Mission Begun!

Today the team set out with many objectives to accomplish. There were pictures to take, a medical clinic to set up, crafts to make and belated Christmas gifts to pass out. If that seems like a tall order you are right.

After breakfast and a team meeting we again headed out to Hope Children’s Home. Full of excitement the children rushed to greet us. Once inside the home we broke into groups and began our day of service. Randy went to a nice outdoor spot where he began taking pictures of the children one by one. Have you ever tried to take pictures of 94 kids (plus a few neighbor kids) in alphabetical order and without torn/tattered clothes? I thought it might take 2 hours at the most… well it turned out to be an all day adventure. The good news is I was able to meet each one of the kids and put a name with each face. I will try to remember as many as my feeble mind can handle.

Alisa on the other hand, took a group of team members into a room called the “cafeteria” and began to organize the handing out of about 100 gift bags donated by Show Mercy sponsors, supporters and friends. In each bag were simple toys, stickers, pens, etc that people sent in as Christmas gifts for the children. After coming up with a game plan we began to call the children in. We brought them in small groups to receive their presents. After the children had looked at their gifts and read their cards it was their turn to write a thank you notes. It was very touching to see them open their gift bags up one by one looking at the things people had given them. You could see that they were really blessed by it all. Even more dear was the way they took their time writing thank you notes to the people they know care about them. I was struck with what a privilege it is to be a part of the lives of these children who are happy with the simple things of life and are so thankful for all the blessings that come their way. I am sure the Lord looks down at them and smiles as He says “those are My kids”.

All in all it was a great day and we as a team accomplished what we set out to do…I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Some of the team set up a mini-clinic and tended to some medical issues.