Sorry I haven't updated anymore... I haven't even written anything down I've been so busy... today was saturday so we all had abreak and that was pretty awesome. Tomorrow we're going to the badlands! Like, the real badlands, not the ontario badlands. :-)
I really don't know where to start... there are so many things I could say, so many stories I could tell. I'm going to talk about the team first for a while.
The team here is awesome. I knew people for 3 days and felt like I'd known them forever. Everyone shares with eachother, has a common goal that unites us, and of course the obvoius we are all spending 2 weeks together together so it's pretty hard not to get to know people. :-)
The thing I think brings us together the most though is prayer. Every morning at 9 we have at team meeting where we sing some songs, get updates on everything, and pray. Today we prayed for 45 minutes... it didn't feel like 45 minutes at all, everyone just shared what was on their heart and honestly we could have prayed for another hour and not felt it. Andrew and Sean were joking that they could have went to Macdonalds and come back and everyone would still be praying. But there is so much to pray about...
These kids have just broken my heart. They are absolutely adorable, and love nothing better than to hug you... but their lives are so incredibly messed up. I'm at site 1 so what I have to say is about the younger kids, but there are some pretty incredible stories about the older ones too.
Just to give you a little taste of what these kids lives are like, I had two little kids the first 2 days, they were twins and their names were Jaydin and Junior. Jaydin just loved me and she was one of the cutest little girls I've met. She doesn't come anymore, because she keeps getting beat up by a bunch of other girls a little older than she is. This is a 5 year-old I'm talking about! She is living a life of fear! But the saddest thing is that I know the girls who beat her up and I love them as much as I love her! One of them, Shelby, is going for an open heart surgery on Monday... her fourth one. She is 7.
Joshua is probably one of my favorite kids at vbs. He is totally attatched to Kramer- a.k.a Andrew Williams, and I'll never forget it, we were having a water balloon fight and a bunch of the guys grabbed Kramer and carried him over to the little kids so they could all throw water balloons at him, and then Josh comes running up and throws himself infront of Andrew, trying to protect him... he did it twice... I just pray so hard that he could have that same devotion to Christ.
Joshua's Dad is in jail. His mom is moving away, and she doesn't love him, so she is leaving him behind to live with his Aunt.
These kids are Okreeks future... they want so badly to believe but there are so many things holding them back.. peer pressure, their parents, the Sundance religion that they follow... please pray that God will claim these kids, all of them, and tell Satan he can't have them!
Sorry this is so sporadic I'm just saying random things that come to my mind, and honestly I have so many more things I could say, I've hardly gotten started, but none of them would come anywhere near experiencing this, being with these kids, getting close to them, seeing the hurt and depression and fear on their faces, and then watching some of those same faces just light up when we sing, or when Sean plays with them, or they beat up Brian... :-)
Just keep praying. Please keep praying. I don't think I've ever felt the power of prayer as much as I have this week... Mrs. Dawn Hiesler, our amazing cook and an amazing lady was feeling really really sick one morning, and we prayed so hard for her in team meeting, and by the end f it she felt way better, and she was almost completely well by that night! You can try and explain it any way you want but that was God's hand.
Pray for our team too, 2 weeks is a long time to spend together, and 9 people is a lot to share the same shower. :-) (that's just our room, we have the big suite) Pray for our unity, help us not to get frusterated with eachother, and pray for us to be quieter cuz we have been having complaints since people got home really late some nights and then weren't very quiet.
And most of all pray for the round on which our seeds are being planted. We have such an amazing message to share with these people!
Love you all a lot and here's a hug for you. (( ))
Heidi
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10 comments:
I got the goosebumps reading that....... it is so awful yet wondering at the same time, u know what i mean!!!!
Sounds like u r all doing an amazing thing down there and i really wish i were with u!!! But i'm sure i'll have my turn some day!!
I pray for u all, all the time i am glad u feel it!! and can tell us about it!!
Miss u tons, after church today our circle was soo tiny....juts Carolyn, Albert and me.....very sad!! Cya in a couple weeks! <3
That's rawk awesome!
Keep up the good work gals, and remember we ehs are praying for ya'll down there in the huhs :)
Wow, Heidi, sounds like a neat opportunity to bring a ray of light to those in darkness! I didn't understand from your first post what you were doing down there but I asked Opa and Oma about it since then so I have a bit of an idea now. I look forward to hearing more... at the cottage maybe? We're praying for you!
love Auntie Rachel
wow, sounds like you are having a true life changing experience.
some of these stories are like ones that I have hear from our friends in guatamala
I hope I can see some of this stuff one day.
We'll keep praying, just keep workin up there..
keep as posted Heidi!
Wow! I'm praying for you.
sniff!(i was almost in tears while reading that!) :-) it sounds like you guys are havin' fun! i miss you sooooooo much :-(
hugs and kisses, josh
Like everyone else said,
Sounds like you guys are having a truly amazing time. My prayers are with you.
yeah it is amazing. I could tell 100 stories... i just hope I remember them all!
tonight a bunch of girls are coming to the hotel with us from the reservation and we're having a girls night. that should be awesome... they haven't gotten here yet I'm hoping they're allowed to come.
today was the last day of our vbs, tomorrow we're going to go there and do a little talent show skit/comedy afternoon and hang out for a while, then Sunday we're going home. well to Wisocnsin anyway. I can't believe it the weeks flew by. I will be glad to get home but it will be so hard to leave these kids cuz I'm really close to some of them and they've totally touched my heart.
But Jesus isn't leaving.... I pray so hard that they will not be heartbraoken when we leave and instead just cling to Jesus!
Yeah, I have grown a lot in the last couple weeks. I think most of it is just being closer to God then ever because of how much we sing and pray pray pray together, and totally seeing Him answer the prayers and even work miracles. But that's another story I don't have time to tell. Actually it's three more stories. :-) Little miracles, but very real. I've also come to a bigger understanding of how incredibly blessed I am.
I'm going to miss the team really badly too... which is why I should get off the computer and go "redeem the time!"
A new post is long over due!!
PLEASE POST BEFORE U LEAVE AGAIN!!!
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