Archives August 2010

Monday was our last day in Bogota. Two things have really blessed me as a Godfather on this trip. First, Ginary has taken close to fifteen hundred pictures with my camera this week and all but about ten were worth keeping! She really has an eye. In the orphanage she designs and makes clothes and the social workers say that she has a gift for it. She is totally illiterate and yet very intelligent, sweet, and always joyful. My wife and I look forward to helping her overcome the academic challenges. Second, Heidy brought us a large folder this morning stuffed with gifts that she had made for us. She is, by the way, an incredible sketch artist and she gave us four, four foot by four foot sketches that she has done and they were stunning. I can’t imagine the hours that she put into them. There were also some little notes and letters to the girls and such that were just precious. We took the girls up to Mansarrate which is a beautiful church on a mountaintop overlooking Bogota. We enjoyed riding the cable car up there and doing some souvenir shopping. Then we went over to Amparo De Ninas for lunch. The girls were once again very excited to see us and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting with them for several hours. I was able to meet with the officials there and get a very encouraging update on the process for my two girls. I, for the first time in this whole ordeal with them, am beginning to feel that I can allow myself to hope that we will bring them home someday soon. We gathered the children together and distributed their gifts. Each girl received her red bag with a pair of sunglasses, tennis shoes, Spanish New Testament, and a doll. They were so excited. One little girl was weeping profusely and when David asked her what was wrong she told him that she was from a very poor family and that she had not been at the orphanage very long and that this was the first gift she had ever received in her life. We finally came to the hardest part and that was leaving for the last time this trip. It goes without saying that it ripped my heart out to hug and kiss my girls goodbye and then drive out of those iron gates knowing that I won’t see their beautiful smiles or hear their sing-song laughter or hold their little brown hands again for several months. We were all crying when we left and like me, I heard many a team member promise themselves that they would be coming back here soon to visit “their” girls. None of us can explain what happens in our hearts when we are with these dear children but I think Chris Dinkler said it the best that I have ever heard when he said, “The next time someone tells me they want to see Jesus I’m going to tell them, ‘I can give you the street address where He lives…’” We have truly been among the “least of these” the last eight days and like the old song says, “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Today was our “free” day. We had planned to stay at the hotel today and rest but Antonio mentioned that he had a friend that was a member of a big country club and that we could go swimming there and the Goddaughters jumped up and down and begged to go so… we had to stop at the store and get swim suits for some of us and Chuck and I found out that XL in Colombia is not the same as XL in the states. We had a wonderful time playing in the water and then had a really nice lunch. After lunch we walked over to the little coffee shop at the club and it soon became obvious that another providence was in the making. The friend of Sandra and Antonio that is a member of the club is in the oil and gas business here in Bogota. Allen, Antonio, David, and I were standing around talking with him and Antonio told us that he was excited about helping with the orphan ministry and especially a half-way house for the girls that have aged out of the orphanage. David, who has been desperately praying about what to do when his Goddaughter Lida ages out March 1st and has no place to go, asked about getting a job for Lida and the man, Julian, said, “No problem, I can put her to work in one of my gas stations.” David had to turn away as the tears began to flow. The rest of us knew right then that this was why we came to the club today. What a blessing that God is raising up powerful and influential people daily to help in this work! We came back to the hotel and gathered for a small Sunday service in the breakfast area. I shared from 2 Corinthians 5:14 “For Christ’s love compels us…” and talked about the fact that the motivation for this trip and for everything that we do is to be found in the truth that Christ first loved us and because of that wonderful love we can now love others. Love is the motivation. I then opened it up to testimonies and nearly every person in the room from the Goddaughters to team members shared how that love shown to the children and received from the children had impacted them this week. There were a lot of tears and we all teased about the dust and smoke in Bogota that makes us all cry all of the time. It was a precious time. Each of the Goddaughters shared their hearts with us and it was absolutely precious. After dinner we were able to video chat with Chuck’s family and my family and it was so sweet for Heidy and Ginary and Lida to get to talk to our families. Heidy and Ginary were very excited to talk to their Madrina (Godmother), there other sisters who couldn’t come, and they were very happy to meet Chuck’s family as well. We talked and laughed and joked and loved on each other. I don’t know how it could have been sweeter. Tomorrow we spend our last day at Amparo De Ninos. It is bitter/sweet as I look forward to one more day with my friends there and also one more day with my girls. Bitter because when we leave tomorrow night, I will have to leave my beautiful girls there. I have a love/hate relationship with the dirty, potholed alley that leads to the orphanage where my girls live. I love it when I arrive and I hate it when I leave. When we turn onto it upon arrival my heart rate quickens pace and I feel a surge of love and energy shoot through my chest. When we turn onto it out of the orphanage gate to leave I feel that my chest is caving in and I inwardly cry out to God in anguish that He will help me to help these children. I and my daughters have shed many tears on that road. I am praying for the day when they can come home with us forever or we can come home to them in Bogota, whichever God desires. Please continue to pray for us and thank you so much.

Fine, I will quit talking about superlatives all together. Today was absolutely heavenly. We went to Amparo De Ninas in Bogota. This is the home orphanage of the ministry. It is where everything started and where some of the board members have adopted children. It is also the home of three of the Goddaughters including mine. When we turned onto the dirt road that leads to the orphanage a flood of emotions washed over me as I remembered that I would be leaving two of my daughters here in two days. I pray for the day that I can take all of them home with me. As usual, when we arrived, the girls all came out to greet us and we stood on the sidewalk and talked for several minutes and then moved to the playground and had a very fun time of basketball, volleyball, crafts, and lots of sitting around visiting. We had invited the little boys from the Pro Nacer orphanage that we visited on Monday to join us today at Amparo De Ninas and at two o’clock they arrived and joined the fun. This continued for several hours and then the rain clouds came and we all moved to the cafeteria. Someone suggested that we sing to the kids and so David, Chris, Rebekah, Beverly, Brooke and I sang several praise and worship songs for the children and they really loved it. Then to our delight, my Goddaughter Heidy got up and sang a beautiful song for the crowd. She has a stunning voice. Then it got even better when she called some of her friends up there with her and they led all the children in several praise and worship songs in Spanish. It was truly heavenly. I was able to share with them about the love of God and to thank them for teaching us more about that love today. Then we had a hotdog dinner and ice cream and some Colombian dances. An amazing providence was revealed today that was bitter/sweet. There is a pair of beautiful twin girls about thirteen years old that live at Amparo that we have become friends with. Unbeknownst to any of us, they have twin little brothers that live at Pro Nacer. They hadn’t seen their brothers in three years and when the Pro Nacer boys arrived today they were unexpectedly reunited. It was incredibly touching to see the delight in their eyes. The bitter part was that they cried and cried when the boys had to leave tonight and go back to their orphanage. My girls and I held the twin girls while they sobbed and sobbed. It was a stark reminder of the awful plight of these sweet children. I seriously doubt that there are four cuter or sweeter children in all the world than these two set of twins and yet they can’t be together in a loving family. One of the highlights of the day for me was that I got a chance to sit down with my Goddaughters with Luis translating and really have a heart to heart talk about a lot of things. It was so sweet to be able to share with each other things that we have been thinking about and wondering about but the language barrier had kept us from discussing at length. There were tears of joy as we finished our conversation. Sweet Ginary spoke for both girls and told me that they love and adore me and my family and they are so grateful that God saw fit to bring us into their lives and that they never in their wildest dreams thought that something good like this would ever happen in their life. We had the unexplainable privilege to love on our savior all day today through these precious children and I know that our whole team would back me in saying that we are forever changed. Thank you for your prayers.

