen who runs an organization called Just Hope International that does works of sustainability like wells, farms, solar power, microbusinesses in Malawi and South Africa shared something incredible last night. She has gotten to know Erica and through that relationship decided to start doing work in Sierra Leone which is why she is on this trip. Most of you probably read my post about Olive who approached us because she wanted to better her life and go to the university. If you knew Olive’s story you would be amazed that she is trying to pull herself up out of the pit; she has gone through unspeakable hardships and has every excuse to do nothing with her life. Karen shared with us last night at our devo that a year ago she decided that she wanted to get involved with a young woman and directly help her improve her life. She started praying for this young woman and asking God to show her who it was at the right time. Ever since Olive came to our room the other night Karen has been pushing and pushing Tina for another meeting with Olive. No one really understood why she was being so pushy until last night. Olive showed up at the place we were eating as we all were leaving and Karen stayed back and talked with her for a while. She shared that she would like to pay for her college education, talked with her about the importance of it, had Olive share her goals, and told her about God preparing the way for this.

I share this not to brag on Karen, although she is an amazing woman, but to share how God prepares things ahead of us. He is active in the world if we just open our eyes to his works and not write them off as coincidences or accidents. I thought it was really powerful how God orchestrated this from Karen deciding to give back what God has blessed her with through a young woman, from getting to know Erica, to deciding to go on this trip, to meeting Olive at Matilda’s hospital as we were walking out, to getting to know her story through Tina, to having her show up at our hotel with her school papers to see if anyone would help, to showing up at the restaurant as we were leaving, to seeing the tears in her eyes when Karen told her, to seeing the hope that she now has, to seeing the drive she has to better herself. I can only hope you can meet Olive some day. She has a very gentle spirit, but has an internal strength that is evident as soon as you are around her. Her story is going to end up being a movie. Like I said in a previous post; everything is God’s, he just moves it around for his glory. I can’t tell you how many people are going to be impacted by Olive’s life, but it will echo through this community and God has been teaching us on this trip that if you win the people you win the government; if you win the children you win the nation.

Praise God for his ways are perfect. Trust God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. I want to encourage everyone to read Psalms 27. Spend some time reading this and praying through the verses. God put that chapter on my heart this morning and I am going to share it with our team later.

Intake posted by andrew

Today we stared out at the center most of the morning. We got to play with the kids for about 4 hours. Today was a holiday in SL so they had no class. We played soccer (I scored a goal and they started calling me David Beckham, just kidding, that was in my mind) and they drew pictures on some card stock we brought to take back with us. It was fun just relaxing with them. We are so surrounded by things to stimulate us it is fun to watch all of the games, songs, and activities they have created to have fun. You are very resourceful when you don’t have very many toys and no video games. The young boys even collected all of the sucker sticks from the other day and created a game with them. They taught me how to play but I sat out due to the fact that they were playing with 100 used sucker sticks.

I keep thinking we have done the best thing possible and then something else is on the schedule that tops it. What we did next was what saving the orphan is all about. We got to participate in an intake process. This is where a TRS social worker is referred a case, investigates to make sure the child qualifies, takes them from where they are currently living, and takes them through the intake process at The covering so they can call it home. We headed out to the east side of town and stopped in a very poor section of town. We walked down this dirt path and there were a few adults standing around with a scared looking little boy. How intimidating for a little child to have 11 white people and 4 Sierra Leonians come to take you to a place you have never been before. The TRS staff were incredible through this whole process. The little boy is 6 years old and his name is Sherif. We talked with the family a little while and the social worker informed us that his mother died in childbirth with his sibling, who also died, and his father abandoned them during her pregnancy.


