New Life Mission Orphanage

some of the students and their kids for the day

Katoka and I 

Here comes another Sabbath with another opportunity to show God’s love to His people. This time, the spiritual committee arranged a trip to New Life Mission Orphanage, which is 10 minutes away from the school. We took the school bus that holds about 53 people and drove down the street to where the orphanage is. When we first arrived, the kids were all gathered in one room waiting for us. All of us went to the room, shook some of the kids’ hands and gave hi fives to some. Following that, four of the academy girls started singing Swahili songs and the kids joined in singing. Then we all started singing some of the kid’s favorite English songs. When we saw that the kids were kind of shy, we asked them if they wanted to sing a song for us. They were really happy to do so. All of them came up with a beautiful “choir”. They lined up according to their height, starting with the shortest and moving to the tallest. Instead of singing one song, they sang three. After that, the pastor told us that we could pick a child and go out and play with them. Some of the students picked kids and others the kids came running to them. I hanged out with Katoka. Katoka is  years old. I was surprised when she told me that because she is pretty tall for a 5 year old kid. I thought she was 7 for 8. Katoka didn’t speak a lot of English but we were able to  survive as we used some motions to communicate. I discovered that she loved talking pictures as she pointed at my camera and said, “picsha, picsha”. I took Katoka to the swings for some times then we joined some of the other kids and started playing in bigger groups. We held hands, made a big circle, and went around and around. They we played “red light, green light”, “Duck, duck, goose” as the guys played soccer on the side. No surprise, African guys LOVE soccer; even the little boys.  After that everyone hanged out with their kids for about 45 minutes then we had to go back to school. It was hard to leave the orphanage. Some of the kids got really attached to us and did not want us to leave, but we had too : (

Brinna playing " Pom Pom this that" 

Erik playing with the little two boys 

Ricky and the wheelbarrow 

Everyday I become more positive that the best life is a life lived for serving others. What a joy that a person can get when he/she sees that beautiful smile they can put on the faces of other people! Yes, most of these kids don’t have biological parents, and some of them come from really poor families. However, I believe that they have greater parents; God is their parent! Today God used us to show these kids that He is there for them and that He loves them. My heart was rejoicing as I was looking at the academy students,15-19 years of age, trying to come up with the best games they know to make the kids happy. Briana playing “ Pom pom this that” with a little girl, Eric caring two kids on his shoulders and running around in circles, and Ricky pushing 4 kids around in a wheelbarrow. Just seeing the smiles on these kid’s faces made our day today. Not only that we were a blessing, we also received a blessing by seeing the difference we can do in other’s lives. “ This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15: 12,13. What a simple and deep commandments. If Jesus loved us so much to the point of dying for us, what should we do with this commandment? We did not die for these kids, we simply decided to give some of our own time to show them our love and that made a huge difference in their lives. If this commandment is one of the most important one Jesus emphasized during His life here on earth and before he left then it is of great importance!