OK, so if I had a hard time with enough superlatives to explain how amazing yesterday was it will be hopeless to try to accurately describe today. All I can say to try and illustrate it was that we were under the Niagara Falls of grace all day today! We started out our day by once again meeting in the courtyard and praying these verses aloud to the Lord,

Lord, you have given me many precious and very great promises, 2 Peter 1:4(ESV) which are all Yes and Amen in Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20(ESV) Now be it to your servant according to the word that you have spoken. 2 Samuel 7:25(ESV)

Give me to draw water with joy from these wells of salvation, Isaiah 12:3(ESV) to nurse and be satisfied from Jerusalem’s consoling breast; Isaiah 66:11(ESV) and now, O LORD God, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant be established forever, and do as you have spoken. 1 Chronicles 17:23(ESV)

Deal with me according to the tenor of the everlasting covenant, which is well-ordered in all things and secure, and which is all my help and all my desire. 2 Samuel 23:5(ESV)

Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name; Psalm 119:132(ESV) do more for me than I am able to ask or think, Ephesians 3:20(ESV) and supply all my needs according to your riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19(ESV)

Then I reminded the team that when we are ministering to these children today we are really ministering to Jesus through them and as we learn to love them, we learn to love Him more. We returned to Ciudad De La Nina today and had a big cook out with our friends there and the boys from Amparo De Ninos. We served somewhere around five hundred hotdogs with potato chips, soda, cookies, and twenty five gallons of ice cream with all of the toppings. Kamala and Teresa set up a beauty shop and gave the girls manicures and painted nails. Chuck and I had a little adventure that was quite unexpected as well. We heard some girls screaming about a cow behind the kitchen and went to investigate. There was a steer that was trying to get scraps out of a plastic trash can and his horn had poked through the side and the trash barrel was stuck fast to his head. He was thrashing about on the ground trying to get it off. I started to turn away thinking surely it would eventually get it off himself when little Heidy looked up at me with the most pitiful little girl look and said, “Please Padrino (Godfather), help him.” Chuck and I tried several times to get it off and nearly got thrown ourselves a few times. Finally I found an old broom handle and we cornered the steer and I pried the barrel off and we let the steer loose. Well unbeknownst to us a large crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle and when we finished a loud cheer went up with several high fives. My favorite part of course was when my Goddaughter Heidy jumped into my arms and said, “My Super Padrino!” The most wonderful part of the day was the many hours that we spent visiting with and playing with and teasing and loving on these two hundred and forty beautiful children. Every member of the team had three, four, five, or more children following them everywhere, holding their hand, talking a mile a minute and just generally enjoying being together. I’ve experienced this before but it never ceases to amaze me how we come here to show the love of Jesus to these children and teach them about Him and they end up teaching us more about Him than we knew. I love the line from Steven Curtis Chapman’s song What Now which says, “I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl, she was standing in the corner on the other side of the world.” It is so true that He is to be found in places like we were today. At last it was time to leave and we made our way to the vans with a throng of children hanging on us and begging us not to go. There were many tears and hugs and promises to return soon. As we were slowly driving out of the compound, a little girl who had spent every minute of two days with Chuck ran in front of the van and around to the front passengers door where Chuck was sitting with the window rolled down and his arm on the sill. She jumped up and grabbed his arm and hung on it as the van rolled to a stop saying “You’re not leaving are you?” You’re not leaving are you?” Chuck picked her up and gave her one last kiss on the cheek and one last goodbye and then we were gone. There wasn’t a dry eye in either van. Even our hired driver broke down and cried. I don’t know all that God has planned for this ministry and my family in particular but I have seen more miracles in the last six months since first coming here than in the rest of my Christian life of twenty seven years. The number of amazing providences that we have all witnessed this week alone so far is astounding. To God be the glory!

I honestly cannot think of a superlative strong enough to express how wonderful today was. We met in the courtyard of the hotel this morning as a team and prayed these verses to the Lord.

O that the favor of the LORD my God may be upon me; prosper the work of my hands upon me; yes, establish the work of my hands. Psalm 90:17(ESV) Save me, I pray, O LORD! O Lord, I pray, give me success! Psalm 118:25(ESV)

May my sons in their youth be as plants full grown, and my daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace. May my granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; and may there be no breaking in or going out, no cry of distress in the streets of your people. Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD! Psalm 144:12-15(ESV)

Let me be blessed in the city and blessed in the field; Deuteronomy 28:3(ESV) let my basket and my kneading bowl be blessed; let me be blessed when I come in and when I go out. Deuteronomy 28:5-6(ESV)

Let your good providence so order all events concerning me that they may be made to work for good for me, as you have promised they shall for all who love you and are called according to your purpose. Romans 8:28(ESV)

Give me to trust in the LORD and do good, and then I shall dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness; Psalm 37:3(ESV) and be pleased to bring forth my righteousness as the light, and my justice as the noonday. Psalm 37:6(ESV)

Let me be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and not fear destruction when it comes; Job 5:21(ESV) let me be in league with the stones of the field, and let the beasts of the field be at peace with me; let me know that my tent is at peace, and let me inspect my fold and miss nothing. Job 5:23-24(ESV)

And if God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go during my pilgrimage in this world, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I may come to my heavenly Father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. Genesis 28:20-21(ESV)