His grandmother has been caring for him by herself since that time. They took us up to the top of the hill where he slept at night. Here are a few pictures of this so you can see Sherif before, his home before, him on his new bed with his new clothes piled at the foot, and him playing with the kids after only a few hours of adjusting. My heart broke when I saw his home. I don’t know how anyone could live in this little hole. It was actually a small sea crate that they had turned in to their 1 bedroom home.
He was so scared the whole time. He never said a word. He just looked around wide eyed and nodded his head when asked a question. Everyone was so gentle with him, but I know it was frightening. After getting some pictures of that place for his story we headed back down to where we met him and Quami, Tina, and Mohammed explained to him and his grandmother about TRS and where he was going to live. You could see the weight being lifted off of her. She was so happy for him. All he did was sit their and nod until Quami asked him if he was ready to leave and he jumped up off the stool. He is very malnourished and the fingers on his right hand were all cut up and bloody. We asked how he hurt his hand and they told us he picked up rocks to earn money for food. Are you kidding me….. God bless The Covering.

We headed back to the covering and arrived before Sherif and Mohammed. The children planned a welcome ceremony for him and when he slowly walked through the gate they surrounded him and started hugging him telling him that he was welcome at their home. It was one of the most precious things I have ever seen. Sherif was taken inside, given some food, water (he drank 3 bags of water), a bath, and some new clothes. We bandaged his hand and he went upstairs and just kind of sat back and watched the kids play for a couple of hours. He just had no energy and I’m sure he was trying to take it all in. It is a dramatically different place than where he was a few hours earlier. It was incredible to watch him change before our eyes. He slowly got more and more energy and by the time we left he was playing with the other kids and I think I even saw him smile when we broke out the bubbles. It is something I will never forget. His grandmother was invited to come visit so she could see where he would be saying and she was brought to tears she was so happy for him. I thought it was really great that Mohammed and Quami invited her to come see too. It kind of nips any child trafficking rumors in the bud when something like that happens. There was a reporter there to document the process and I think he was shocked at how well it was handled and it gave TRS some major street cred.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kids some more. We taught them duck duck goose and they taught us how to dance. They sang a bunch of songs and played a lot of games. We got to meet Pastor Daniel who is the head caregiver who has been out of town at a conference. He is really wonderful with the kids and you can tell they really love him too. He was the one leading all of the games and playing the drums for the dances. We headed back after a shorter, but equally tiring day and ate some dinner and now everyone is furiously trying to type blog entries before the internet goes down again. Thanks to everyone who is reading and praying. You can email me at Andrewsisco@gmail.com if you need to.

Isatu wearing "uncle" Andrew's glasses.

Andrew e-mailed this to me today and it is so beautiful to me!

Why we fight posted by andrew

This is why we fight.

Today we started off today with something great. We went to the center and gave all he kids their letters and photo albums from classes, businesses, and sponsors in the US. We did it 1 by 1 and it was really special to see the kid’s faces light up when they received a personalized item like that. I can just imagine them in their beds at night looking through those albums and reading the letters over and over. It really gives them a sense of worth; something that they have never had. We hung out at the center until about 12:30 and then headed out to Kroo Bay to try to open the doors up in the community by partnering with TRS so we could help their kids. I have never seen anything worse than this place. We thought we saw some hard sights the other day, but they were nothing compared to this place. It is a literal trash dump that refugees settled on after the war. It is at the bottom of the hill where all the trash and sewage run through from the city. There are thousands of people that live in this horrible place. We saw children with nothing on but a dirty pair of underwear scrounging through a river of filth alongside pigs trying to find anything that could help them survive. You will just have to see the pictures to understand.

