It's day two of the camp. It looks like things must have gone well yesterday, as our numbers seem to have grown. The last count I heard was we were up 5 more kids, which brings our numbers to 70. Very cool!
For our second day we followed a similar format as before. A couple of differences were that I got to sing a contemporary Christian song for the kids, and David was the one delivering the message.
David had prepared to speak on the passage where Peter and Jesus walked on the water, and how this can be an example of how Jesus comes and meets us in our times of fear. But, David came up with a great idea to help the kids remember the story. He asked some of the interpreters at the camp to come and act out the story. This allowed the kids to see and hear the message. David then asked them questions to see if they could repeat the story back.
After the kids had left we gathered up our stuff. We were asked to do a version of our camp activities at a near by school ran by the local church. We loved the idea, and were eager to do as much as we could while we are here. There were some adjustments and adapting to be made, but it all seemed to go very well. As these kids left I saw nothing but smiles, waves and high fives. We wanted them to have fun while showing God's love... I think that happened.
Once we left the church we went out to some more tent homes to visit with families. We came to a home and this lady and her husband have been in the tent for four years. When they fled Syria, they came with their six children (2 boys / 4 girls). Since becoming a refugee, they have had another little girl. These are dangerous conditions for anyone, and even more so for those with a baby or who are expecting. There is virtually no health care to speak of, and it is very hard to get treatment. This point was made even clearer when, while we were visiting this home, a neighbor came by. Our interpreter told us that we needed to hear this woman's story. She began by telling us of how she and three of her children were nearly killed when a aircraft shot a missile into the market place where they had just left. She was fortunate to escape without harm but one of her sons lost a hand, another was burned (but has since recovered), and her daughter who was with her in the market suffered nerve damage in one of her legs. They called for the child so we could meet her. She came in and she seemed to use her lower leg more like a person would use a cane. Her foot sort of rolled underneath her. When asked what could be done, we were told that there is a surgery that could fix the problem but they can not afford it. I wondered how much a surgery like that would cost here, and asked. I was not able to get a hard number, which may be due to the current situation they are in.
I guess word was traveling that there were visitors in the tent because another neighbor stopped by while we were there. We continued our conversation, but soon we needed to get ready to leave.
We asked if would be OK for us to pray for these people. When we asked about what specific needs they would like us to mention, the lady who's home we were in said that they are looking for a new home as the current land owner had told them that rent was about to be raised by $40/mth. (I hope we can all understand how much of a increase something like that is for these people.) We took a moment to pray for these three families and then we took another moment to pray specifically for this one little girl.
It was beginning to get into the evening hours, and we needed to start heading back to our hotel. As we left, our driver was able to take us through some more areas where the tents have been set up to make camps for the refugees and displaced people. We stopped only for a minute outside one of the camps to get a better look at the conditions of the area around it.
Please pray for how God might use us to help these people in a tangible way, and in a way that can show His love for them.
For our second day we followed a similar format as before. A couple of differences were that I got to sing a contemporary Christian song for the kids, and David was the one delivering the message.
David had prepared to speak on the passage where Peter and Jesus walked on the water, and how this can be an example of how Jesus comes and meets us in our times of fear. But, David came up with a great idea to help the kids remember the story. He asked some of the interpreters at the camp to come and act out the story. This allowed the kids to see and hear the message. David then asked them questions to see if they could repeat the story back.
After the kids had left we gathered up our stuff. We were asked to do a version of our camp activities at a near by school ran by the local church. We loved the idea, and were eager to do as much as we could while we are here. There were some adjustments and adapting to be made, but it all seemed to go very well. As these kids left I saw nothing but smiles, waves and high fives. We wanted them to have fun while showing God's love... I think that happened.
Once we left the church we went out to some more tent homes to visit with families. We came to a home and this lady and her husband have been in the tent for four years. When they fled Syria, they came with their six children (2 boys / 4 girls). Since becoming a refugee, they have had another little girl. These are dangerous conditions for anyone, and even more so for those with a baby or who are expecting. There is virtually no health care to speak of, and it is very hard to get treatment. This point was made even clearer when, while we were visiting this home, a neighbor came by. Our interpreter told us that we needed to hear this woman's story. She began by telling us of how she and three of her children were nearly killed when a aircraft shot a missile into the market place where they had just left. She was fortunate to escape without harm but one of her sons lost a hand, another was burned (but has since recovered), and her daughter who was with her in the market suffered nerve damage in one of her legs. They called for the child so we could meet her. She came in and she seemed to use her lower leg more like a person would use a cane. Her foot sort of rolled underneath her. When asked what could be done, we were told that there is a surgery that could fix the problem but they can not afford it. I wondered how much a surgery like that would cost here, and asked. I was not able to get a hard number, which may be due to the current situation they are in.
I guess word was traveling that there were visitors in the tent because another neighbor stopped by while we were there. We continued our conversation, but soon we needed to get ready to leave.
We asked if would be OK for us to pray for these people. When we asked about what specific needs they would like us to mention, the lady who's home we were in said that they are looking for a new home as the current land owner had told them that rent was about to be raised by $40/mth. (I hope we can all understand how much of a increase something like that is for these people.) We took a moment to pray for these three families and then we took another moment to pray specifically for this one little girl.
It was beginning to get into the evening hours, and we needed to start heading back to our hotel. As we left, our driver was able to take us through some more areas where the tents have been set up to make camps for the refugees and displaced people. We stopped only for a minute outside one of the camps to get a better look at the conditions of the area around it.
Please pray for how God might use us to help these people in a tangible way, and in a way that can show His love for them.
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