Then we were ready to go! We rode out to Ciudad De La Nina, a Christian orphanage in Madrid which is about an hour from our hotel. Beverly, Brooke, David, and I sang praise and worship songs all the way there. I don’t know what the rest of the van thought but we had a blast anyway. Ha Ha. We arrived and immediately realized that the girls from the half-way house on Tuesday were also there because they knew we were coming! It was a joyous reunion to start out the day and then we began to meet and visit with the one hundred sixty girls who reside there. This orphanage is in the countryside and it is beautiful. They have a large courtyard with grass and big trees. We played football, frisbee, stickball, and a Colombian version of dodgeball that was really fun. When we tired of the games we sat around in the shade and each of us would instantly have a group of six or eight girls around us asking questions and trying diligently to help us improve our spanish and help them improve their english. There were so many cute, sweet little girls that we just couldn’t stop commenting to each other on how wonderful they were. My sweet Goddaughter, Ginary, has been keeping up with my cameral all week and she has taken several hundred really good pictures. She got some really wonderful shots today. We literally sat around and visited for several hours. I was able to see many of my little friends from last June. Sadly though, one that I was looking forward to seeing, Brenda, was quarantined with fourteen other girls with mumps. We stood outside of their dorm and talked to them through the windows. We had a wonderful traditional Colombian lunch on the ground and late in the afternoon we assembled in the large dining hall. The girls had a very nice traditional dance that they performed for us and then I was blessed to share the gospel with them. I explained to them the power of and necessity of the love of God. It was God’s great love that motivated Him to share the greatest gift ever given, His son, Jesus Christ and when we receive that gift by faith then He fills us with that powerful love and we can then love others and that was why we were there today to pour out on them that love that God has put in our hearts for that is the real Christian life, God first loved us so that we can love Him and then love others. I thanked them that they had already shown us how much they understand this truth by the way they poured out their love for us today. After the message, Rebekah, Beverly, Brooke, David, and I sang Here I Am To Worship, Come Now Is The Time To Worship, and Agnus Dei for them. They shouted and clapped and begged for more. It was really fun. My Goddaughter, Heidy, who sings beautifully was so thrilled to be able to hear us sing that when we finished she jumped into my arms and said, “I love you, I love you, I love you” in english. We then gave the girls their big red gift bags with pajamas, a spanish New Testament, etc. They were very grateful. We got to go back out into the park or square and visit a little longer before we had to go. The girls flocked around us so thick saying goodbye that it was hard to get into the vans. But it was a happy goodbye because they know that we are returning tomorrow for a big cook-out at their place and we will be joined by the boys from Amparo De Ninos that we visited yesterday. It will be a fantastic day. Suffice it to say that the multitude of sweet conversations, prayers, hugs, smiles, laughter, kisses, and the many little providences of God today would take many more paragraphs and authors to capture but we had an awesome day and are very grateful for all of the prayers. I can’t help but share something with you that my little Goddaughter, Heidy, said to me tonight after we got back to the hotel. She said, “How can my Godfather, a man so big in every sense of the word, love someone so small and simple as me?” I didn’t know that there were depths of my heart that this little girl had not reached yet but she continues to surprise me by penetrating into uncharted territory and claiming it for herself. I think I learned some new lessons today about that powerful love of God. Thank you Lord!

Today was a wonderful kingdom warfare day. We went to see our friends at Amparo De Ninos in Madrid. It houses eighty-five boys eight to eighteen in an old monastery in the country. This boys orphanage is so much different than the Pro Nacer orphanage that we visited on Monday. This is a government institution and most of the boys are from the street so it has a little harder edge to it. The boys are less open to relationships. Nevertheless, I knew my daughter Beverly was highly anticipating going back to this orphanage because of the boys she had made friends with there in June. We were so happy to see some of our old friends and to make many new ones. After visiting for awhile, the boys were assembled and Chuck spoke to the boys. He shared with them about trust and encouraged them to put that trust in Jesus as their only hope for this life and the life to come. There were also many opportunities to share about Christ in one on one conversations. Right after the assembly, a cute little boy about eight years old named Samuel came up and took my hand and said, “Benga con migo a lonche” (come with me to lunch). We went through the line and had a customary Colombian lunch of meat, rice, salad, soup, and juice. I really enjoyed chatting with several boys while Samuel climbed all over me and pelted me with tons of questions. He was very, very cute. After lunch, we handed out the gifts. Each boy received a stocking cap, tennis shoes, pajamas, a Hot-Wheels car, and a letter of love from somebody in Texas. The letters meant so much to the boys. At one point I looked around to see that all of my girls were ok and accounted for and my heart swelled with joy to see Rebekah, Beverly, Brooke, Ginary, and Heidy helping, and taking pictures, and visiting with the boys. I am such a blessed man. Thank you God for allowing us to all be here together sharing your love with these young men and boys. As always there were lots of hugs, smiles, and a few tears. God had given us such an awesome team. It was a joy to see each of them giving of themselves recklessly to show the love of Jesus to these hurting boys. Luis, one of our translators, had an idea about showing the boys how to make newspaper hats and decorate them. They were really neat. I remember at one point looking around and seeing Kamala making a hat for a boy and they both had the biggest smile you could imagine. After our visit, part of the team went shopping for the items that we will need on Friday and Saturday for a big cook out with these boys and one hundred and sixty girls at Ciudad De La Nina nearby. The rest of the team enjoyed the shops near the hotel, shooting each other with silly string, and a fun dinner. Being here with my daughters and Goddaughters has been one of the sweetest things ever in my life. We have laughed, and teased, and loved on each other and the rest of the team. My heart is full and I am looking forward to seeing my little friends at Ciudad De La Nina tomorrow. Please keep praying for this team and our families. We are deep in enemy (spiritually) territory and we can feel it but we know Who sent us here and are excited about the work that He is doing in us and through us. We all have many stories of Divine appointments and relationship connections being made. Praise His name!

Our hearts were stretched again today as we visited two half-way houses for older orphans who have aged out of the system when they turn eighteen. We started with the girls house. There are twenty girls living there. They are very studious and work very hard. Many have jobs and go to school at night. Their house was very clean. Because they knew we were coming, most of the girls had gone over to the boys half-way house to cook lunch for us there so we went over to the boys house. Several of the girls we have met on previous trips and keep up with on Facebook. Some we have met on Facebook through the other girls. It was really wonderful to see them and visit with them. They were so sweet and so happy to see us. It was great to meet the young men and learn about all that they are studying and their work. We spent several hours with the boys and girls. Two of our ladies on the team, Kamala and Teresa, set up shop and began to give haircuts and styles to all of the girls. It was awesome to see their excitement. At the same time the boys were baking and they enlisted our help to mix the butter, sugar, eggs, banana extract, flour, and raisins in a big pot with our hands. There were many one or two on one conversations and many opportunities to speak about Christ to the young people. Later we went back to the girls house and handed out the big red bags to each girl filled with pajamas, lotion, foot care, scrunchies, and a pretty scarf. They were so grateful. Then we had to go. It was very hard to leave them. There were many hugs and “Dios los bendiga” (God bless you). We were so thankful to find forty boys and girls who have a chance to not become one of the statistics that exist for children that age out at eighteen. For the rest of them, some sixty percent will end up in human trafficking and another fifteen percent will commit suicide within two years. We were blessed to know that these young people have a better chance. We have been talking for about six months about how to have more of these half-way houses in Colombia and we will continue to pray and work toward expanding this vision for the children that are too old to adopt but can’t stay at the orphanage any longer. Tomorrow we will be going to Amparo De Ninos (Protection of Boys) in Madrid. This is the first orphanage that we visited last June and we have many little friends there that we are looking forward to seeing again. The Goddaughters have been as good as gold. They are such blessings. Our hearts are full and this trip has only just begun. Thank you for your prayers.

