So many times this past week I have just closed my eyes and listened...
Everyone was just fed lunch, from the 9 month old to the 5 year old. Some were harder to fed than others. They just love to squirm. They all have taken their plates inside to the sink and washed their hands in the bowl and pitcher outside. Now we carry the little ones to bed for nap time. As we help all 8 little boys pile into their 8 different beds in one tiny room, they realize we will soon leave. They all shout "Auntie, Auntie" to us as to get our attention one last time. I cannot help but smile at this beautiful noise. "...He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.." Deuteronomy 31:8. I thank God that there is never a moment he leave us alone. I pray that these orphans can grow up knowing that truth.
I do not know what they are saying. They never know what I am saying but they pretend to know. But oh how we laugh together. We laugh at every silly dance move. We laugh at every silly face. We laugh at every new game played, oh how we laugh together. ".. a time to weep, and a time to laugh.." Ecclesiastes 3:1. I thank God for the laughter he created. I thank God for these beautiful people he created and loves, and the chance I have to laugh together.
They call it a marimba. I have never seen one like this with big gourds underneath the keys. They make such deep, cheerful and beautiful sounds when played. Especially when 5 are being played at once. The older kids at this orphanage are so talented. But now a girl named Zandile has taken my hand. She pulls me away into the backyard. She digs through the trash and finds lots of wooden sticks and planks. Next she grabs some trash taped up. I watch and help as she carefully peals off the tape and puts its on the end of a stick. It now is making sense! She is making her own mallet and her own marimba. I now listen as she plays the same rhythm they are playing inside. ta-tah-tah-tah ta-tah-tah-tah
We are sitting in a shack. There are three almost solid walls with only half of the fourth wall there. They gave us plastic lawn chairs with roses embedded on the backs. There are 17 chairs and a bench total. That is all we have room for, but oh how we filled up the chairs. We had to bring our blankets. Africa has winters too, and with 4 incomplete cinder block walls and a wind that never stops chilling you until the sun comes overhead, you stay pretty cold. They now ask us to stand and turn to hymn #84. As we turn to the page using a borrowed hymn book, I see that we will be singing "Ngiyeza, Nkosi, ngiza nginje". It is to the tune of the familiar "Just as I am" hymn. I can hear all 20 people in this tiny room praising God and they sound louder than a church choir. They came to church today for no other reason than to praise God. I can see their bundled up cold bodies, yet hear such warmth in their voices. I thank God for all He has blessed me with and for learning how to truly worship and glorify God. You simply give Him all you have.
The ground is as hard concrete, yet it is covered in a layer of sand that has blown in today. I see the houses. Their yards have neatly been swept already this morning and they actually look to be living on a slab of concrete. It would seem odd, but it matches their small two rooms houses make out of concrete. They are all roughly 25 feet long and 9 feet wide each. This is where the families live. I hear only one sound. A radio. I cannot understand the words being said, but I do know it is the only sound I hear. No laughter. No barking dogs. No happy greetings from one person to another. Just a radio. And silence. Silence because people are hungry. Silence because people are ill and dying. Silence because people have no joy. Silence because people have no hope. I thank God he has given us hope.
Pray for the people in Africa that we encounter.
Pray that God will provide for them. Food, clothes, and shelter.
Pray that they will hear of the hope that you can have in Jesus Christ.
-Allie
Everyone was just fed lunch, from the 9 month old to the 5 year old. Some were harder to fed than others. They just love to squirm. They all have taken their plates inside to the sink and washed their hands in the bowl and pitcher outside. Now we carry the little ones to bed for nap time. As we help all 8 little boys pile into their 8 different beds in one tiny room, they realize we will soon leave. They all shout "Auntie, Auntie" to us as to get our attention one last time. I cannot help but smile at this beautiful noise. "...He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.." Deuteronomy 31:8. I thank God that there is never a moment he leave us alone. I pray that these orphans can grow up knowing that truth.
I do not know what they are saying. They never know what I am saying but they pretend to know. But oh how we laugh together. We laugh at every silly dance move. We laugh at every silly face. We laugh at every new game played, oh how we laugh together. ".. a time to weep, and a time to laugh.." Ecclesiastes 3:1. I thank God for the laughter he created. I thank God for these beautiful people he created and loves, and the chance I have to laugh together.
They call it a marimba. I have never seen one like this with big gourds underneath the keys. They make such deep, cheerful and beautiful sounds when played. Especially when 5 are being played at once. The older kids at this orphanage are so talented. But now a girl named Zandile has taken my hand. She pulls me away into the backyard. She digs through the trash and finds lots of wooden sticks and planks. Next she grabs some trash taped up. I watch and help as she carefully peals off the tape and puts its on the end of a stick. It now is making sense! She is making her own mallet and her own marimba. I now listen as she plays the same rhythm they are playing inside. ta-tah-tah-tah ta-tah-tah-tah
We are sitting in a shack. There are three almost solid walls with only half of the fourth wall there. They gave us plastic lawn chairs with roses embedded on the backs. There are 17 chairs and a bench total. That is all we have room for, but oh how we filled up the chairs. We had to bring our blankets. Africa has winters too, and with 4 incomplete cinder block walls and a wind that never stops chilling you until the sun comes overhead, you stay pretty cold. They now ask us to stand and turn to hymn #84. As we turn to the page using a borrowed hymn book, I see that we will be singing "Ngiyeza, Nkosi, ngiza nginje". It is to the tune of the familiar "Just as I am" hymn. I can hear all 20 people in this tiny room praising God and they sound louder than a church choir. They came to church today for no other reason than to praise God. I can see their bundled up cold bodies, yet hear such warmth in their voices. I thank God for all He has blessed me with and for learning how to truly worship and glorify God. You simply give Him all you have.
The ground is as hard concrete, yet it is covered in a layer of sand that has blown in today. I see the houses. Their yards have neatly been swept already this morning and they actually look to be living on a slab of concrete. It would seem odd, but it matches their small two rooms houses make out of concrete. They are all roughly 25 feet long and 9 feet wide each. This is where the families live. I hear only one sound. A radio. I cannot understand the words being said, but I do know it is the only sound I hear. No laughter. No barking dogs. No happy greetings from one person to another. Just a radio. And silence. Silence because people are hungry. Silence because people are ill and dying. Silence because people have no joy. Silence because people have no hope. I thank God he has given us hope.
Pray for the people in Africa that we encounter.
Pray that God will provide for them. Food, clothes, and shelter.
Pray that they will hear of the hope that you can have in Jesus Christ.
-Allie