I missed Wednesday morning distribution because I wasn’t feeling well and I stayed back with Sarah. One of the girls on our team journaled about that day, so I’ll input it here!
Natalya, freshman in college
The first site was at a beautiful three-story church. The first level was a sanctuary, and the third level where we were was an open room filled with about seventy children waiting for us. The guys did a great job of bringing the shoebox cartons upstairs, where we proceeded to open and organize them and look around for the 10-14 age group for both boys and girls. Apparently, this site had special needs children, meaning children with hepatitis A and B, HIV/AIDS, or mental retardation, or without parents. I didn’t notice any of this, with the exception of one girl in a wheelchair, who I didn’t know needed a wheelchair until everybody was leaving. This young girl, probably twelve years old, and I made eye-contact and I really wanted to give her a gift, so she was the first girl I gave one to. As opposed to the first day we passed out the shoeboxes, we had extras today.
Mona gave her testimony, and the first question she asked the children after she introduced herself was, “What is different about me than you”. The children responded pointed out that her left arm was amputated, and this was a great icebreaker for the children who listened attentively as she continued with her testimony. At the end, Mona asked the children to close their eyes and, if they wanted, to ask Jesus into their hearts. Some of the children raised their hands, acknowledging they had invited Jesus into their hearts. This was wonderful and I’m sure many of them were sincere. It’s great to know that the pastor of the church will have a follow up with the children during this discipleship program to help the sincere children grow in their relationship with God and to help the ones who just raised their hands come to understand the significance of this decision.
After this, there was a young girl, who had a tear drop under her eye, which I wasn’t sure if it was because of the heat or because of her emotions. I decided to go over and wipe it away. To be honest, my motive was definitely to “wipe a tear drop from the eye of a Dominican child on a mission’s trip”, but the smile she gave me when I did was so special. We passed out the “El Mejor Regalo” books to the children and the shoeboxes.
It amazes me the number of teenagers, adults, and church workers who will accept one of these books and it shows how God is using them to reach the people through reaching the children.
 |
| Singing with the kids! |
Here are some pictures of the 2nd distribution site. We had twice as many girls as boys! It was so visual with how they had the room set up.
 |
| John is explaining what the book is about. He was such a help that week! |
 |
| Boxes touching lives for Christ. Beautiful. |
 |
| The kids couldn't open their boxes til we counted. So...he's getting a sneak peek. :-) |
 |
| We tried to find every box that had a letter. We took a picture of the child with the letter, and then took a picture of the address. We are going to mail the picture to the family! |
 |
| The boys are on the left...and that's where they stop. The girls keep goooooooing.... :-) |
 |
| A group of kids going home to REALLY look at their boxes! |
What a great idea taking a picture with the letters. I bet that is going to be a huge blessing and encouragement to those who donated.
ReplyDelete