Glory! We had a wonderful first day! After the long day of travel yesterday it was nice to start out a little slow this morning. We had breakfast together in the hotel and then sat around and visited with the Goddaughters and the team until lunch time. We had lunch and then went to Pro Nacer Orphanage. It is a small city orphanage that I wrote about in September that has 50 boys in what amounts to a 3-story house. We were first given a tour of this immaculately clean and very organized house. The boys were then led into a single room for an assembly. I was privileged to share the gospel with them from John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” The team had been working on a theme for the trip and one of the verses that came up was this one. I was excited because I had already been thinking that I would use this verse to speak to the children this week. I explained to them that because of Jesus coming into the world and because of His sacrifice on the cross that we can now, by faith, become the children of God. In this life we may lose parents, we may long to have a father who loves us and protects us but by faith in Jesus we can have a Heavenly Father who will never leave us, who will always love and protect us. I shared with them that this life is but a vapor. It appears for a little while and then vanishes away. But eternity is forever. This life with its trials and tragedies and failures and disappointments is only a testing ground for the next life. It is a school where we learn about ourselves and our sinfulness, where we learn about a savior who takes away our sin and gives us the right to become the children of God, where we have the opportunity to put our faith in this savior and by doing so we pass the test. We finish the school of this life and we go to live with our Father forever. I challenged them to check their hearts and know if the Holy Spirit was confirming this word in them. Then I encouraged them to cry out to the savior so that they could become His children and live forever with Him. One of our translators, Alexandra, later told me that the director of the orphanage excitedly told her that my message was exactly what they have been teaching the boys about this life and about the love of God and that it was a confirmation from God for them to hear it again and this time from a stranger. The director said that as the boys were listening to the message, they would look at her as if to say, “Hey that‘s what you have been telling us, it must be true.” Praise God that He orchestrates these things for His glory. We enjoyed many other amazing providences today as well. The gifts were then passed out to each boy by name. These were red bags that the ladies had stayed up late into the night last night packing for each boy by name and clothing size from a list we had received from the orphanage previously. In the big red bag was a New Testament in spanish, a set of pajamas, a pair of tennis shoes, a matchbox car and some other toys. The boys were so excited to open their gifts and there were many “thank you’s” and the customary Colombian kiss on the cheek. Some of the team went to buy some items for the boys where they had identified a need and also a new washing machine for the orphanage while the rest of the team went outside to play… and play we did. I think all of us over 30 folks may have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning! There was basketball, soccer, frisbee, wrestling, and I think some um… er…. Kung Fu fighting or something. It was a wonderful time. We finally said our goodbyes but not for long for they will be joining us later in the week with another orphanage for hotdogs and ice cream. We had a wonderful dinner, laughed so much we nearly got thrown out of the restaurant, and came back to the hotel where all the daughters got to talk to my family back home on the video chat. Well, I had better get to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow at the half-way houses for the orphans who have aged out of the orphanage and are trying to find jobs and or going to school. Please continue your prayers for us.

Two months after Orphan Sunday, we took another group to Bogota. Once again, there were many amazing providences that led up to this trip. One that especially sticks out in my mind was a prayer meeting that David Richardson, Allen Pate and myself had in my study. We had all been feeling the pressure and the spiritual warfare leading up to this trip and we agreed to meet at my place and get on our faces before God and seek His help and power. Before we began to pray, David mentioned some men that the Lord had laid on his heart regarding orphan ministry. We wrote down three names and prayed for them and for God’s leading. One of the men’s names was Chris Dinkler, a brother that we had met at Tres Dias. It was a powerful prayer meeting and afterward we dried our eyes and hugged each other goodbye. About twenty minutes later, my phone rang and it was David and his voice was shaking and he told me that just after he and Allen left my house, his phone rang and it was Chris Dinkler calling to say that for “some reason” he and his wife couldn’t quit thinking about Colombia and the orphans and that he wanted to get more information about going with us. Chris did go with us on the January trip and now he is Vice President of Orphan Hope International. Once again, God was bringing the people together to help us defend the fatherless and He was clearly showing us that we were on the right track in pursuing this vision. Hallelujah!

We made the trip in January 2010. It was a marvelous time of blessing for the orphans and for us. The following are my daily journal entries from that trip.

God’s grace was so evident today as we traversed two international airports with 17 team members and 30 checked bags of luggage most of which were filled with gifts for the children we will be ministering to this week. I praise the Lord for a very smooth arrival. The greatest excitement of the night was that the Goddaughters surprised us at the airport! We thought we were going to pick them up tomorrow but our “in country representative” Sandra had arranged for them to meet us at the airport. As we were going through the last security checkpoint my heart stopped as I looked through the plate glass and saw my precious little Heidy jumping up and down with the biggest smile you can imagine. Then I saw the rest of the girls. We burst through the doors and the hugs were on! They look so good and it was so wonderful to have 5 of my girls in one place! It was a joyous reunion to be sure. We have a very packed week and a half ahead of us and it is such a joy to know that the four Goddaughters will be with us. Tomorrow we visit an orphanage of 50 little boys called Pro Nacer. Thank you for your help in getting us here. Please keep us in your prayers.

So I am in the midst of a whirlwind of orphan ministry activity at this time. We have been back from our September ’09 Padrino trip less than a month, I have spoken to two Tres Dias ministries and shared about Colombia, we are in the middle of adoption paperwork, and someone mentions to me, “Hey have you heard about National Orphan Sunday, November 8, 2009?” So I started checking into it and found that Chrisitan Alliance for Orphans and Steven Curtis Chapman’s ministry and others had organized a national day to recognize the plight of the orphan and were encouraging churches across the country to have a special emphasis that day. We quickly began to plan and promote Orphan Sunday at Heritage Church where I was pastoring at the time. When the day came the church was filled with people and there were dozens of multi-racial children there who had been adopted. Someone commented that it looked like a miniature United Nations that day. It was one of the best days of my life. Several people spoke, including our daughter, Mercy, from Africa. We took several videos that day and you can access them at http://www.youtube.com/user/heritagefamily

After the testimonies I preached from Job 29. Here is a very brief summary of the sermon.

Job is one of my heroes. Job was a godly man. Just listen to God’s description of him in chapter 1 verse 8, The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Wow! What an amazing accolade from the Almighty! There are many things that we can learn from Job but one of my favorites is this; Job was a man who was passionate about orphan ministry.

In Job 29:2-11 He tells us some things about His relationship with God that ought to make us sit up and take notice. He says…

God watched over me… His lamp shone over my head… by His light I walked through darkness… the friendship of God was over my tent… the Almighty was yet with me…

Then Job goes on in verses 12-17 to tell us why he was so blessed…

Because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case which I did not know. I broke the jaws of the wicked and snatched the prey from his teeth.

There we have it! Job’s wonderful relationship with God was because he was faithful to diligently minister to the poor, needy, widow, orphan, lame, and blind. He defended those who were being mistreated and punished the predators.

