*This morning we are leaving for our community stays- we will be staying in pairs in a child-headed household from now (Tuesday) until Sunday. If you could just keep us in your prayers for the week : )

March 11, 2010

Yesterday was the first day of the feeding program at Mboisweni! We fed about 80 children and it was a really awesome and fun day J We waited for about an hour and a half for any kids to even show up-with our entire base at the Church. But when they started to come we swarmed them and showed them some fun! We had face paint, water balloons, and a sweet mural that we had the kids put their hand prints on. There might have been just as many of us with paint on our faces as kids and there might have been more water thrown between us than the kids but hey we had fun J Today we went to Dwaleni like usual. And…we had enough food for most of the kids to have seconds!! The past couple of weeks we have run out of food and it is heartbreaking to watch those children walk away hungry. So we were praying hard that there would be enough food this week and there was! Yay J

March 14, 2010

This week….I don’t really even know how to explain it. It was emotional, challenging, and basically rocked everything my life has been built on. It was identity week. After the masks, we also made outlines of our bodies and wrote on the outside all the lies and names that have been said to us that dictate who we have become. Then on the inside we wrote things that our family here told us- things that they see in us that we might not see. We hung our bodies up on the wall in our classroom- seen by our entire family here. In the middle of our bodies we drew a heart. And all week our heart was left empty. Thursday morning- supposed to be our last morning- we talked about how God loves and delights to give new names to his children. So we were told to go outside and ask God what name He wanted to give us. We were to ask Him what He looks at us and sees.

Then…the hot seat came. After hearing our new names we all came inside to our chairs in a circle with a pile of pillows in the middle. We were told that one by one we were to kneel in the circle, “reach out our hands,” and share our new name. There is a story of a man in need of healing who comes to Jesus and asks to be healed. But while he asks, he extends his hand to show his need and vulnerability. So we had to go one-by-one and reach out our hands. We were exposed and stripped from all the masks that we hide behind. And we sat vulnerable in the middle of the circle as we poured out our hearts and then listened to God through our family in the room. Soon our supposed to be one morning of the hot seat become three long mornings of tears and joy.

And it was really scary.

But it was really good.

We were made for glory and honor but it was stolen in that garden a long time ago. And ever since we have been looking for glory in other places. But there is freedom. And we have experienced that freedom this week.

We learned we can take off the masks and allow God to give us the true glory and acceptance that we deserve.