I can’t put in to words how bad off these people are. I didn’t think anything like that was possible. We walked through the city to get to the tribal chief’s meeting area where we met him and the community council. Quami talked with them about TRS and how they wanted to partner with them to help their children. The team last time received a hostile greeting from them last time due to a lot of lies that had been spread. We had a member of the council apologize for their actions last time and we thought things were going to go well from there, but then a member of the council shared some frustrations with us and things got a little tense. He told us about some white people who came into the area a while back and took a lot of pictures and made a lot of promises, but it has been a year and Kroo Bay has not received any help from that. They were frustrated because they have to try to explain something like that to their people. We told him that we understood his frustrations. Quami did an excellent job saying that our group was different, he can see that since Osseh and Quami are speaking for us, and that any of the council members can come visit the covering anytime to see where their kids are going. This put them at ease and they agreed to partner with us and let us take some pictures to tell their story. We then followed the council through the city down to the soccer field where we gave the kids a new soccer ball and about 300 suckers. They were so excited that we had a hard time not being run over by the mob of kids. These children were in really bad shape. It was really uncomfortable being there. Not because we were out of our comfort zones because those have been removed by now. We got a lot of angry looks from the people and I felt really bad taking pictures of everything. I just held my camera down by my side and took pictures discreetly. I just kept telling myself that I needed the pictures to tell their story. The kids we saw there are why we fight.

We left Kroo Bay and headed to our meeting with the Social Minister, but he was meeting with the Vice President. We are going to try again on Friday, but that will be our only window before we leave so please continue to pray that God will open that door. Since he was not available we headed over to visit a great man named Edgar who works for an Evangelical group in town and has been a huge asset for TRS. After talking with him a while we went and ate at Crown Bakery downtown. We then headed out to the center for the rest of the night and what an experience. We just got to play with the kids for a while. We played soccer, drew pictures, wrestled with the kids and just held them. I love having those kids crawl all over me laughing. It was a joyous time to have them all laughing and playing after going to a place like Kroo Bay. It is amazing to see these kids transform. Some of them were in places like that a few weeks ago and with a little food, medicine, love, and attention they become kids again. Thank you to everyone who fought for these kids.

After we were done playing I experienced one of the greatest nights of my life. The kids had their nightly worship time. By that time it was dark and there was only a small lamp to light the room, but all the kids circled up and Augusta led them in songs and prayers. They sang songs about coming from the depths of despair and now Jesus is their joy. They sang a song about how much they love their Papa (God). Two things from God’s word came to mind while worshipping with these children; first that Jesus dances over us. We were all dancing before the Lord and I can just picture Jesus dancing over us during this time. The second is that Jesus delights in us. I never really understood this fully until I had children of my own. I truly delight in Levi and Ivey and they fill my heart with joy. I was thinking that God truly delights in these precious children while they lift up this pleasing worship to him. These kids were praying and singing their hearts out to God. What a convicting and wonderful experience. It was a really good thing that the room was almost dark because the majority of our team, me included, were weeping with joy while sharing this pure worship with these kids and because I would have been embarrassed if these kids were able to see the dance moves I was rocking.

I was reading in Revelation that the saints follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Thats what we are doing; we are letting him lead and saying here are our hands to carry out your work.

I wanted to share a short story. A young woman came to the place we are staying this morning to talk with Tina about financial help to go to the University. You could see the passion in her eyes when she talks about that opportunity. What courage it must have taken to ask us. There are no scholarships over here and no opportunity to raise the money yourself. She even wants to go to IT school because she sees that computers are going to be the up and coming thing in Sierra Leone. She is doing this all on her own and to see her try to improve her situation like that was touching. The young woman is Olive who is the daughter of the very very sick woman we went to visit in the TB hospital. She is Sam, Betty, and Fallah’s older sister. I wanted to share that with you so that if there is anyone out there who feels called to help her you would know of this opportunity.



Ok that sums up today so I am going to take a second to be selfish and talk about our sponsored kids  since this is my blog, hah! I loved loved loved getting to play with them today. They are really warming up to me and the oldest especially seeks me out whenever I am there. When we came back tonight he was asking about some of the things in the pictures from the album we gave him. He told me that I had a fine son. I got to play soccer with him for a second and he is really stinkin good. He has such a gentle spirit and smiles constantly. Whenever I am standing around talking and I feel a hand slip in to mine it is usually his. His brother finally opened up a little more today and I got to sit with him while he drew a picture today. He traced his hand on the paper and when I sat down I asked him if it was his hand and he said, “No, it is your hand.” I got a chance to hug and tickle their little sister. She can light up a room with that laugh.

