Children’s Relief International

 In one single minute my plans were changed to go to El Shadi and pick up the children and deliver them to the villa which is only 15 minutes away. The bus had a problem and could not take the kids home.  I love to rise to the occasion and do what needs to be done. Val and I waited a few minutes wondering how many children there would be and where do we drop them off?

 The classroom door flung open and out they came running to the van to get their ride to the villa.  Some will go to the bank to be dropped off and the rest of them to the villa for the first load.  I counted 20 children piled into the van and one on my lap as we drove off down the back road of Mafarinha.  As soon as the door closed the first thing that I heard was, "Tia, Tia musica musica!"  In which I replied back to them, "No, you sing to me."
And for the rest of the ride the melodious sounds of children leading their own songs and praising God from songs that they had been taught at the school we support.  The school that has taken so long to be built and now is open, the school that can teach the word of God without fear, the school that is part of the vision of one man and woman who were obedient to the call from God to change a culture and a generation of children.  Yes this school in the midst of a field stands beside a soccer field, next to a farm was once just a spoken word and now it stands to glorify God.

  It has been some time now since I have sent out a mailing but as some of you know I had another bout with malaria a UTI infection and a worm in my foot all in two weeks!  I am praying that this is the end of the difficulties with my health for this year.  Fortunately for me, Val  Dorsey, a nurse from New York was here for a month long visit and she was willing and more than able to take over my role in assisting Janine with the teams.  As God would have it, Val has extended her stay until the first of August and we are the new kitchen and anything else crew absolutely freeing Janine to focus more on being the field director for CRI. Enough about me and on to a wonderful experience at church.

  It was Sunday and the Minnesota team was spending their last morning at the worship service in Dondo. This was going to be a celebration, a recognition for those who had completed a 3 month long class to prepare their hearts for a baptism. 17 men, women and young adults lined up outside of the church to enter into the side and walk into the baptismal. When a certain loved one would step into the water you could hear cheers coming from the family and friends.  Some sat there with a longing for their time to come, for their special Sunday to exclaim to the church, to their family, to the community that they would take a stand for Christ, to lay down their cross and follow Jesus.  It was a time when all of our hearts would swell with pride for the faith and courage of a people whose culture and their lives are filled with witch doctors and evil.

  I sat and watched one woman in particular, Emelia.  Emelia is a woman of 50 years, married for over 30 years, a leader of women’s ministry and has 7 children.  I looked over her way as her husband walked into the water, he closed his eyes after pinching his nose and taking a deep breath. Emelia was smiling ear to ear and could hardly sit still as the Pastor spoke to him.  As he dropped into the water and his soul was washed with the Holy Spirit’s cleansing power he came up with a smile and a welcomed squeal from his wife.  Emelia has spend most of her life praying for her husband to come to know the Lord.  She shared with me the countless years and days that he would spend drinking and spending time with his friends and coming home only to ignore her and treat her and the children poorly.  But her faith took her through each day trusting that God was listening while she was waiting.  The war came and went, 7 seven children were born, raised and have left home and today this man stood before the congregation of the Baptist church of Dondo committing his life to Christ and asking other’s to keep him accountable as a leader.  What a day, what a smile, what a celebration.  God was honored and praised for His faithfulness to answer a long hoped for prayer from Emelia.  We were all blessed to see Emelia’s smile.

I have been in country for about 3 weeks now and I can't believe how fast the time is going.  Each day has a new experience and invitation for prayer as we journey along this road of life here in Dondo.

We have had several big events happen in the last 2 weeks.  Manuel and Ramizia's wedding, Family Day at the church with two other church plants with lots of singing and dancing and our annual Children's Day party at the Casual park.  What a blast!  There were around 450 children, teachers and workers.  This is when the children received their gifts and the dolls that my friends from Curves made.  It was a delightful day filled with smiles, laughter, singing and dancing and 7 trips to town to drive children back and forth.  How many children do you think I can get in our new van?  Well, I had 10 of us in the front seat!  I'm thinking to myself as they climb in, "OK that should be about enough" and more would get in, and then I would say, "yup, that's about it" and more would get in.  So finally I just waited until the door shut and said right out loud,  " I YI YI YI YI!!"  There were 30 children in my van!  That was a first for me, you know there just aren't enough seat belts in America to handle this kind of traveling.

On another day last week I had the opportunity to drive some of my friends from Centro Emmisor to the clinic to have Dr. Neves  help them with some illness' and one of the ladies had had a baby just recently.  While we were sitting in the waiting area for the doctor to see his patients my friend Suzanna said her baby had no name. I said to her, "No name?  Well name her Kathy!"  I was just kidding of course and guess what, that's right, when she came out of the doctor's office and showed me her prescription papers for the pharmacy the baby's name was 'Kettie' which is their interpretation of my name.  I was smiling and laughing at the same time.  What an honor for Suzzane to want to name her little girl after me.  

Today I drove Suzzane, Kettie and some others to the hospital for some tests.  We laughed again at the thought of Kettie being named after me.  She is chubby too and very cute.  I love life here. 

I have 7 days before I leave Cedar Rapids and I'm off to Dondo once again to serve there.  I heard a story once of a man who was in prison and he waited and waited to be released and it seemed like his day would never come for him to go home.  He would go to sleep at night and he would pray and then say to himself, "one of these days, I am going to open my eyes and I will be home!"  And for me, one of these days soon I am going to open my eyes and I will again be home in Dondo.

Sometimes it is hard while I am here to be so homesick and then be there and be homesick too.  There is such a feeling of family here and there.  I never feel like I don't have the opportunity to love, here or there wherever I am.  Always so many children to be loved and held and taught to know about Jesus.

These three faces are friends of mine all from different places.  We met at the Women's conference in '07'.  There is no real language needed when you are playing... just a big smile and a desire.  I loved it!