We get another glimpse of Job’s passion for the orphan in Job 31:16-22 where he says very passionately… “If I have kept the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my food alone, and the orphan has not shared it (yet from his youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father, and from infancy I guided her), If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering, if his stomach has not thanked me, and if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep, if I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had support in the community, let my shoulder fall from the socket, and my arm be broken off at the elbow.”

Job was very serious about caring for the poor and needy, the orphan and the widow. Yes, we can learn a lot from Job.

There were some people in attendance at our Orphan Sunday that deserve mention because God has continued to knit our hearts together to launch Orphan Hope International. Shoby and Dolly John were there. We had originally met at Tres Dias, then Orphan Sunday, and now Shoby is on the board of directors of Orphan Hope. Praise God. Luis and Marcela Escobar. I told you about meeting Luis at Tres Dias, then I had lunch with him, then I had lunch at his house and met his family, then they came to Orphan Sunday, and now Luis has been to Bogota with me 3 times and is a valued member and advisor to Orphan Hope International. David Richardson was there. He originally invited me to Colombia and is now the President of the board of directors for Orphan Hope and a dear friend. Allen and Cindy Pate were there. Allen opened my eyes to orphan ministry originally through his talk at Tres Dias that led to my “safe prayer.” He is now a valued member and advisor to Orphan Hope. Doug and Leann Platt were there. He has been a true friend and mentor for a long time. He is Allen Pate’s brother in law and has also adopted from Colombia. There were others there that blessed me richly. Last but not least, I should mention my beautiful wife and daughters who have worked tirelessly to assist me both here in the states and multiple trips to Colombia as well. The future is bright and exciting as we look to what God is doing and allowing us to tag along.

No doubt about it. Orphan Sunday, November 8, 2009 was a life altering day for me.

After Tres Dias, Lisa and I became Godparents to another girl that I have mentioned before. Her name is Ginary and she is a precious, precious girl. Ginary grew up with her large family in the city dump scavenging for scraps. When she was ten years old she got a job as a maid. When she didn’t please the lady of the house she was severely beaten and so she ran away when she was twelve and ended up in the orphanage where she lives now. Our family is so honored and blessed to be able to love and be loved by this sweet girl. We also started in earnest the process to adopt both Heidy and Ginary and make them our own. My daughters, especially Beverly, worked long and hard over the next three months on orphan ministry, adoption, and in the church. They did the lion’s share of the paperwork and maneuvering the menagerie that is international adoption. We exchanged many sweet letters and emails with our Goddaughters and continued to work on developing a long term orphan ministry to the over one million orphans of Colombia. I was blessed to speak several times and in several places about the need and to share my excitement about God’s calling upon us to do something about it. We also continued to experience many amazing divine appointments as God again and again revealed to us that we were being led to work in Colombia. For example, in twenty five years of ministry I had never just “ran into” someone from Colombia and yet in the last year I can hardly go a week without “running into someone.” It is very exciting when God puts it together. During this time we also experienced some resistance from those who don’t understand or are simply just intimidated by the idea that we are somehow responsible for the plight of children in another country. But God in His gracious lovingkindness continued always to confirm again and again that this is what He wanted the Bullen family to be about. To Him be the glory.

Rebekah and I arrived back in Houston that Sunday and our feet were hardly touching the ground. We had spent five amazing days in the presence of Jesus and loving on His lambs and we were full up to the brim. Three days later, as the Lord would have it, I was to speak at a three day men’s retreat called Tres Dias. Ironically, this is the same ministry where I first heard my friend Allen talk about orphan ministry and God got ahold of my heart. I was so excited that I was going into this set of weekends, (the men’s weekend followed by speaking at the women’s the very next weekend.) so full of the Holy Spirit. I felt as if I was floating on a cloud as I arrived at the camp that Thursday. I was oozing joy and excitement and everyone around me could feel it. I was to speak twice that weekend, once on The Means of Grace, and once on The Life in Grace. What better subjects to talk about after just spending a week under the waterfall of Grace in Colombia. I preached my heart out both times and showed a video of the pictures from our trip with a song playing in the background by Steven Curtis Chapman called “What Now” The first line of the song says, “I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl.” The presence of the Lord was powerfully present and I knew lives were being changed. After I showed the video it was time for lunch. As I walked into the lunchroom a man walked up to me with tears in his eyes and said, “My name is Luis Escobar. I am from Bogota, Colombia. I speak both languages fluently. I know the city, the government, the culture. I have experienced the grace of God today, I know God spoke to me today, and I am at your service.” I couldn’t believe it and yet I could. I hugged him and said, “I have been praying for you for six months.” So many miracles were happening all around me in regards to this orphan ministry that I quietly bowed my heart to my God and thanked Him for allowing me to be a part of His work. Luis has now been to Bogota on missions with me three times and he is a blessing to me, my family, and the ministry. There were many evidences of God’s hand over the next two weeks to make me stand in awe realizing that he was moving in a way larger than I had imagined.

Well, it is a little hard to write this because we are at the airport waiting for our midnight flight and the girls are back at the orphanage but truly we are not sad and the girls were not sad when we left them. We had such a marvelous time that all of our love cups were filled and running over and we know that it is just a matter of time before we are together again. Today we had a lazy breakfast and just enjoyed being together. At 11:00am we went to Madrid to the boys orphanage, Amparo De Ninos. David and Allen had brought several soccer and footballs and we wanted to deliver them to the boys and say hi. It was exciting to see some of our friends from June. Two of Beverly’s favorites, Juan David and Anderes Phillipe were really glad to see us. Everyone asked us to send their love to our team from June. We spent a couple hours there playing frisbee and soccer and visiting. We gave out some Bibles to the new boys who didn’t get one when we were here in June and I was able to read to them out of the spanish Bible and give a short devotion and then it was time to go. We went to a hamburger place and had a late lunch and just talked and laughed and cut up something awful. It was toooo much fun. It was a big family full of love and joy and hope for good things to come. We left there and headed back to Amparo De Ninas to take the girls back to the orphanage. We had many, many laughs on the way. We got to hang out at the orphanage for an hour or so and visit with all of our little friends there. I had worried that the other girls would be jealous or sad that these four had been singled out but it was the reverse. The other girls wanted to know every detail and it was obvious that they were enjoying vicariously what their “sisters” had lived all week. I could see and feel there hope. I had about 25 girls around me for at least an hour talking and joking and telling me stories and asking a million questions. It was wonderful. When it was time to go we gave our Goddaughters our last 20 or so hugs and kisses 🙂 said our last 20 or so “I Love You’s” and “Hasta Luego” (see you later). Rebekah broke down pretty bad as we drove away. She, of course, wanted to bring the whole orphanage home with us. Well if I don’t get on the plane right now I will have to stay in Colombia… Wait, why would that be a bad thing??? 🙂 Oh yeah, they probably wouldn’t let me live at the girls orphanage anyway so I better go!

