In the last week we have 3 boys who have come into the Home Of Innocence. The first is an orphan who was staying with an older brother and was brought to us by a local pastor. His name is Emmanuel and he is 12 years old.
The next boy is well known to us through the feeding program, his name is Theonest. Last week he had been grabbed by the police & taken to a holding place the government has for street children (the kids here call it prison). Theonest managed to get out, but when he returned he found out his family had moved while he was away. He came to the place where we have the feeding program- same place where Mike happened to be using our tractor to move some dirt. Mike & Simon Peter started talking to Theonest & ended up finding out his story & bringing him to the home that night. The only thing Theonest had was the Ten Talents shirt he was wearing and the pants he had on. The next day was Sunday, and thankfully there were some brand new boy clothes in our shipping container. We were able to give Theonest a pair of clean, new clothes to wear to church the next day, and that made him happy. A few days later a family friend, who has been a part of the feeding program in the past, brought Theonest’s mom to our office to find him. She said that the step-father does not treat him well & that it would probably be a relief for Theonest to stay in the home for a while. The most amazing part of this story is that when we registered this little guy (he is not even as big as our 5 year old son Nate) we would have guessed him to be about 8 years old- at the most. His mom told us he is 12 years old! She even produced a hospital document to support this. How this could be, we do not know, perhaps because of extreme malnutrition. Theonest is a funny guy and we look foward to working with him and his family.
The third boy is named Adrian. He came to us through another local missionary. Adrian has HIV and his mother abandoned him- refusing to care for him. The missionary has been nursing Adrian back to health and he has gone from being unable to even hold himself upright to being able to run around & play now. Adrian we guess to be about 6 years old. Now that Adrian is in our home he can walk to a primary school that is only about a block away, and there will be those to watch him & make sure he is taking the medication he needs and stays healthy.
So, thank you to all who attended & supported our “house warming” at Heritage church – because now we need more beds & mattresses! For now, some of the boys are sharing beds, and hopfully in a couple of days we will have beds for everyone. We now have 8 children in the home: Yvie (older boy in our techinical training program who is staying there to help out), Theogene & Karace (also older but in primary school because of being on the streets for many years), Celestin, Yvie (2), Emmanuel, Theonest, and Adrian.
Please be praying for God’s blessing on all these boys & young men. Pray for unity in the home- with so many brothers it could be easy for there to be divisions. Pray also for the boys to love & respect their new “auntie” that moved in this week (the house “uncle” we had has left). We believe for God’s best for each of these children- he loves them with an unmeasurable love & we believe God has called them out for a purpose & a reason. We pray for God’s good will to be accomplished in each of their lives.
Please also pray with us for sponsors for each of the children who are in our program. God is going to do great things!
Thank you for your prayers & for joining with us in this ministry!
God Bless You,
Lisa
