NLH, CMM, and KKV

Ok let me just start off by saying last night was wonderful. To finally take a real shower and to use real toilets was beautiful. It is safe to say that we are all clean (yea!) and healthy, but pretty tired. Despite how tired we are we have found that God has sustained us each day by giving us His joy to be our strength. Today we got to sleep in a little bit. We had breakfast around eight and had an extra hour before we left the Guest House to have quiet time by the giant pool. We left for New Life Home, around 10:30. We learned about how these people rescue abandoned babies, most of them who are HIV positive. They give them the proper care they need, and get them healthy. It was awesome to see how many small children’s lives they have saved. We got to hold and feed the babies lunch. My baby, Ricky, had some major projectile vomiting going on. I still smell like baby spit up. Ben also had a kid pee on him, but none of us wanted to leave. From there we went to CMM (Clarence Matheny Ministries) to eat lunch and unload the container. After 3 days of goat intestine and liver, we finally had fried chicken, vegetable stew, and fresh fruit. It was the best meal we had had in a long time and we all ate way too much. CMM is where the huge pastors conference will take place. We are helping set up and run the conference for over 1000 pastors that will arrive from all over Africa. After lunch, it turned out that the truck carrying the container could not make it up the hill to CMM, so plans changed, as they have a lot on this trip. We went to Kings Kids Village. This was my favorite part of the whole trip so far. KKV takes in orphans from 0-18, many who are HIV positive, and gives them a Christian education, a home, and a family. We watched the kids recite memory verses and dance, then came the games. We played duck-duck goose, tag, and our favorite, the giant parachute. They showed us where they lived. Then we gave them socks, candy, and the balls we collected at Faith. The kids loved us and we loved them. They were all so precious and no one wanted to leave their smiling faces behind. Then the girls got fitted for some African dresses. Then we headed back to CMM to unload the container, but they already unloaded it (it still needs to be unpacked and sorted but we will do that tomorrow). As I am writing this we are on our way to get some pizza at Pizza Inn for dinner, then we will go back to the Methodist Guest House for some much needed rest. We are so thankful for all of your prayers and for you Faith kids who brought supplies and toys for us to give to these kids. I wish you could see their faces when they received these gifts. You have made a difference in their lives. We are also thankful for our friends and family who have given us encouraging letters. We love and miss you all! I love you mom and dad!

This post written by: Kristen Riach (Senior)