Ten Talents International Blog

Child sponsorship is a wonderful thing: with each sponsor’s help we are changing the lives of children, and ultimately the future of Rwanda, one child at a time. Each of these children spending their lives on the streets has a name, a story, they are someone’s child, and not only that but they are loved and cared about by God- their heavenly father. I would like to share with you something that Daniel, our young man in the mission field there this month, wrote about in an email:

“Today I went to the feeding program [for street children] again, which was just as overwhelming as last week’s but maybe even more so today and I’ll explain why. I’ll start by saying that I wasn’t planning to speak in front of everybody but thankfully I was forewarned that I was going to speak about 10 minutes before I got up so I quickly decided I would just speak about what God has been teaching me. I told them that I had been having a hard time accepting God’s love but that he has been constantly reassuring me that he loves me dearly and that he is constantly by my side to help me through all the hard times in my life. I told them that God also loved each one of them so much and that he desires to have a loving relationship with them and that God is always by their side in all their hardships and any troubles they may experience. I then opened the discussion up to questions about me or anything they might ask. The first young man explained that he is a street sweeper and basically is working and not getting anything from what he does and asked for any advice. I was instantly at a loss for words but that’s when God filled in. I told him that what I would do is do my work with all my heart as working for the Lord and not men and that God may bless that by allowing men to see how you work so hard and maybe you will get a better job. By working as working for the Lord you can bring glory to God and if nothing else your heart will be full knowing you are doing the work of the Lord and glorifying him. Soon after that question though another young man said nearly the same thing only that he was wondering if I could help him and then instantly 3 other young men also stood up and said the same thing. My heart was so sad. I then told all of them. As much as I would love to support each one of you 200 or more kids, I alone do not have the ability to do that. So instead I can pray for you, so I prayed for everybody there asking that God would encourage them to do their work for the Lord so that people would recognize that these people do good work and maybe God would bless them with a good job…

Before I didn’t really know what sponsoring a kid would do but now I really see what a difference it makes in the life of a kid. It has the potential to bring an orphan off the streets and into a home where a meal is served daily and then they can go to school and learn so they may have a better chance getting a job, however if they aren’t sponsored they stay on the streets without much hope of going to school and getting a good job.”

Please pray with us for more child sponsors for the children who are waiting. We also would appreciate your prayers for our upcoming banquet on October 24th as we work on putting that all together. Our next newsletter will be out in a few weeks- if you are not currently receiving it please sign up for our mailing list!

We thank God for all that he has enabled us to do thus far- this is His work and His calling. I really believe that the reason God called us to do this work is because there are specific children that he has called out- kids who otherwise would not have had a chance, but God is using us as his instruments of redemption for his children. And there are so many more he wants to bring out of despair! Join with us.

God Bless You,
Lisa

The great news is that only about 10 days into his month long visit to Rwanda & Daniel is just about finished with the cover for the water storage. Praise God! You never know how work is going to progress in Rwanda- when you need materials you can’t just run down to Home Depot & get what you want. It’s a whole lot more complicated than you might ever believe! Here is a picture of the nearly completed work:

I would like to share with you from an email update Daniel sent out, so you can know what the trip has been like for him:
“Today I went to the feeding program and saw so many kids. The moment I stepped out of the car I was engulfed by kids. Many of these kids were orphans and many of these kids had a family, however their family couldn’t support them so they spend all day on the streets hopping to find food and then go home to sleep. Anyways, all of them wanted to touch me at the same time. At least 4 would be hanging onto each arm and then many would be touching my legs and ankles while I found myself holding sometimes 3 hands in each hand. Don’t ask me how that worked but it did. Many of the kids were completely naked but thankfully the majority had clothing on. All of them loved having their picture taken. We all eventually went into a building and when all those bodies were in a concentrated area it not only got warmer but the smell was almost unbelievably wretched but by the grace of God he allowed me to be desensitized my nose over time. They had a time of worship and then an adult started preaching to them. When he was done he brought me up and I gave my testimony and told them a little about me and where I was from and just general information about me and then shared with them a little of what God had been sharing to me recently in my devotional time. I learned that the person I was sitting by had lost all his family to the genocide. He was probably around 3 years old when the genocide occured. Can you imagine losing everybody and living by yourself at 3 or 4 years old? The even more amazing part is that he was the most enthusiastic kid there and praised God for all the many blessing in his life. Some things God is teaching me include showing me that the only way I’m going to be able to continue staying here in Rwanda and not become completely home sick is by finding all my comfort in God. He is showing me that all I need is Him. Recently I’ve been reading Ecclesiastes and he is teaching me how all the things of this world are pointless, meaningless, and worthless and the only way I’m going to be happy is if I devote my all to the service of God.”

God is good. Because of getting completed with the water cover project Daniel will be able to help with some other projects there. We pray for Daniel, for his health and for God to bless him and all he puts his hands to do there in Rwanda.

God Bless You,
Lisa