Old Friends and New Friends

Old Friends and New friends... 9/26 -9/29

We have spent 3 days at the Tuition center aka the pink house. It is so cool to see many of the same children, only now they are 2 years older. Our group is much smaller this year than in '09 due to the monsoons. Many of the families are away from the city due to the recent flooding, they went to the country side or other parts of the city.  Some of the families that live in the RN slum area have homes in the surrounding villages where they farm. That they choose to come to the city and live in this slum area is incomprehensible to us but speaks volumes about their desire to earn money.  There are however families that Tia is the only life they have known for generations. 

The children that are in the program at the Tuition center go to "public" school then come to the tuition center after school. The TC is not free, the parents have to pay a small fee for the children to attend. At the center they receive tutoring in all school subjects as well as english, vocational training when appropriate. They also receive mentoring from adults that are God centered. Those who operate the tuition center fee it is important for the parents to pay a small fee, then they have a vested interest in making sure the children come and it also gives the workers valuable contact and influence in the parents life. The other reason for the fee is it does not create dependency on hand outs.  If there are troubles often the parents contact the workers for help. 

The children are precious and work their way into you heart very quickly. 

We have also spent 2 days with the MS rail boys. The first day we went it rained again.  Thankfully where they hold the care center is an old church. The workers here have an agreement with the church board to use the facilities. Many of the same boys are here that we worked with in '09, Bowen, Rahul, Sunny...  It was also heart breaking to hear the sad news of who has died since our last visit, one right before our arrival due to drug overdose. Robert and I also noticed hardened face of a few boys and were told they were now involved in crime ect.. Thankfully the workers do not give up on them!  They continue to work with them and speak truth into their lives. 

One amazing story is Sunny's!  Last time we were here he was heavy into huffing the whiteout solution that is the drug of choice among the Railkids. He was arrested several months ago and had a Damascus road experience while in jail. He has made a profession of faith and the workers here are challenging him and mentoring him in his new faith. 

Bright spot in a dark city!  

Please continue to pray for us. 

Until later.... 

Monsoons and Sunshine

Our Father is so cool. He loves to teach us that our best laid plans are always subject to His will. And his plans are so much better than ours.

We arrived in Sunrise City to find the monsoon season still lingering. There has been alot of flooding. The trip from the airport was as always an adventure and gave the team a taste of the amazing driving skills of our hosts!

This area has been in a sever drought for about 4 years. The rain is welcome but does create some serous challenges for those here. The luxuries we often take for granted such as power, Internet and dry homes are not a reality here for many. Yesterday we were to spend time with our friends in our Fathers house. But the roads were thigh deep in water. So we as a team spoke with our Father in one of our rooms. It was a special time together. PG called analewife if we would like to help R distribute food to the family's in the RN slum area. It was very eye opening for the team to see how these people are effected by the weather. Their homes are almost waist deep in water yet they hold their claim to the spot along the road they call home. I think the processing of what they experienced yesterday will continue for sometime to come.

Today we woke to sunshine and much dryer streets. Hopefully we will be woken with the Rn children today as planned. We may have to do it in another location as the streets to the pink house were impassible last night. Perhaps today with the sun it will be better.

Thank you for remembering us tomour Father. Please speak to Hom about the people here and their need for him .

Until later...

We've Arrived!

The team has arrived safe and sound with ALL the luggage!
Thanks for everyone's prayers.

Opportunities

We have the opportunity to share the love of our Father every moment of every day. It doesn't matter where or what we are doing, it can take the form of a genuine smileand a friendly hello or a Father honoring response to a difficult situation/person. Our opprotunity may be in the form of non verbal communication or spoken boldly.
Keep in mind that we as brothers and sisters of Him are watched closely to see if the way we live our lives agrees with what we profess to believe.

He has given us the Counselor, His presence & power in us and through this power we can live a life that bears evidence & witness to our true love for Him

Journeying....

Leg 2 of 4 complete.

16 Days and Counting!

Praises and blessings... our passports came back today with the required visas! A full week sooner than we were expecting.  Our children's program is coming together nicely,  the children's director is generously helping us with props and supplies we will need for the 5 days of b'ble teaching that is planned.  We also have a 5 day English as a Foreign language program that we will be teaching.

Please continue to remember us to our Father as we finalize the details, especially that all we do would honor Him.  We know that He has gone before us and paved the way.

Until later....
Sharon