Nov 15th ~ Girls Gift boxes & Feeding program

Note: I'm so sorry I haven't updated.. we are going on 8 days of sick kids.  I'm praying we get it all cleared up by christmas!  I promise I'll get the rest of the journal entries in the next couple of days.  I'll write them today as I have time between helping sick little sweet pea in the bathroom.  

November 15th ~ 3:15pm

I skipped swimming today and regretted it.  I woke up and the power was out so the fans were out.  I woke up at 6:30 very sticky and gross feeling.  After devotions at about 8:45, we headed to Meize.  We spent a little time with the kids and we were able to distribute the gift boxes to the girls.  When everyone got theirs, they raised them above their heads and sang "Thank you Jesus"  It brought tears to my eyes.  I will never forget these moments.  

Afterwards we took a walk to see the foster homes and the goat farm.  I had kids hanging off me the whole time.  

Izak as always followed me around.  I learned that he is 12 years old.  Such a sweetie.  I would take him home if I could.  He fought to get two mangos from the bag and then gave me one.  I'll be so sad to leave him.  I didn't see Maria at all today but another little Maria attached herself to me for a little bit.

We left Meize and came back to the Pemba base.  We helped out with the children's feeding program where they feed the village kids rice & beans.  It literally broke my heart to see.  Older siblings with little ones on their back and little ones following them.  

One girl had four younger siblings and she had a Tupperware type dish.  She poured all their plates into it, gave them each a handful and then headed home with the rest.

Another family came through, the two older ones had babies on their backs and must have had 4-5 little ones following them.

Another little guy pulled a ziploc bag out of his pocket and filled it up. Then he ate what wouldn't fit.

It was all so overwhelming.  My emotions are all over the place right now.  I feel like I want to go home but I don't want to leave the kids here.  Especially Izak.

5:50 pm

We went down to the market to buy some food to make a good supper.  Unfortunately when we got here, we have no water and the stove doesn't work. Not sure what we will do now.  

"I pray that  your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given those he called - his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.  I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him."

 Ephesians 1:18-19 

9:30 pm

Well we also lost power for a while.  When it came back on and we got some propane, Don D made us a delicious meal of omelettes  salad and "sausages" that were more like a cross between hot dogs and Bologna   It was good except we didn't have any water to wash the lettuce so we had to use bottled water which we were trying to conserve.  So the salad had a bit of sand in it. No big deal.  The power went out again as we were cleaning up but the water came back so that was good.  The power didn't stay out for too long though.

I'm feeling weird emotionally today. All I want to do is sing but I feel really down.  I'm not sure if it is the impact of what I saw today. I know that by the time we left Meize, I was ready to not be touched for a while.  Those kids are all so desperate for attention.  They will just come up and wrap their arms around me or sit right in my lap or right next to me.  Sometimes the smell overwhelms me but I couldn't ever turn them away.

"Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ." Colossians 4:2