Posted by admin on September 2nd, 2010
It is hard to describe today’s experiences in words… my heart is heavy and overwhelmed and burdened… The team and I visited the Red Light Area (RLA) of Pune. It is not something you can completely prepare yourself for or communicate to someone who hasn’t seen it firsthand or really ever get over.
Emmaus Church is committed to ministering to the eunuch prostitutes of this area. In case you don’t know (and I had to look it up myself at first), a eunuch is a man who has been castrated either by choice or force, and now lives the lifestyle of a woman and looks like one. Eunuchs are considered the downcast of society, the lowest of the lowest. Some eunuchs will go into public places and businesses will just give them money to get rid of them. It is really difficult for them to be a part of society and so they congregate into a community. When I was in grad school, God began to place on my heart and mind a growing interest and burden for sex trafficking and prostitution and for those who are in bondage to this kind of lifestyle. In the little research I’ve done, it’s mainly focused on children and women, and never touched on eunuchs. It’s not something you talk or hear much about in the states.
This afternoon, 11 of us were sitting in a tiny room of the Creche, night care for children whose moms work in the RLA, with several eunuchs and Dr. Edwards (director of Santvana Home). First of all this picture is just soooooo bizarre to even fathom!!!! This room used to be a brothel. Dr. Edwards is passionate about reaching out to these eunuchs as much as she is passionate about her work with HIV. It is amazing to see how God is using her. She showed a film made in India about a boy who was sexually abused as a child and how he became a eunuch and then a believer later in life. It was hard to watch and take in the reality of the situation. All of the eunuchs related to his story in some way. The film began and ended with a passage from Isaiah 56:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant – to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him…these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them JOY in my house of prayer.”
What a beautiful message of hope that God calls all people to His name. Panna is one eunuch who we can say knows and follows the Lord. She has given up a lifestyle of prostitution and is dedicated to coming alongside Dr. Edwards in sharing the gospel that brings freedom and life. WOW!! That just completely blows my mind to think of the transforming power of the gospel of salvation and the love and grace Jesus offers to ALL! Today Dr. Edwards shared how she isn’t judging them on what they do but simply wants to share that Jesus loves them for who they are. What a powerful message in such a dark place. As we were walking around, we could all feel the extreme heaviness and darkness of this community. It was quite an experience, very heart-breaking, yet I cling to the hope that is found in Christ and know that our God is greater and bigger than all of this and pray that He’d invade and make His light shine in this place.
I’m still processing all that I saw and experienced today and praying over what the Lord desires to reveal to me and the team. What can we as Americans do? How can we love and show Jesus to them? These are things we’re processing through this week. And we anticipate more time with them next Monday & Wednesday. Please pray for us as we seek how to follow Christ’s example in loving those the Lord has put in our steps.
“Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Isaiah 1:17
Posted by ttaylorwines on August 30th, 2010
Greg Yoder from Mission Network News traveled to Russia with Orphan Outreach in August and captured the amazing trip on video and in his blog.
You can see video at: http://www.youtube.com/MissionNetwork… or http://www.MNNonline.org/video.
You can read his blog by going to http://gregorysyoder.wordpress.com.
Posted by mdouris on August 4th, 2010
We are on the road again as the classic John Denver song goes but not without wonderful memories of the kids at Cerecaif. The lord blessed in so many ways. The Tabernacle Presbyterian Church team accomplished every thing that was planned and more. The chicken coop was finished and the chickens were bought. A large garden was cleared, fenced, and planted. The team also created an herb garden which was not planned. Two swing sets were installed and the kids were incredibly excited to play on those. The library was organized and cleaned. In addition a lot of aide was bought – groceries, PVC pipe for the well, bibles, short range Walky-Talkies, tools, an additional wheel barrel, and more.
The Tabernacle team did so much more than projects – they invested in the lives of the children. The VBS was terrific every day and the relationships with the kids provided much love and friendships. It is hard to hit the road again but we leave much richer than when we first arrived. We leave with new friends, relationships and memories that will carry on for a lifetime and future ministry Cerecaif that will put us on the road again.
Posted by mdouris on August 1st, 2010
Some of our greatest family memories are times of celebration whether it was birthdays, Christmas or Thanksgiving. In the Hispanic culture a girl’s 15th birthday is a major event and for an orphan – one which they too often miss. For two special girls our team put on a whale of a party to make sure they would have a memory they would not forget. As they walked into the room that was decorated with lights, balloons and banners, the children and adults cheered singing happy birthday and counting to 15. Each girl blew out the candles to their own cake. No words can describe the moment or how excited the girls were.
The next day we had a wonderful worship service celebrating the Fathers love for Jesus and for each of us – then came the carnival with games, prizes, face painting and crafts. Many of the children had there first taste of popcorn because of the gift of a hot air popcorn machine by the church. Fun was had by all.
We have been working hard in the mornings building fences, clearing land, planting a garden, building a chicken coop, and putting in 2 swing sets. The whole team is getting in good shape.
Tonight in our sharing time everyone was sharing their special moments and every one’s story involved a connection with a child. No one said their moment was swinging a sledge hammer, digging a garden or building a chicken coop. It is all about celebrating the opportunity to be used by the Lord to show the children how much they are loved.
