Take Your Love Wherever You Go

Here is a recap of the past couple days:

This whole morning consisted of me sleeping in bed with a stomach bug. I was not feeling the greatest so I resorted to my top bunk bed. Jesus healed me and after my nap I was golden ☺ We created a play room for the kids in the guest house. The TRS guest house is just one building down from the orphanage where all the kids are so it works great to create a play room at the guest house for a group of kids to just walk over anytime to play! Thanks to all of YOU and your crafty donations we were able to create a FUN playroom with crafts, pictures, costumes, books, trucks, baby dolls…. You name it, we had it! We can’t wait to bring them over to play; it will be SO wonderful for them to just be kids. It turned out so so cute! Pictures to come! After we did that we walked over to the center to do some arts and crafts with the kids. We had brought small wooden crosses with us so they all painted and applied beads to them. We explained that the cross represents Jesus dying for us on the cross and taking away our sins, and all the colors and beads remind us that Jesus rose from the dead and his love is now so beautiful and everlasting. They had such a blast being creative. Most of them didn’t understand the concept of applying glue or how it is used. It was so fun to watch on my end while the kids explored their creativity and make something special all on their own.

Later that night we were all really hoping for some water. The pipes broke here at the guesthouse so we have been without running water this whole trip. Bucket baths feel AMAZING at the end of the day! Most nights the security guards or some of the workers at the center would go get buckets of water for us to wash with, but last night we didn’t have any. I walked down to where the teen mothers were sitting outside and asked where the water source was so I could go get myself some water to wash up with. Regina, one of the mothers said she would go with me. We walked down a rocky hill….she was a pro! She laughed at me because it took me so long to get down there. It was dark so I was terrified! I asked her, “Regina, is there snakes down here?” She said yes, and laughed very hard when I grabbed on tight to her! After filling the buckets with water I asked if I could help her carry it up the hill. Without any hesitation she lifted the heavy bucket of water and carried it on her head all the way up to our bathroom. It was the sweetest gesture, and it meant so much to me to have something to wash up with that night. Those few minutes really opened my eyes…… these people work so hard here. We take everyday common occurrences for granted every single day of our lives…..running water, flushing the toilets, driving in the car, and having a roof over our head…. The list could go on and on. We don’t have to walk miles to go get water to drink or bath in, or walk the streets a lone as a young child with no one to love us. Look around you people…. You are so blessed.

Today was the best day of my life. We spent the entire day with the teen mothers that live downstairs with their children. Both of these girls are 20 (just like me) and we bonded so much today. We gave them purses, painted their nails, gave them perfume, and did girly things with them all day. They LOVED it. It was so rewarding to laugh, sing, and dance with them all day….. it was just like spending a day with my girl friends back at home. We share such a tight bond and can’t wait to see each other again. It was the most fun I have had in a long time. We ended the day with them by sitting on the porch with their care giver auntie Alice, their two friends Emmanuel and Santos, the babies, and the Firefleyes team and sang worship songs and prayed. We prayed for thanks and we prayed for the broken. The most special moment was while we were singing and praying I was holding 3 year old Daniel in my lap. I was holding him tight and praying in his ear. It took my breath away sitting with my brand new friends, and sitting under the stars in Sierra Leone. Thank you God….

There is a day dedicated each year all across Sierra Leone to each school hosting a “sports day.” To us in America it would be like a track and field day. Some of the older kids at the center go to school out in the community and don’t attend school with the rest of the kids at the center. The older kids participated in the sports day today. We went to go and cheer them on and MAN was it fun! I felt like a proud mother screaming and yelling for all our little kiddos as they were running around the field! All the locals were looking at us “white people” like we were crazy and plugging their ears. They must not get into sports and cheering on their kids like us Americans do ☺ It was such a great time!! I was so proud!

Tomorrow is our last day in Sierra Leone. I am sitting on the balcony tonight under the stars and looking over all of Freetown reflecting on the past week. I am so grateful to our Lord for bringing these precious people into my life. They will forever be in my heart. Until we all meet when I get back …. I will part with this story to sum up this past week……. Today as we were getting organized and fixing up the playroom we were playing fingerprints of God by Steven Curtis Chapman. I was singing the words right as Auntie Marie (our cook) was walking by. I stopped her and gave her a big big hug and sang these lyrics right in her ear. I then asked if she knew how loved she was. You see…. These people truly are the fingerprints of God. They reflect his love and his grace in their everyday life. Praise God for them….. they have shaped my life in more ways than I ever thought possible….

Taking my love everywhere I go,
Bethany