We were greeted at the MM airport by 30 seminary students, children, and staff workers. What an awesome welcoming! Then we checked into the hotel, which is nice. We have three doubles and one triple.
Next we piled into the three vehicles and drove to a B. orphanage. On the way we stopped at a store to pick up lunch. It struck me that while most of us Americans grabbed multiple items, most of the MM people grabbed only one. I paused at why I felt compelled to grab multiple items when I wasn’t even that hungry. Force of habit? Would I be content with one item?
As we pulled up to B. orphanage, children greeted us with hugs. I recognized a lot of them from the trip last year. We felt like rock stars. After greeting everyone, we took a tour of the property. There are several structures for lodging and eating and a pig pen with maybe ten pigs. They breed them and then sell them.
Next we began taking pictures and gathering information on each child for the Calvary Global Kids website, whose goal is to match every child with a sponsor for communicating and giving. There are 20 kids at B. orphanage so some of us asked the kids questions with the aid of translators while others snapped photos of every kid. We’ll do this at every orphanage.
In a few weeks check out http://www.calvaryglobalkids.org to see the updates.
One of my family’s sponsor children is at B., so we shared a letter and family picture with him and he seemed excited. Betsy spent time with her sponsor child as well, which was sweet.
Next we were off to K.L. orphanage, which also houses 20 children. They have one pig and three cows and lots of pineapple crops. We did the info gathering and photo taking again. Many of the kids’ favorite foods is either an apple or chicken. Many of the kids appreciate most about their orphanage that learned to pray and worship.
We played with the kids awhile, then boarded our vehicles for dinner. We ate at One Million Coins, a great outdoor eatery (yes, I would say MM has an eatery) with about one million choices. After eating, we stopped at the grocery store to get water. The store has a guard with a metal detector posted at the front and you have to go through a turnstile (or whatever they’re called). I wondered if we were getting on a plane again.
Then we went back to our hotel for a team meeting and prayer. We took a moment to appreciate that this time is like none other. Probably never again will the nine of us be assembled on a trip together. Never again will we be at this place in our lives, be living out this part of our stories. There is a holiness to this, of recognizing the sacred moment this trip is. And we are grateful.
Tomorrow we have a church service at MAO, where Barry and I are team preaching, only without the top ropes. It’ll be awesome to worship with our dear friends. Then we’ll spend the day at MAO.
Holy Spirit, hover over us tonight.
For the team,
Chris
