Reflections From the 3rd Day of my Latest Orphan Helpers Trip

Today we went to church, then had a little ¨fiesta¨ with the girls at the center made to protect them. In centers where kids might only get meat a few times a week due to the expense, cake, ice cream, and soda was a treat.

After lunch we went to the Genesis center, a massive complex that Orphan Helpers hopes to be operating within the year, then back to the juvenile detention center for boys.

Dinner tonight was the last dinner with the full American team. Most of the team leaves tomorrow, going to the US. It was a special night, where each person went around and shared some of their highlights from the trip.

Some shared about how wonderful it was to have 3 kids who had come out of a juvenile detention center after coming to Christ and being discipled alongside us, going back into the centers and preaching the gospel, a message of hope, of positive change, of Life, of forgiveness no matter the past, and of redemption through the blood of Jesus.

One shared about how wonderful it was to not have so many programs, but to be led by the Spirit and have time just to be with the kids. One of the things my dad shared about was how wonderful it was for me to be there, after almost losing me in November, unconscious and fully submerged in a dark river on a dark night for at least 10 or 15 minutes.

I shared about four things special about this trip. Many of the blessings that other people mentioned were matters that I had encountered on a number of trips in the past. First I praised God for my room mate Al´s daughter, an 11 year old girl who faithfully prays for the kids and for the ministry of Orphan Helpers. A second highlight was going with my dad, and seeing him on his knees in prayer in our room and the opportunity I had to join him on my own knees. Third, it was wonderful to pick oranges from the Genesis center, a complex with over 100 fruit trees, knowing that the oranges that would otherwise mostly be wasted won´t be wasted for long as more and more Orphan Helpers and kids come into the place, and the Lord uses it mightily for His glory in redeeming lives and healing brokenness for so many.

The last thing I shared about was how wonderful it was to see some of the fruit from the missions conference Urbana, where Orphan Helpers was represented for the first time over a year ago.

The OH volunteer team
I had the blessing of helping to represent OH there, and it was so wonderful to have two brothers and two sisters in Christ with us. It is such a privilege to know a bit of the impact that they have made here, and that has been made in their lives. They’ve seen not only some of the realities of the effects of sin in this world in breaking lives, but the redemptive impact that Christ, through hands and feet of people and by his redemptive power at work in people´s hearts, can make in healing this world.