Love and Prayers,

This morning after breakfast, we gave each of the girls their spanish Bibles that each of us had bought for them with their names embossed on the front. They were very touched. We had our morning devotion and I read aloud to them Ephesians 2 in spanish, with a little help from the girls on the hard words 🙂 and they read along in their new Bibles. I also told them how the love of God in Jesus had come into our hearts because of what God did in Ephesians 2 and that love has overflowed out of our hearts onto them and that God loves them more than we possibly could. At the end Lida offered to lead us in prayer and she prayed a very sweet prayer thanking God for us and for the blessing that we are to their soul and how we have made God’s love more real to them. Today was a much more relaxed and slow paced day and we really enjoyed it. This morning we took the girls to Exito, which is the Colombian version of Walmart. Each girl was able to pick out a pair of shoes, pants, a shirt, and a jacket. Rebekah, Sandra, Antonio, Adela (our driver), Allen, David, and I helped them pick out and try on several things until each girl was outfitted just right. It was so fun to watch their excitement. We left there and went to a mall with a huge bowling alley and enjoyed bowling with the girls. There were more laughs and cheers and shouts of joy than can be put into words. It was a wonderful thing. We left there and went up the mountain for dinner at a very nice restaurant that overlooks Bogota. The girls really revived after a good meal and the ride home was filled with singing and lots of teasing and joking. We sat around the hotel tonight and downloaded and looked at pictures and relived the day and laughed some more. The girls have thanked us so many times and told us so many times how much they love us that they have learned it in English and now tell us in English every time. We can’t give them everything we want to give them right now (a home and a family) but they know for sure that we love them and I believe that we have given them hope that there is more to the world and to life than what they have known thus far and hope is a powerful thing. We will continue to work on the home and family 🙂

Love and Prayers,

I am very sick this morning. My old friend Lupus is waging war on me but God is sustaining me. I can rest next week but right now I am with my little girl and that is the whole world. This morning we had a wonderful time of relaxation and conversation at breakfast. It is amazing how good our communication is in spite of the language barrier. The old adage “Love is a universal language” has sure been proven this week. Every day our group gets more comfortable and as Allen said tonight, “more like a family.” We sat around and enjoyed visiting until about 11:00am and then we took an hour ride out to an animal park. We saw trick riding, a pig race, and a wonderful dog show. We also got to pet several different kinds of animals. We laughed and joked and wore out several sets of batteries shooting hundreds of pictures. Some of the girls had never been up close to animals before. It was very cute to see them pet them. David is so funny. He had Rebekah laughing all day. His Goddaughter, Lida, who is the oldest of the Goddaughters at 18, has been such an example to the rest of the girls this week. It is beautiful to see the way she adores David and looks after his and the girls every need. Genari, Allen’s Goddaughter has been a dynamo of joy and laughter the whole time. It has been enthralling to watch her thoroughly enjoy everything with a infectious smile, ready laugh, and servants heart. After the animal park, we went to the mall and had dinner. Some very sweet things happened there. First, while everyone was ordering their food Heidy asked me to do her a favor. I said “sure.” She asked me to buy her a small loaf of hot bread at a little bakery next to where we were ordering our food. I thought, “this is great, she is comfortable asking her Godfather for things she likes and wants.” I bought the bread and she promptly took it and handed it to a little old man in a tattered hat and tattered coat who was shuffling near us. Then she walked back to me with a huge smile and said, “Gracias”. She had seen him coming and her heart went out to him. It was pretty special to say the least. The second thing was when Marley, Allen’s other Goddaughter, who didn’t get to be with us yesterday because of some paperwork complications (so today was her first full day with us) was trying to say something to Allen and he asked me to translate. I said, “she is saying that you have her heart in your hand.” Allen began to tear up and Marley asked me with a concerned look on her face, “why is Allen crying?” I said, “because his heart is so full of love for you.” Then Marley started crying. So Allen and Marley were crying and laughing at each other for crying :-). It was awesome. Because Marley wasn’t with us yesterday when we bought the girls toiletries, we went to the store and bought all the things that Marley needed. We had fun shopping too (I guess that is another universal language 🙂 ) All the girls have been as good as gold and it has been an absolute joy to be with them. They keep saying that they are afraid that it is a dream and they are going to wake up and find that it never really happened. Another sweet thing was when we pulled up to the hotel the girls all clapped and told us thank you for a wonderful day. We told them, “just wait ’till tomorrow, it only gets better!” 🙂

Love and prayers,

This morning we had a fun breakfast with the girls and then we had an 8:30am appointment with the regional director for ICBF to talk about doing a summer camp where 20 or so adoptable orphans from Colombia could come to Houston area for a week and stay in the homes of host families who are interested in adoption or just ministering to the children for that week. We had a very wonderful meeting and they also told us how excited they were about our passion for the orphans and wanted to help. The regional director told us that his boss the national director was the one we needed to talk to but she was in Peru. However, he got on the phone and set up a meeting right away for us with the national directors assistant. We went over to that meeting and it was very positive as well. We now know what it would take to make this happen and have a list of action items to work on. The girls were so patient and well behaved as they waited for us at each of these meetings. We went to lunch and it was really fun to just eat and talk and take pictures and have fun. After we went to the public library and Heidy read Rebekah a book about a prince and a princess. There were beautiful flowers and fountains at the library and we took some really nice pictures there. We then went to a different mall and just walked and spent time together. Then we went and bought the girls some goodies to eat at the hotel and bought each of them the toiletries that they needed. You can’t imagine how grateful they were to get some everyday haircare, lotion, chapstick, Q-tips, etc. They each hugged and kissed us and thanked us many times and said that now they are rich. We are now at the hotel, just hanging out, eating our goodies, and watching spanish TV :-). What a day! I got Heidy to loosen up and allow some more pictures today!

After writing the former, we decided to have dinner. The girls had asked us to buy hot dogs and all the fixin’s to have at the hotel. So we asked the nice lady at the hotel if she could heat them up for us. She got us plates and cups and napkins and heated our hot dogs for us and we had chips and soda and lots of other bad stuff 🙂 Genari and Lida served us all like we were at a restaurant. After dinner we were looking at pictures on the computer and Heidy and I were writing each other love notes via my translator on my computer when suddenly Lisa, Beverly, Brooke, and Mercy signaled that they were on video chat and wanted to talk to us. We answered and to the utter amazement and joy of the girls we were suddenly talking to and looking at the family on the computer screen. Absolute chaos ensued as everyone tried to talk at once in spanish and english. Rebekah and I had our hands full trying to rapid translate both ways at once. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. Heidy got to meet her Godmother and tell her that she loved her and when Lisa answered back in spanish to tell Heidy that she loved her, Heidy screamed and jumped up and down. Lida told Beverly in clear english that she remembered her, that she was her friend, that Beverly was beautiful, and that she loved her very much. Rebekah had been teaching her english all day while we were in the meetings with ICBF and it paid off! They all told Mercy how beautiful she was and that they wanted to talk to her more. They love Brooke because she has dark hair, eyes, and skin like them! They showed off all of their gifts and Genari did a puppet show with Lida’s pink duck trying to eat my nose and ears. Mercy responded with her pink duck and they kissed and danced with each other through the computer screen 🙂 Finally, it was time to call it a night but suddenly Lisa said, “no goodnight until Heidy sings to me.” So Heidy starts singing some beautiful Latin love song while Lida and Genari wave their arms behind her like palms for effect. Then suddenly all the girls were singing song after song and then not to be outdone the Bullen family was singing worship songs with Beka and I helping out on harmony from our side. Needless to say my face hurts from smiling and my stomach hurts from laughing and with Heidy crying tears of joy on my collar a couple of times today, I would say that we have experienced nearly the full gamut of human emotions 🙂 Marley, the other Goddaughter who wasn’t able to stay with us at the hotel last night showed up shortly after and we had a great reunion with her. She is now here for the rest of the time. It would take many more words to go into detail of how God has protected, guided, ordered, and favored us on this trip so far. Only eternity will tell and I believe there is much more to come of our connection with Colombia.

