Precious Children and Ripe Fields

It's Jameson again! Yes, you have to hear from me again tonight! We will though have guest bloggers on and off for the rest of our stay! Megan did an awesome job last night and I got to go to bed even earlier so I am all for it!

Today was another amazing day! We got to sleep in a little bit this morning and many of us went to bed super early last night. I am pretty sure Drake and Cody were asleep by 8 or 9 last night, so they got plenty of sleep for today. We woke up and had an amazing breakfast here. The food at Heart is out of this world and definitely wins the best mission trip food award. I have never had better than this food here. After breakfast, we had our devotion and then got ready to head over to FOCUS.

We loaded the bus with our 24 Rubbermaid containers but we loaded them on top of the bus and tied them down (that's how they do it here). We then headed off to FOCUS. When we arrived, we were greeted by all the kids again! Many of them remembered who each of us was and many of us have "favorites" now. They come running when we pull in and don't leave our side until we get on the bus to leave. Today was the first day of handing out backpacks and we handed out about 300!! It was an incredible day!

Passing out the backpacks here is not what you think it would be if you were in the states. Here it is a complete ceremony! All the families of the kids were invited to be there and there were government officials there as well. The ceremony started out with a couple of introductions and then the FOCUS kids sang a song which is their theme song. After that they had a couple of people speak who are pretty important and then Scott got up and gave the Gospel. There were about 60 people that raised their hands!! Praise God!! It's so awesome here because the people are so open to the Gospel here. There was no big program or music or videos or anything that we think we need in the states. It was just Scott with an interpreter! The fields are ready here and they are willing to listen because of what you show them and do for them and not what program you put on for them! Their hearts desire to know about God and to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior!

After Scott presented the Gospel, we handed out the backpacks. After that, we fed everyone who was there. This was a HUGE statement because we fed about 600 people. When we were talking with Scott, he said that the meal cost about $300 in the US. $300 to feed 600 people is ridiculous! That's so little money for the amount of people, yet over here, it is unheard of. After we fed them, we got the other backpacks organized and packed for tomorrow when we hand out the rest of them.

Side Note: When the ceremony was going on, we were all pretty much playing with the little children because that's not offensive over here. As we were playing, a little boy (he's my favorite), came over to me and hugged my leg. His name is Martin and he is a handful. If he isn't in the mood to play, he bites and scratches you. But when he is in the mood, he is awesome! He is a precious little boy and today he walked over and wanted me to pick him up. I did and he immediately yawned. I could tell he was tired and within about 5 minutes he was asleep in my arms. Now, I am not a kid person as I have stated before, but this just made me melt. It really touches your heart when you have a sleeping, snoring orphan on your chest fast asleep. He as absolutely precious! I just wanted to pack him in my suitcase and bring him home with me! That really touched my life today more than anything else to know that these children need and deserve so much more yet they don't get it. And how much I can do for them! I can do so much more than I am now and they deserve it! They deserve my love and my support and that is what I am going to give them! God calls us to love without condition and to love those who know no love. Why don't we do that? What are we scared of? How can you and I do more of that?

We then ate lunch with our FOCUS staff partners and then got ready and headed back to HEART! We rested a little bit and then had an awesome dinner yet again! They are amazing here. To finish up the night, we played a little Euchre and then solved a riddle by Christian and then headed to bed!

Goodnight everyone! Thanks again for reading this and I will see you soon! We love you and miss you a TON!!

I love you Mallory!

-Jameson