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