Hi everyone! Josh took the teen, Lydia Calvin Christian High School
We are really enjoying
our time with Jimmy, Autumn and Zephie.
They fit into our family nicely and this morning the left saying, “bye
Mom” with our other kids. They are
fun. God has answered a lot of
prayers. We would not take in just any
teens but when we met these three we knew God wanted them to come live with
us. I am so thankful we listened to
Him. I am really enjoying getting to know each
one. Asking them questions to hear their
stories, how they are feeling, and encouraging them. I think the best part is seeing God in their
lives. They are living testimonies of
God’s grace. I love that! Hearing what God rescued them from and seeing
them now amazes me. It causes me to give
God glory. He is so real when you see
Him in someone’s life. His love, His
power, His truth, His mercy, His forgiveness, His healing, His Spirit, His
Word… transforms people! I love walking
along side these people and being apart of the discipleship. What joy!
I hope I take every opportunity and moment to be with these teens,
listen, and invest into them. I can so
easily get side tracked with other need and keeping up with feeding
everyone. But their time here is short
and soon they will be gone. Pray that I
am able to stop and be all God wants me to be to these three teens.
The teen shared their
testimonies with us when we visited in Lake City
Autumn and Zephie have
only been Christians for a little more than a year, but you wouldn’t know
it. They love the Lord. I love how they are just learning the stories
of the Bible and get excited about all God’s Word is teaching them. They find out truth in God’s Word and share
it with other at school without being ashamed.
Last night Autumn shared with tears how hard school has been since she
wasn’t taught in her young years and never caught up. She is enjoying teaching and learning with
Grace – how cool! Her and Zephie have
been amazed at how smart our girls are.
I think it is only God to take two girls who weren’t put in school until
Junior High, who were labeled stupid, and now has them as teachers! They are doing great and I think it was very
brave of them to come and teach.
All three of them talk
about their school a lot. In a nutshell
I am amazed at what takes place there. I
love that these teen are willing to stand out and be true followers of Jesus. They are such witnesses! It makes me wonder, where are the other
Christians, where is the church? I am
not saying there are no churches and there are no Christian doing anything. But from what I have heard and asked there
isn’t enough. There are churches all
around so it seems Christians are keeping to themselves. We go to church, to Christian school, have
Christian friends, Bible studies…these are all good and we need them, but the
world also needs us. We need to be in
the schools, befriending lost people, helping those who are broken and
hurt. We can’t do that unless we
go. There is a mission field in your
backyard, down the street, at work, in school…
With 9 or something CRC churches in the area there shouldn’t be a school
not prayed for and reached. There are
kids so hurt, lost, broken, into every sin…that deep down just need a friend to
love and help them. You can do
that. It takes time, investment, and
probably pain but you can bring them to Jesus.
If you know Him you must share Him!
It’s good news! How I pray that
Jimmy, Autumn, and Zephie’s stories encourage each one of us to desire to do
more, to reach out, and to love others to Jesus.
This week Jimmy and
Autumn went to Obulle with Josh and farmed with our church. Poor Zephie was home sick for a few days – no
fun. We are so thankful she is
better. They also went with Josh and
Charles to a woman named Kristine in Obulle.
After talking with Kristine she accepted Jesus into her heart! Awesome!
They went with me to visit a girl who was in the clinic sick with
Malaria. They were pretty surprised by
the condition of the clinic. It is
sad. On Thursday they went with Josh as
he taught in Pingere. Saturdays we help at church with the kids and youth. It has been fun to play games together and teach about the fruits of the Spirit. There are plenty
of dull moments here, but I think the teens are getting a pretty good taste of
mission life.
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| Emalai almost crawling |
Luka, is just Luka. Everyone thinks he is so cute and fun. He really is.
He talks with expression and uses his big eyes. He is loving and still all boy. Emalai is a mover. She is 5 months and on all fours. She even stands on her feet with her hands still
on the floor. She kinda sits too leaning
on one hand. She lights up when someone
talks to her but can get very scared if it is someone new or too loud. She just began eating baby cereal this
week. Her hair is long enough for little
ponytails but she doesn’t have much hair on the sides (Josh calls it her comb
over). I am trying to enjoy her baby
stage since it is our last but sometimes, especially when she wakes up at
night, I am glad we wont go through all this work again J.
Josh and Lydia
Another “joy” is snakes –
really we hate them! The other night I
was feeding Malai in our room and heard a big bang. Later Josh came in and said he killed a small
snake in the kitchen. Yuck! Instantly I wanted to fear, worry and be done
with living here. But I know fear is not
from the Lord. So I prayed. I took the authority we have in Jesus name to
protect us and our home. That was weeks
ago now and no more snakes. God is my
peace.
Please pray for the group
of 12 students and 3 teachers coming from Calvin Christian High School
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| Helping teach kids and youth at church |
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| Josh & Charles |
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| Games at church |
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| Big day - first cereal |
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| Emalai and her cousin Eliana |
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| Happy Father's Day!!! We are so thankful for our Dad! |
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