Laugh...Live...Love...Travel!: Day 3- Hope Home again!

Hello again!

What a day we have had! It has been yet another long, hot day but a very successful day at that. We left the hotel around 8 this morning and continued to work on the playground. We are making great progress especially with the materials we have been given! Everyone on the team was able to help with it which makes it a great bonding experience. Katy and Caitlin continued to work on the mural in the boy's dorm. Word is getting out to the boys, and they are SO excited about it. Tim and Tony had the grueling job of sanding the floor in the boy's dorm, priming it, and then painting it a nice red color. (Red for NC State, right Tim and Tony?!)
I was able to answer some more questions for the teachers about behavioral problems with the kids, and then Elizabeth and I taught a self confidence forum for the older girls. Many of them are about to age out of the orphanage so having that kind of information is extremely crucial for them. It was nice to be able to talk to them and think back to my teenage years haha. They seemed pretty receptive to what we had to say!

While there are so many amazing parts of this trip, there are also moments that break your heart. I always pray before I leave that God will break my heart for what breaks His. It's a powerful prayer, and this year I have felt his response for then ever. I catch myself noticing things I haven't noticed before in five years of travelling here, and also having conversations with some of the children that normally will not open up. This makes me think about a song with the lyrics "Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted; watch them come alive." I asked a boy I have known for many years to help me turn on water downstairs; he decided instead to sit with me while I was watching paint out and talk to me. He explained that his mother died of a drug overdose when he was very young, and his dad allowed him to be adopted by another woman. His adoptive mother decided that her travelling was more important and gave him back, promising to pay for private school (which she does). However, his dad decided that him and his three other siblings were too much to handle, and 11 years ago, he and his brothers became residents of Hope Children's Home. Not only did his lose his mother, but he was rejected by his father and his adoptive mother. He now has had run ins with the law and told me that he has so much anger in his heart. He has begun journaling, but he doesn't feel it's enough. the sheer enormity of his loss hit me. and at first, I didn't know what to say. I prayed a quick "God, tell me what to say" and did my best to explain that his fulfillment could come from Christ and that the anger he was feeling and the dreams he wanted to accomplish could all be accomplished through a relationship with Christ. He told me he had been trying, and I made sure he knew that each day was a new day, and he was loved more than he could ever imagine. Having this opportunity wasn't easy, but listening to him open up for the first time ever was worth it, and I am so thankful God had me emptying paint cans behind an orphanage at exactly the right time.

We went back upstairs to finish cleaning up, packed up, and headed to the vans to return to the hotel. We wanted to go visit monkeys that live across the street, but the monkeys were not there anymore :( A quick walk on the sea wall was awesome, though! Dinner was at a local burger place, and then we headed to get ice cream afterwards. A perfect treat for a very long day! We are back now at the hotel hanging out and hoping to get to bed early because we have another long day ahead of us. Tomorrow, we will go back to Hope for half of the day to continue working and then head to dinner and a local community center where Pastor Tim will be preaching and our very own Elizabeth and Pat will be giving their testimonies.

As always, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We need them! Continue to pray specifically for our team stamina in these hot conditions! Pictures to follow from day 3!