Tomorrow we get to play with the kids for a lot of the day, visit Wellington orphanage, and participate in an Intake process. An Intake process is where the social worker from TRS, after an investigation to make sure the child is qualified, goes out and picks up the child and their belongings from the place they live and takes them to the Covering. I can’t wait! To see a child transform right before our eyes is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to see their face when they get to see their new home and how much the other kids are surrounded with love and attention. Sorry this is so short. Maybe I will have more to say tomorrow.

Divine Appointments posted by andrew

Today was definitely a work day. We started out by heading out to the Chief administrator’s office in Waterloo. While we were there we had a formal meeting with him, the tribal chief, and some counsel members. It was really awesome to be a part of such a formal and polite meeting. We spent some time getting to know each other and they made us feel extremely welcome. We then headed out to the 1st of 3 pieces of property. It was a great piece of land that was relatively flat which is a little hard to find over here. We had too hike out through the African bush to get to it, but it was a great experience getting to see that side of the land and get out of the city for a change. I was just thinking while I was hiking that a few months ago I would not have ever dreamed that I would be hiking through the bush in Sierra Leone with a tribal chief talking to him about wells and property. It was a pretty cool experience. We then returned to the hotel to report how we liked it to the Chief Administrator’s office. God then orchestrated a little surprise for us. The Secretary of Parliament for the entire country was visiting the Chief and we were offered a chance to meet him and tell him about our interest in the land. While we were all a little uncomfortable meeting someone of his stature in our dirty clothes he then dropped a bomb on us. He said the President of Sierra Leone, the head honcho of the whole country(think Obama with a Kreol accent), is coming to Freetown on Friday to give a talk and he invited our group to attend with the possibility of meeting the president. We are all worried that we don’t have nice enough clothes here, but we are going to give it a shot. We just hope the container getting released doesn’t affect that meeting because it would be a great step for the raining season. It is amazing what God will do if you just obey and trust him.

After that meeting we ate some J1 bread at the Chiefs office for lunch and headed out to visit 2 more pieces of land; both involving some hiking in some beautiful country and handing out a lot of suckers to a bunch of kids. We also got a chance to look at a house TRS is looking at renting for future teams and some long term guests.

We got a chance to drive through Grafton Refugee camp where our kids grew up. This was an extremely poor place. I thought what I saw yesterday was bad. Almost all the homes are just sheet metal roofs with cardboard walls and dirt floors. The sadness you feel when driving there is overwhelming. Something we have noticed while being here is that no matter how dire the situation these are people who are filled with joy and light up with a smile when you wave to them. They just need a hand up.

After we visited this area we went to a hospital to check on a staff member of TRS that was hit by a taxi. After she was hit she was in bed for 2 weeks before they found out how much money it would be to get the surgery. Can you imagine laying there for 2 weeks with a broken ankle, leg, and hip waiting on the money coming to come in so you won’t die? God moved some money around on that one and prompted someone in the US to give the exact amount needed without them even knowing about her. It was sobering to spend some time praying with her and hearing her sobbing to Tina saying, “Thank you for saving my life.” Jason said seeing things like that and how well the kids are doing makes the fights they have gone through all worth it.

