July 2011- Wacky Wednesday

Today was jammed packed.

After breakfast and our team devotional, Pastor Derli, who is the director of Hope Unlimited and the pastor of the graduate church, sat with the team and explained how Hope operates and began to share the journey the kids of Hope experience. All of them are at Hope because a judge ordered it. Hope Unlimited doesn't receive applications, they don't go out on the street to find kids, or rescue abused and neglected kids on their own. All of the kids of Hope are here because a judge said they need to be. Some of them had to come straight here and couldn't say goodbye to their families because their lives were truly at risk. Others were brought here because they have been abused by stepfathers or other relatives and their moms wanted a safe place for them. Some of them called out to the authorities for help and then were sent here through the courts.

Imagine for a moment a room full of Americans who have had and led good lives hearing for the first time the horrors of a stepfather covering the mouth of his stepdaughter to sexually abuse her. Imagine for a minute how difficult it is for us to comprehend a 9 year old ripped from their family because someone is out for blood. These are things we can't and may not be able to ever understand, especially when we see these kids just being kids at camp. We see the competitiveness, we see the fun, we see the smiles and joy in their eyes, sharing their faith with each other and teaching each other along the way. As you see some of the pictures of the kids, please don't feel bad for them, but thank God that they are at Hope Unlimited. They are teaching us SO much about what it means to grow in faith and be a Christ-like example to those around us. They are in the best place they can possibly be.

We ran today's team game time and truly enjoyed watching the kids catching water balloons with their bodies, play balloon soccer, and have a relay race with ping pong balls on spoons. It was fun to see that the activities we play in America can entertain kids 5000 miles away. The evening's theme was biblical characters so we all did our best to dress up, of course earning our team points. We were in charge of worship at the service tonight and each team was in charge of portraying a part of the creation story in a skit for the message. It's amazing to see how well the kids understand the bible and can come up with creative ways to get the message across.

At the end, Pastor Derli presented the message of the gospel in a new and fresh way. He gave an altar call and many kids came to know Christ tonight. The gospel message is the same in every country. It's a message of hope and rescue. It's a message of redemption and salvation and it's universal. As we reflected on this experience, we realized that if we never see these kids again, we will one day rejoice with them in heaven and hopefully talk about this experience in a language we all understand.