Monday night we had our team meeting and my mom asked everyone if they were starting to realize why God had them here. Everyone talked about how they felt so broken for these kids and the conditions they were living in. I didn't know why, but I didn't feel that broken. I stayed after and asked my mom if I was lacking compassion or insensitive. But she said that wasn't the case, but that God was maybe just trying to grow me in that area.
The next day, God really started working on my heart through these kids. I became very close to three boys: Seme, Sebasien, and Jenson. Well, I was sitting with Seme and Sebasien when Jenson came over and handed me this English Bible. I got Jonas, our translator, to ask him if he could understand it when he read, but Jenson said he wanted me to read it. I asked if he meant out loud, but he said "No, no, no. It is a gift." This little 13 year old boy, who lives in a tent, gave me something special to him. The growth of compassion had begun.
Today was the day that we had to say goodbye. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Anyways, before we said goodbye, we got to play with the kids for about 3 hours. While I was with Seme, he looked at me and said something in Creole. He wouldn't let me get one of the translators. Later I attempted to tell Jonas what Seme had said. Jonas said it meant "I love you." Broke.My.Heart. Seme said it again later and I knew that he had told me that he loved me. And I love him. I love all my little guys so much!
When the time came to say goodbye, the Mama of the orphanage had the kids sing "My Jesus I love you, my Jesus I love you so, because you're my Savior, because you're my Savior, my Jesus I love you so." Then we prayed together. By this point, I was in tears. Seme kept holding my hand, Jenson had his arm around my shoulders, and Sebasien was holding my other hand. They walked us all to the truck, and all of us slowly, reluctantly climbed in. We began to drive down to the gate, and the kids followed us, waving goodbye, until we out the gate and on our way home.
What amazes me the most about the past 3 days is that the love is mutual. The kids love me just as much as I love them. I will never forget these kids, and everytime I think of them, I will pray for them and their Mama. I hope that I made a difference in their lives these past few days..because I know that they've made a difference in mine.
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