We got to hug on some kids today that were in really bad shape. God convicted me today. When I saw them running up to me my first thoughts were that they probably have a lot of diseases, they are filthy, they smell bad, and they are going to get me filthy. After that brief second God just exploded in my mind the story of Jesus healing the lepers. He TOUCHED them. These lepers were the outcasts and the undesireables and he knew how much they needed someone to just touch them. He made sure that was part of the healing even though it wasn’t necessary to get the job done. The kids were a little standoffish at first but once you walked up to them and touched their shoulder or rubbed their head the barriers came crashing down. Then all of the sudden they are grabbing your arms and putting them around their shoulders because they are in such deep desire for a hug. Once those barriers came crashing down for us it was so precious for that dirty little hand to be squeezing yours so tight because they don’t want you to let go. They aren’t going to remember me giving them a sucker; they are going to remember our team hugging them, tickling them, laughing with them even though they smell bad, have little clothing, are diseased. They are just kids who want to be loved, not treated like inventory, dogs, or worse. I can’t help but see Levi and Ivey when I see these kids. I think about how hard that would be for them to have people not hug them when they are sick or tuck them in at night or give them a blanket when they are cold or treat them like a piece of property. These kids didn’t choose this.

After a long hard tough day we swung by the Covering to spend a few minutes with the kids. It was so refreshing to get there after seeing some of the sights we saw today and hear them singing and laughing upstairs. I know there are a lot of things to get done on the trip, but I could spend all day with those kids. After we get cleaned up at the end of the day we all meet in 1 room and have a little time to share what God has shown us that day. Those have been some amazing times learning how God is moving in this and believe me he is moving. Meeting those important men today were not accidents or coincidence; they were divine appointments set up so that God can work for the good of those who love him. Tomorrow we are going to go give picture albums and letters to the Covering kids. I am really looking forward to that because it is going to be more of a 1 on 1 time with each kid. I really want to know each of their names but I have such a hard time understanding them. I am getting better and better at understanding and speaking Kreol though. Thank you again for all your prayers and support. It is around midnight here and I need to get some rest and spend some time listening to God.

Prov. 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Thanks Jeff.

Day 1- Kids, Kids, Kids posted by Andrew

(note from heather: Andrew was overwhelmed and forgot not to mention their names. Andrew I hope you don't mind that I edited this post accordingly. Also, I added a few clarifications in parenthesis. :) )

WOW! What an incredible and earth shattering day. I have no clue how to put today’s experience in to words. I am just going to go through our day and try to do it a small amount of justice.

We got up today, loaded up all the bags, and headed over to The Covering to meet the kids. We traveled through some desolate places that blow your mind that people actually live there. It just rips your heart out to see kids sitting in the filthy streets wearing no clothes because their parents can't afford to buy them a shirt. To see a glimpse of where the kids at the Covering came from lets you know what a blessing the raining season is to them. We drove up the hill on a dirt road that I really didn’t think our jeep would be able to climb. As soon as we approached the covering the kids were all lined up outside the gate singing a song they created just for us to tell us they were loved, happy, and saved. To hear them singing and to see the smiles on their faces after what we just drove through was incredible. They were all holding handmade signs that said things like, We love you, Thank you, Welcome Uncle Andrew. When a picture becomes real it is a pretty special moment. We then went upstairs where they had a program prepared for us that included several songs and speeches from the staff. TRS has an AMAZING staff that love these kids dearly. Quami may have impressed me the most. He is their country director that runs the orphanage. He is an incredibly professional, kind, efficient, aware, and hardworking man. To see him practice discipline with the kids and staff and in the next moment reach down and give a toy back to a baby shows that he is an incredibly capable man. After the program we got to spend some time with the kids just hugging and laughing and holding hands. I can't tell you what a wonderful feeling it is to be holding a child, talking to another, and have another sneak up behind you and grab your other hand because they just want to experience your touch. God moves his resources around to accomplish his perfect means. He moved his money around to get a lot of this team here. He moved us to this place so that these kids could feel his love, his touch, his hands, and his words. What sweet, joyous, lovable, funny kids these are. It is a joy to see them get to grow down a little bit and get to experience childhood; something a lot of them missed.