Please pray for those special moments to continue and that the Lord will be glorified in all we do. Tabernacle Presbyterian Church has a wonderful blog that give you a picture into how the Lord is working on this trip. Go to homeofrefuge.blogspot.com.
Posted by mdouris on July 30th, 2010
You can plan and take care of every detail of a trip and still have the unexpected happen. This happened to one of our trip participants from Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. She was about to go through security at the airport and realized that she had brought her expired passport and could not go on the plane with the team to Guatemala to serve at Cerecaif orphanage. All looked bleak until an AA employee arranged another flight for her that would get her to Guatemala in the evening. The rest of the team was to get in late morning but their flight got delayed due to mechanical problems. The result was that the team had to stay in Guatemala City and their lost participant was able to join them and travel to Xela with her team.
God had a plan and though we lost half a day the Lord gave us some great fellowship and team building time and the opportunity to organize to hit the ground running. And running we did starting with VBS and having time to get all our work projects ready. It was a sweet time with the kids. The team dove right in and the kids loved it. Tomorrow will be a special day as well as we will start all the projects, more VBS and we are going to assist and participate in 2 girls celebrating their 15th birthday – a big celebration in the Hispanic culture.
Please continue to pray for us as we have Lot to accomplish in the remaining 4 days.
Posted by anorton on July 24th, 2010
Posted by gcaceres on July 23rd, 2010
Our Mother & Daughter team served over 500 children in 3 days.
This amazing team of 11 participants brought out tons of smiles, giggles, and laughter every where we went. With dynamic and animated Bible stories the children learned more of God’s love for His creation. The children were deeply entertained doing different crafts, and sharing time with our wonderful team. Recreation time was a plus! We had bubbles, parachutes, beach balls, and tons of fun.
We had a great time taking 40 of Mama Carmen’s children to the Children’s museum with the Mother & Daughter team. Lunch at Pollo Campero was a treat! The children had the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen! Thank you W.O.W. ladies for providing the founds for this amazing experience. The children had a blast, and so did we!! At the end of the day we were sad to say good bye, but very blessed to see the beautiful smiles on the children’s faces.
Besides providing the founds for the Children’s museum visit, the W.O.W. ladies provided founds for health care. These founds will cover an eye surgery, special diet, and counseling sessions for Mario, the 9 year old boy with Steven-Jhonson syndrome. With tears in her eyes Mama Carmen thanked us for the many blessings her children received during our short visit. Prov. 17:17
I praise God for the amazing hearts of these special women/girls that came to serve the children of Guatemala. Your actions reflected the love of Jesus for the little ones.
Gloria
Posted by anorton on July 21st, 2010
Posted by anorton on July 21st, 2010
Our team is small but is set out to do big things! We have a group of young girls (ages 11 and 12) and their mothers and also two girls who are 17, one with her mother and the other a friend. I am so thankful for each of them and the opportunity we have had to get to know each other well because of being a small team.
Our first day began at the Municipal Day Care at the dump. The children here all have parents who work in the dump. There are over 300 children in the facility from babies to 8 year olds. Our time was spent playing with toddlers, handing out lots of stickers and singing songs with the hundreds of children there. We had a fun time with bubbles and jump ropes too. From the second floor you can look out the windows of the preschool and see the metal shacks that many of the families live in. The shacks are unsafe and built on the dump itself. As we drove to the daycare we saw the water truck which was surrounded by children and adults getting their water in buckets to take back to their homes. Trash is piled up everywhere you look and you see people going through it looking for items to sell. The daycare is like an oasis in the middle of all of the chaos and dirt. The children are clean and look happy. Here they try to take care of children who are malnourished, who are sick and who have had little or no education. It was almost impossible to imagine the little smiling faces going back to live at the dump or in cardboard homes after leaving the school.
After lunch we went to Mama Carmen’s. We had about 40-50 children of all ages and began immediately to set up our craft and Bible story. We shared with the children that God is good. The children sang worship songs and created watercolor butterflies. We let them know that the watercolor butterflies would each be unique, just like they are uniquely created by God. The watercolor ended up all over the children and they were probably as painted as the butterflies! There is very little room in the orphanage with one main garage type room being the only place the children have to play. There was a truck parked inside, which also took up a lot of room, but we jumped rope and played with beach balls as best we could. Our group gave much needed humanitarian aid to Mama Carmen for the children, including clothing, soap, shampoo, medicine, school supplies, and baby blankets. We learned that a young boy Mario, had an eye surgery with the funding provided by W.O.W. and it was successful. He needs surgery on the other eye and W.O.W. is providing the funding for that as well. The group passed out Way FM drawstring backpacks to every child. The children were so excited to each have their own bag. We are taking the children to the Guatemala Children’s Museum tomorrow. A special treat for the children provided by the women of W.O.W. We came back to the hotel for a fun time of fellowship and discussion about our day and all eagerly went to bed!
Posted by ttaylorwines on July 21st, 2010
Check out the High Point team blog!
http://calledtothecorners.blogspot.com/
Great photos and details of their Orphan Outreach trip.
