Three Days left...

Well, we are down to our last 3 days with the children of Shepherd's Field and then we return home.  We miss CUMC, our family, and our friends back home, but it will be emotionally painful to leave here.  We know that whenever we return here, there will be many faces we will never see again.  Many of these children (about 9 or 10) are matched and we rejoice that they soon will be with their forever families.  However, a handful of these children are very sick.  Since my (Jessica) last trip here, several of the children that I once held and rocked have passed away, and we know that is an ever-present and painful reality here. 

 

As we finish out our stay here, we do have 2 pr*yer requests:

 

1.  Energy beyond our own!  We are starting to feel like we are "dragging" and running out of steam. We are resting during our down-time here, but we need energy from Above to continue to make every moment with these children count!

 

2. One thing about a trip like this is there is not really something tangible to show for your efforts when you leave.  You might organize an attic, but you know in 2 months or the next season, it will be a mess again and someone else will have to redo what you already did.  Same thing for the pharmacy and the growth charts.  It is not like building a house, or a well, or providing medical care where you correct a medical need.  This type of trip is about intangibles...our efforts combine with the efforts of every other team and family that comes here, and the cummulative effect of all those people is that the Father uses them to build a child's self esteem, and to give them a sense of knowing they are loved - even if they don't remember any of the names or faces of the people who loved them.  With most of the children, the language barrier prevents what you might consider meaningful conversations...the only language that they can understand from us is the language of love and the language of play. We are planting seeds that we probably never will see harvested...and in many ways that is hard.  It takes a huge amount of trust to pour yourself out with all the love, playing, attention, and affection you have and then just trust that it will be used by Father to create something that lasts longer than the crafts we make or the immediate playtime that we have now.  Please pr*y that we will continue to have that kind of trust - to do what we are called to do, to love who we are called to love, and to trust that our obedience will be used by the Father to create a Harvest in His timing!

 

In Him,

The Walters