Love and Prayers,

The Lord opened a door for us to go to Colombia this week to spend some time with our Goddaughter and work on some ministry issues with the Colombian government. My 20 year old daughter Rebekah, our compadres in the orpahn ministry, Allen Pate and David Richardson, and I arrived safely last night. This morning the wonderful couple, Sandra & Antonio, the dentist and Engineer who have become our liaisons here in Bogota had set up a meeting for us with the defender of the girls at ICBF, which is the equal to our CPS. We also picked up two workers from the orphanage that know all parties and wanted to be part of the meeting. We were praying very hard for this meeting as we had no idea what to expect. The defender started out by asking some tough questions about our intentions for the girls and as we and our Colombian friends began to explain who we were and what we do in ministry and about our families and our children, the defender began to get very excited and said that she was very happy to meet us and very touched by what we were trying to do. God’s presence in the room was unmistakable. We were The defender asked when she was going to be invited to Texas to come and see what we are doing in ministry. I told her NEXT WEEK 🙂 if she wanted. We all hugged. When we left the meeting the words “miracle” were on several lips including those of our friends Sandra and Antonio. And this was all before lunch! Next we went to a new, tiny, orphanage with 51 boys. They all live in a single house with 6 bedrooms and lots of bunk beds. The dining room was smaller than the breakfast nook in my house. The place was immaculately clean and very organized. The boys do all of the work. They pay $900.00 US a month for rent. The government only pays for food. This is one of the places that we will try to help on future trips. At last we finally made it to Amparo De Ninas, the orphanage, where our Goddaughters live. We pulled into the gate and were hardly out of the van when I heard an ear piercing scream and little Heidy leaped over a hedge and jumped into my arms. It was a moment I will remember to the day I die. The response from the other Goddaughters, Lida, Genari, and Marley were the same. We spent about an hour standing next to the van just hugging all of the orphan girls that we know there and taking pictures with them. When it was finally explained to Heidy and the other Goddaughters that they needed to go pack because they were going to get to stay with us for the rest of the week, they could not believe it. We left and went straight to the mall. Our first stop was a large video arcade and we played air hockey, race cars, motorcycles, etc. etc. It was so fun. I don’t know who were the bigger kids, David, Allen, and Myself or the girls! We left there and went ice skating. Actually all the girls skated while the old guys sat and took pictures and video. It was amazing. Heidy and Rebekah tried to learn and teach each other how to ice skate and it turned into some spectacular crashes. Only bruises, thank goodness :-). Then we had pizza and soda and headed for the hotel. There were many hugs and thank you’s and many smiles from our girls. David, Allen, and I agreed that the hand of God had dramatically guided our day and we couldn’t think of anything better in the world we would rather be doing than this.

Love and Prayers,

What I didn’t say in my last post from Colombia in June of 2009 was the last thing that Heidy whispered in my ear before I was dragged into the van to leave. We were both teary eyed and when I hugged her the last time she whispered, “En mi mente usted siempre será mi papá.” (In my mind, you will always be my daddy.) I climbed into the van and sat next to my dear brother David Richardson and as he cradled me in his big arms I wept like a little child. I don’t ever remember crying so uncontrollably before in my life. And I kept saying to David, “I’m going to help that little girl if I have to swim the Gulf of Mexico to do it.” I’ve never felt so passionately about anything in my life. It was a terrible earnestness that gripped me as we drove to the hotel that night. I was as if I was leaving one of my blood daughters in a foreign country all alone. I have since come to realize that God is not bashful about setting the hook very deep when He wants you to do something for him. He knows how to get you where you live. It reminds me of the places in the Old Testament like 2 Kings, Isaiah, and Ezekiel where the Lord says he will put hooks in their nose or in their jaws and make them turn and do what He wants them to do. Well I felt like God had put hooks in my heart and the barbs were very deep indeed. I knew that I would be back to love on and minister to the orphans of Bogota, Colombia if it was the last thing I ever did. Of course, I couldn’t have known at the time that I would be back five more times in the next twelve months… but I am getting ahead of myself 🙂

When Beverly and I returned home, all we could think about and talk about was orphans. I was nearly worthless for the next three months. My family eventually told me that if I didn’t quit looking at orphan pictures and crying that they were going to do an intervention on me… ha ha. I talked to everyone and anyone who would listen. I couldn’t think of anything but Heidy, Heidy, Heidy. Very soon after we returned I received an email from Sandra through David giving me the information to become Heidy’s Padrino (legal Godfather). This would give me a chance to help her financially, communicate with her through email and an occasional phone call, and be able to visit her when I could in Bogota. I immediately completed the paperwork and shortly thereafter Lisa and I became her Godparents. Shortly after becoming her Padrino and less than a month after returning from Bogota, I received this email from Heidy. “I want you to know that for me this 25 days since you left have been very hard not to have you close to me and I love you very much. A thousand thanks for thinking about me and God bless you. I am never going to forget you. Remember the last thing I told you when you were here.” We had many such exchanges that were very sweet. God was setting His hook deeper and deeper into my heart.

Soon, my partners in crime Allen Pate who also had Goddaughters there now and David Richardson who had his Goddaughter Lida there began to conspire with me to go back and see the girls and minister to the orphans. We eventually set the date for the trip as September 23-27, 2009 and then began to pray for the finances to go. Beverly crafted an email about the orphans and sent it out to twelve hundred people asking them to pray and to support our efforts in Bogota. Over ten thousand dollars came in from that one email that we used over the next several months to provide for the orphans. Things were moving rapidly. September 23rd came and Allen, David, my daughter Rebekah, and I flew to Bogota.

The next several posts will be my daily journal entries from that second trip.

