Ten Talents International Blog

Mike was driving out of the campus where they have the feeding program for street children. Just outside the property he saw a young boy, about 10 years old, sniffing glue. It is common for children who spend their time on the streets to get into the habit of sniffing glue. They start it because getting high makes them forget about their hunger pains. Mike could see that the boy was holding a bottle of glue under his shirt, and putting his face down inside his shirt to sniff the fumes. He stopped and called the boy over. He wasn’t sure if the boy knew him (he could from the feeding program, or maybe not) but he motioned to him to give up the bottle of glue. At first, Mike could tell, the boy was not sure what to do. Should he run? But after a moment’s hesitation he gave the glue up. Mike took him to the Home of Innocence. Once there he was able to talk to him as our house Uncle can translate for us. Mike offered to let the boy stay in the home, as long as he promised not to sniff glue while there. The boy said, “I can’t stay here forever, but I’ll stay here for a week, ” and he promised not to sniff glue. His name is Jeanmarie.

Jeanmarie did stay in the home for several days, but then Saturday morning he took off. Theogene, one of the older boys who stays in the Home of Innocence like a big brother, went out to track him down. Eventually he was able to find him, but he was sniffing glue again. Theogene brought Jeanmarie back to the home, and he stayed again Saturday night as well as going to church with all the house members on Sunday morning. We are praying for Jeanmarie, as well as all the boys in the home. We hope he stays, and that God will work in his family so eventually he can live at home.

I mentioned in a previous post that we were looking for a house to rent for the month of April. We are very thankful for God has provided a good house for us! It has enough room for us to have some of the children from the Faith Home come stay with us, as well as being not very far from our office, the property, and the church. Thank you God!

Thank you for your prayers for us and for the ministry here. God has great things in his heart for this country, and we are blessed to be a part of it.

God Bless You,
Lisa

You may not be able to tell, but this is me at the feeding program. One boy showed me an open wound he had, so I got out my little purse size first aid kit, and before I knew it I was surrounded by dozens of children with wounds. Some were old and scabbed over, some were new (these kids can get pretty banged up out there). Some of the scabs looked pretty gnarly, and I doubt that a little bit of ointment and a band-aid really did any good, but it is a way for me to show care and a loving touch to these kids.

Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. (Psalm 82:3) This verse reinforces for me what we are doing here. We have signed up so many children to get sponsorsed who are growing up without a father and in extreme poverty. God has a mandate for us to act on things like this. We now have profiles of children who are waiting to be sponsored on our website- look under “get involved”- but don’t say I didn’t warn you that these kids may capture your heart! Pray for many more sponsors- these kids deserve a chance!

We praying for many things, and we would appreciate you agreeing with us for these things. We are still working on getting the container released to us, and hope to see it actually released next week. We are also still working on getting registered here.

We have boys now living in the Home of Innocence & doing well- praise God! However, we do not have the home completely furnished. We bought one set of (3 high) bunk beds, a bed for Uncle, mattresses, blankets, and other household items. However, the only other furniture in the house is a dining table with chairs that is borrowed- it will not be able to stay forever. We do not have living room furniture, like a couch, chairs, side table. We also need more beds for bringing more children into the home. Please pray with us for God to provide so the home can be fully furnished.

We are also still praying for God to provide the full amount of funds needed for the development, phase 1, of the Acres of Hope.

Our family is doing well. Everyone has stayed healthy and we are thankful for that. We are staying at a guest house, but we are looking for a house to rent for the month of April that will give us more family time together.

Thank you for your prayers & for being a part of what God is doing in this part of the world. God is faithful & we look forward to sharing with you the wonderful answers to these prayers!

God Bless You,
Lisa

We had a great time with the street kids on Thursday. Chris painted a picture for them while they worshiped, a picture of people walking a path to Christ on the cross. The kids really appreciated it- seeing someone create a painting was something they most likely had never seen before. He gave them the painting as a gift, and the plan is that they will have it on the wall in their chapel. Chris also left them the paint & brushes, which they were very excited about, so some of them can explore their ability to create with that.

That afternoon we also spent with the kids in Kayonza (Faith Home). We were really blessed to have them sing for us. They worshiped and we just enjoyed it very much, as we got to watch them just focus on the goodness of God in their songs.

Our boys in the Home of Innocence are doing well. They call the house father “uncle” and he has been sharing the Bible with them and praying with them in the morning and before bed. They get to play soccer together, have regular meals, wash their clothes, all these things which we consider basics, which were once considered luxuries to them. We continue to have more moms & kids showing up at the office hoping to get their kids sponsored to go to school. We can not register any more at this point, until we get the ones we have registered all ready sponsored. Hopefully we will be able to help more children soon.

We had to say farewell to Chris & Jerid on Saturday (we miss you already!) We are still working on what’s needed to have our container released, as we have not been able to get the paperwork for registration yet. We pray & are believing for that to be released soon, as the amount of time has passed now that they are able to charge us for having the container sitting there. We pray God will work it out soon!

Thank you for your prayers!
God Bless You,
Lisa

the street children who show up for the feeding program in the morning get to have some porridge for breakfast before they wash their clothes & then have church service

Tomorrow we will visit the children at the feeding program. There are a lot of thoughts that go through my mind about the street children there. I know many of them pray and ask God to help them out of their situation. Sometimes I wonder, why does it have to be like this for them? How can this be? But I know that God has given it to us (all of us) to be His ambassadors, the ones to do His will. If we are His body, He is the head, and we are the hands and feet. We must be the ones to bring good news to the hopeless. Some verses I read in Psalms 10 today gave expression to my feelings: “Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless… But you O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it and take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless… You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.”

I pray that we can make a difference to these children. That we can show them that their hope is not in vain, and that they are not forgotten by their God or by His people. I pray we can see a generation changed- families changed, lives changed.

Thanks for partnering with us & joining me in this prayer.
God Bless You,
Lisa

P.S. Mike is still working on securing paperwork required for the release of the container. We are allowed two weeks of “free” storage before the facility it is at will begin to charge us for it being there. It has been a week and a half now, and we hope and expect to have it taken care of before the two weeks has lapsed. You can pray with us for this as well!