Thursday - June 17 (Two Visits Today)

Thursday had a lot of impact on me personally as I started realizing that my time here was drawing near.

We started the morning at the Drop-In Center and I got to help Liz teach a VBS lesson. I was the manager of a football (soccer) team and she was my star player. I instructed her when she came to me about some problems. Much like I did to Liz, we let the kids know that God would do this for them. I also showed them how to make paper airplanes for an arts and crafts exercise and then Liz tied it in to the lesson about prayer and let them know that their prayers would fly farther and higher to God than the airplanes. Then we went out and played volleyball with the kids. They love it. So I feel good about giving them that gift. If you saw what these kids play with, you'd understand how much they love having these new toys. They had ONE poorly damaged football and now they have a chest of footballs (maybe 13 or so).

We then went over to the halfway home and loved on the kids there for a bit. The best part of the day was teaching them how to play "rock, paper, scissors." They ate it up. The reality hit me when we were leaving the halfway home that we wouldn't be back. One by one the kids got up in front of us and told us how much they appreciated us being there and that they were going to miss us and pray for us. For us? Yep. So we started saying goodbyes and one of the boys that had taken a special liking to me gave me and hug....and kept hugging....and hugging...and didn't let go. He said, "You no go, you stay here with me." I guess I can't hide the fact that I began to cry like a baby. I told him that I had to and that I didn't want to go. He then said, "I love you, please come back so we can watch football together and kick." (I'm going to have to stop writing now about this because it is breaking me up as I write.)

K.C. gave a prayer at the end and the kids got down on their knees...ALL OF THEM. So I joined suit and laid my hands on them as we prayed over them. It was pretty incredible.

I've got to run to eat breakfast with the crew, but I just want to let you all know how special it is to be here. As God broke down barriers with Moses and his speaking, he has made it VERY easy to communicate with these children. I have no doubts that if we did not have translators, we'd still do just fine. God has made it that way.

This morning we are off to sing to them the song that we have learned from the kids. Pray for me to not screw it up as well.

Thank you for all the continued prayers and prayer requests. I'll touch on them later, but just pray that TODAY will be the best of them all. And that I don't cry the whole day. It is going to be a tough one for Mr. McGoo.

Couple of prayer requests:

1. For the kids. They need as many as they can get.

2. For the Staff here in Addis. They continue to amaze me with their strength and energy.

3. For rest for some of the group here. There are some that continue to not sleep well and they certainly need it.

4. Continue to pray for the spouses of the team members here: JP, Josh, Ben, and Karyn.

5. Continue to pray for Joe. He's exhausted and it's showing. This is certainly an undertaking and he's tackling it well.

6. Special praise for the Dunlaps. They received some great news in their adoption. Check out Katie's wonderful blog on their adoption and give them a blessing if you would. Even if you don't know them, we're all brothers and sisters in Christ and they're going to bless a little child very soon. (Brad and Katie, I wish I could grab the little with me right now...would make it so much easier, but God's timing is perfect. We love you guys)

7. Finally, selfishly, pray for the McGoo's. We're loving it here and it's going to be a struggle leaving.

God Bless