The kids had to go to class so during that time we had a meeting with Osseh, Quami, and Pastor Kevin to give us a run down of the Covering’s daily schedule, summary of the war, lesson and the culture, and a Q&A session. After lunch we headed out to La CaCa hospital to visit Sam, Betty, and Fallah’s mom Matilda. She is a very sick woman. She is in a TB hospital being treated. We spent some time praying with her, encouraging her, and letting her know that her kids will have a permanent home if anything should happen to her. It was a sobering experience being there. It kind of puts health care in the US in perspective.

After visiting with Matilda we went back to the Covering and sorted out all 12 huge bags of donations for the kids. We had school supplies, shoes, clothes, toys, and medicine that just filled the room we were in to overflowing. During this time we traded out playing games with the kids and of course taking a million pictures. The kids love to “get snapped” as they call it. We then brought the kids up to the room to give them the stuff. They each got a new pair of shoes, clothes, a toy, and a water bottle. It was like Christmas morning times 10. Once again, it kind of puts things in to perspective. We then spent about 2 hours playing with the children and getting to know their stories. Communication is pretty hard because they talk very quickly and assume that you understand every word.(they speak creole-part of which is English)

I want to share 1 story that is pretty special to me. We have been praying that God would be preparing these kids for us even before we knew who they were. We were praying that he would let them know that there would be a home out there someday for them. He has shown us who he has prepared for us and it was reconfirmed today with a conversation with one of the children we are hoping to adopt. After the initial meeting of the kids we were all milling around and I noticed that he was standing off by himself. I walked over there, bent down, and gave him a hug and just started talking with him. I didn’t think he could understand much of what I was saying, but I just talked anyway. These kids do not know at all that we are planning on adopting them. We are not going to tell them until the country opens up and it is a possibility. We are currently sponsoring him so I wanted him to know that I was the one he wrote his letter to so he could put a face with a name. I told him that we loved him, were praying for him, and that I loved his letter. He turned to me and said, “I know, I love you, you are my father.” I dropped down to my knee and started crying like a baby. Every time I think of that or think about his brother finally warming up to me or seeing their sister laugh when I tickle her I know that God has prepared us for them and them for us. They already feel like they are my own children and I can’t wait for Heather to meet them.

I want to encourage you all to find a way to help these kids. They come from situations you can hardly imagine and are in desperate need of saving. God is transforming lives on this trip and I can't wait to get back to share more picture and video. Please forgive the lack of pictures. Bandwidth is very small here. Please be praying for tomorrow; we have a meeting with the social minister and God will need to move mountains(for adoptions to open up). Thank you all…

The Promised Land. posted by Andrew

Well, we made it. I am now sitting in our hotel room after 3 plane rides (15hours flight time), 1 helicopter ride, a short car ride to the hotel, and 36 hours straight of no sleep. Needless to say we are all exhausted after fighting with our enormous amount of luggage through several airports and countries. It is really hot here, but we are luckily in one of the few places with air conditioning. Osseh and Quami have been incredibly helpful getting us from the airport to our room.

The need here is already overwhelming. It is going to be incredibly difficult to keep focused on what we are here for and not exhaust our resources on the needs that are all around. We may get to see the kids at the center tomorrow and deliver all of the donations. We are heading out to eat now so i will try to post more later.

Oh no...

So, I'm not sure what approach to take next but I am a little concerned about Levi's understanding of the Bible stories we've been reading him. We've covered Moses and the burning bush, Moses's staff becoming a snake, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.-in his kids Bible I should mention-and here is his prayer tonight:
"Jesus, thank you for our food. Thank you for our things. Please don't shoot us with fire balls or get our bushes on fire. And....don't turn the sticks into snakes. Thank you for our food.....and our things. In Jesus name, Amen."
Hum, so on the to do list for tomorrow is to explain Gods forgiveness and love for us.

It is hard to believe that Ivey has been with us for a year now. What a fun and wonderfully spunky addition she is to our family. She laughs more than any baby I've ever known and loves to dance but her greatest love is eating-especially cupcakes!