answered prayer

I just love how God answers prayers...and how He is in control and just orchestrates everything. SO with this excitement of course comes a story...

Meet the most wonderful children in the world....Joylyn, Kaday and Charlie. These kids are often found right outside of my place digging through trash, looking for food and recyclables. My friend Linda first found them and gave them food. She started the tradition and so every time I saw them outside of my place I would run upstairs look for any sort of food and gave it to these kids. They were very shy. Nevertheless, each time I saw them I would invite them to our program at the Sonshine Center (which takes place on Saturday mornings), not really knowing if they understood anything that I said.

So last week something different happened. The boy was not with the 2 girls. Now I'm not sure how much English these kids understand, but I still asked where their brother was. The oldest sister said he was dead (come to find out later he was not thank God, but maybe he was sick or something and she just didn't know how to say it). She teared up and even though I didn't know if that was true I was just overwhelmed. I looked at their feet and they were not wearing shoes and their clothes were very dirty. I asked if they were hungry and they said yes.
So that was enough for me.

I took them to BlueJays (a coffee shop) and they ordered a huge double decker U.S cheeseburger. It was precious to see them there trying to eat it, a burger that was bigger than their face. They of course didn't even come close to finishing it. Afterwards, we walked back to find their Lola (Grandmother) and Kaday asked her if I could take them to get slippers (aka flip flops). She said yes and we were off. We went to the mall and I was able to get them new shirts, pants, underwear and flip flops. The people at the mall were so helpful and changed the youngest (Joylyn) right there in the mall.

In this picture Joylyn is wearing her new outfit. I don't think they ever got to pick out their own clothes but it was clear that they liked pink! Every shirt and pants were all pink. It was precious. I felt so blessed to be able to meet some of their physical needs. I walked them back to their Lola and invited them to our program on Saturday morning. Again, there is the language barrier so I wasn't even sure they were understanding anything that I was saying. But I prayed that they would come and we could get them some more help. There would be people that could speak their language and they could be fed (both spiritually and physically).

Well, here they are! They came to the center for our program. I found out that they lived very far away and they walked that entire way just so that they could come! In this picture their entire outfits are the new clothes that they got!

Their Lola also came and I learned a lot about them. Their father passed away when the youngest was 8 months old and their mother abandoned them. The grandparents are left to take care of them. Valerie and I decided that it would be nice to go to their house to see where they lived so after Kids club on Saturday that is what we did.

This is their house. It is on stilts in water and it is basically all things that they have from the trash. It was beyond heartbreaking to know that they lived there.

Valerie talked to the Lola and the boys. She invited them to the huge youth event that is to be held May 18th-23rd (Ignite A Movement). She also just listened and loved them.
She is so awesome!

While Valerie did the talking, I played with the girls. Mostly just taking pictures...

And being silly.

God has really opened some doors to getting them some more help, which is awesome! I am so excited to be able to be a part of it. Also, last night was the first night for the youth event and the Kaday, her Lola and three other boys came!!!! It is so awesome to know that God is moving. I am so excited to see what He is going to do next!