Our final day here in Bogota was very sweet and very sad as was expected. We went back to “Amparo De Ninas” today. The girls were all gathered and Beverly, David, Sarah, and I sang “Here I Am To Worship” for them and then I gave our last devotional from Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I shared with them how the God of hope loves them and has a plan for them. And when they believe the Holy Spirit comes and fills them with hope, joy, and peace. They can search for those things in the world, in things, in human relationships, but they are only to be found in God through His Son Jesus Christ. Several girls prayed with me after acknowledging their need for and total dependance on Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation. After the devotion, the team gave each girl and New Testament in Spanish and an brand new pair of shoes and a stuffed bunny. I should mention here that our team, Here I Am Orphan Ministry, (www.orphanministries.com) bought 361 pairs of shoes this week for girls and boys in every orphanage we visited plus 4 other orphanages that we were not able to visit this time. Then it was lunch time and we enjoyed eating and visiting together. Two girls wrote me sweet notes thanking me for opening my heart to them and for the love that they felt. I have so many little sisters now. Instead of trying to celebrate each girls birthday when it comes around they have two big parties a year, one in June for the January through June birthdays and one at the end of the year for the rest. Today was the big birthday party for the first 1/2 of the year so after lunch our buddies from “Amparo De Ninos” that we visited earlier in the week showed up and the party began. There were cakes and we brought ice cream and toppings and there was a DJ and lots of dancing :-). The kids look forward to this for 6 months and they were extra delighted that we were going to be there to share it with them. It was a happy time. As the day began to come to a close the girls started bringing me their email addresses on scraps of paper and eliciting promises of staying in touch and promises to return and see them when we can. When it actually came time to leave, we gathered in a big circle and held hands and I prayed. I asked God to watch over our friends, to draw them close to Himself, to let them know that we love them and it is because He first loved us, and to hold our hearts in His hand until we see each other again. After the prayer, some of the girls got up and thanked us. Heidy, the little girl that captured Beverly and my heart and with whom we had much fun today, got up and said, “Thank you for coming to show us love. Believe me, your riches in heaven will be great. You have given 365 days worth of love in 3 days. God bless you.” Then it was time to go and girls rushed to kiss us on the cheek and give us hugs. Many were crying as were we. They thanked us over and over again. Finally, before some of the team dragged me into the van and closed the door, I gave Heidy the last of many tearful hugs and we said our sweet goodbyes. I don’t have the words to say what we all felt as we drove away but there was much sobbing and many determined oaths to redouble our efforts to “Vindicate the weak and fatherless and do justice to the afflicted and destitute.” Psalm 82:3

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt

Today was a happy day! We rested some and saw some sites this morning and then went back to “Amparo De Ninas” this afternoon. It was such a happy day because we had made friends with these girls yesterday and they know that we aren’t leaving until Saturday so they don’t have to be sad yet and so we were able to just be comfortable with each other and really loosen up and have some fun. When I walked into the courtyard I saw that the girls had taken colored chalk and in huge fancy letters written on the asphalt “Mateo, Te Queremos Mucho” (Matthew, We Love You Very Much). The little girl (Heidy) that I told about who was such a singer and musician had drawn a large picture of a girl with a smaller girl with her head on her shoulder and under the larger girl was the name Beverly and under the smaller girl was her name with hearts all around the picture. It was beautiful. We played basketball, volleyball, and sat around and talked a lot. For dinner we had our big hot dog cook out and then made popcorn and roasted marshmallows over the charcoal. Someone brought out a stereo and then it got crazy. In case you ever wondered if Latin girls can dance, I am here to tell you positively that they can and that they are determined when trying to teach us “Americanos” how to as well. I’ve never had more fun in my life. We laughed and we made them laugh. We danced and took crazy pictures of each other until our camera batteries were gone. We talked and played until the sun was way down and it was time to go. Some of the girls made woven bracelets and Beverly knew how to start them so there was literally a line of girls waiting for Beverly to help them get theirs started. Heidy brought her bracelet when completed and put it on my arm. I tried to give it back and tell her it was for her but she would have none of it. All day yesterday and today I kept trying to get her picture but she wouldn’t let me or anyone else. Apparently she is infamous for hating to have her picture taken. Once when I surprised her with a shot she begged me to delete it and so I did. She did allow a picture of her and Beverly with her drawing though and right before we left she came up and said “Uno photo de tu y yo” (One photo of you and me) so I was able to get her picture after all. My friend Allen took the shot and I can’t wait to get it from him. I knew that it was a huge gesture of friendship for her to permit it and I will cherish that picture. It reminded me of summer camp when I was a boy and making new friends and having fun and giving yourself to the moment knowing that the week will end but for the moment this is all there is in the universe. I know God put Beverly and I on this wonderful team of people and appointed us for this trip and I can gratefully say that I have soaked up every minute. I came here to show the love of Jesus to these children but what I didn’t expect was to see His love for me through them.

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt

Little did I know that this day, June 23, 2009 would change my life forever. This is the day that I met my Colombian Goddaughters, Heidy and Ginary, and fell head over heels in love.

Today was another example of God’s hand mightily at work among us. We arrived at “Amparo De Ninas” at about 10:00am. There are 76 girls in this orphanage. They were all ready to go to the big city park “just down the road” so we set out walking to the park. An hour and 5 or 6 miles later we arrived at the park. It was a lovely walk in the 70 degree weather with each of us surrounded by girls holding our hands or walking arm in arm and asking question after question. It was wonderful. The park is a gigantic, beautiful, lush, park with two lakes. If walking “to” the park wasn’t enough we also had to walk all around the park and see all of the sites 🙂 which gave us lots of opportunity to talk about the Lord, America, food, music, and so on. The nuns cooked up in huge kettles over an open fire right in the park a wonderful “soup” full of beef ribs, chicken leg quarters, bananas, plantain, potatoes, rice and so on. It was delicious and hearty. We played volleyball, soccer, earth ball, ladder ball and shot marshmallow guns at each other. At about 3:00pm the rain came and we had to head back to the orphanage. By the time we got back the rain had stopped so we dragged chairs out into the courtyard and sat around and visited until time to go. My heart was pierced again and again as were the rest of the team as we got to know these beautiful girls and see their personalities and know that if they don’t get adopted the statistics tell us that most of them will be dead within two years of leaving the orphanage. One little girl in particular, named Heidy, followed Beverly around all day and tried really hard to communicate with her. At one point she began to play piano scales with her fingers on Beverly’s arm and suddenly they realized that they knew a universal language, music. This little girl plays the piano, flute, and drums. I had seen her with Beverly all day but I was monopolized by several other sweet girls and didn’t get to meet her until we were almost ready to leave. Someone said that she could sing and so we coerced her into singing for us. When she started to sing I thought that heaven had opened up and an angel was singing to us. We were stunned. As I write this there are chills going down my spine and tears filling my eyes. I know that God has a plan for this girl and I am so grateful that on this day I was able to love on her and make her laugh several times and let her know that she has friends from Texas. Tomorrow we go back to have a big hot dog cookout with these girls and then Friday we will be with them all day as well. I can’t wait to get back there and see all of my little friends. I don’t know what the future holds but I know, God willing, that we are going to have a wonderful time in the Lord while we can.

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt