The email from my friend explained that there were 9 orphaned children that she was hoping to send gifts of love and encouragement to in June. Would our church be willing to fill backpacks with treasures and necessities for these kids? Then I read their location... Dale, Ethiopia. That is when the tears started. That is when God made this project a personal gift.
My Joshua was born in the woreda of Dale. A woreda in Ethiopia is something like a county in the US. The area of Ethiopia is 68,180 square miles. I would have been thrilled to serve anywhere in that area. Where God orchestrated that we serve is Dale, the birthplace of my boy. Dale has an area of 824 square miles. So these backpacks we are filling will be sent to children who live within 90 miles of our son's first home. (If you are confused by all the mile references, just trust Chad! Area is not my thing, but it is his!) To put the nearness in another form, the population of Ethiopia is 85 million. The population of Dale is 440,000. So the chance that we are having a direct impact on kids in Joshua's neighborhood of birth went from 1 in 85 million to 1 in less than half a million! (Even less than that is you figure adult vs. children in the population) So cool! So God!
This connection may or may not sound like a big deal to you, but to me it was and is HUGE! One of my heart's desires it to somehow connect with the area of our son's birth. I long to walk where he would have walked, to see the villages, to smell the air, to sample the food. I long to somehow, someway make it a better, safer, easier place to live. I long to dig a well, or clothe children, or help mothers start businesses, or... I have talked to God a lot about this desire. I have asked for His blessing and His leadership in this area. I have been trusting that if it is His will that we serve, He will connect the dots.
And then I get an email asking me to do a little project for 9 kids in Dale. God, you are so good!
So this morning I was able to ask the members of our church to help fill these backpacks. I had made 7 photo cards of each child. On the back of the cards were items that I hoped to have donated like a backpack, a poncho, toothbrush and toothpaste, underwear and socks, some fun stuff, a few school supplies, and a blanket. I asked that the church members return the items along with a photo of themselves. On the back of their photo I requested that they write a prayer or Bible verse meant to encourage or bless their chosen child. There were 63 cards in all.
All 63 cards were taken joyfully by the members of my church. The table was emptied in a flash. I had people asking what they could do, how they could participate??? God, you are so good!
I get so excited thinking about the people of my church looking at the photos of these kids and praying over them! I get goosebumps thinking about the kids receiving these gifts, reading the blessings, and seeing the faces of people half a world away that care about them and are praying for them. God, you are so good!
I am so excited to see what other plans God has for my church in Africa. This morning a VBS preview video was shown and my spirit whispered, next year your church should take VBS to Africa. Later this afternoon someone texted me that the same idea had been discussed in the kitchen during meal clean-up. How cool would that be?!? I have no idea how that could come together, but I do know that with God all things are possible. So we will wait on Him!
God, you are so good!
*** If you go to my church and did not get a card, I do have more ideas about how you could help! Let me know if you are interested.
