Today was honestly one of the best days of my life. I feel so much joy right now and more alive than I have felt in a long time. I have sooo many different thoughts and convictions shooting around in my head and I don’t know what I am going to write about but I pray that it is God blessed and from Him.
I woke up this morning at 7:30 feeling rested and impatient to meet the wonderful orphans of Canaan’s Children’s Home. Our team met for breakfast and took a beautiful boat ride on the Nile river where we saw the source of the Nile and got to marvel at the Lord’s creation. We then proceeded to bring our thirty-three, 50 lb bags full of donations together to sort and organize. The Lord surely does provide! We all wished we could have brought even more than we did. With God’s help and some really great leaders on my team we managed to sort through all of our things and get them somewhat organized into type of donation and orphanage that they are going to.
It was finally the moment of truth…we were on the bus heading to Canaan’s. The moment I stepped off of the bus was like a movie. Children swarmed all of us with more love and excitement than I have ever experienced from children. They were so warm and welcoming it made me want to cry. All of the children who greeted us were not Canaan’s children. Many of them go to school there or are with the Amazima feeding program so they went home for lunch and the evening soon after we arrived. That left us with the entire day to play with the children, love them like Jesus, and begin to form relationships with them. It was amazing how content I was holding babies and talking with children from morning until now. Not once did I feel bored and my mind didn’t even wander to anything but how much these children need to know that they are loved.
There were so many children that I feel in love with today. Two of the younger ones named Ruth and Kirabo, her name means “gift” in the Ugandan language. They are both around 3 or four years old and have such innocent hearts and beautiful spirits. I played with them for hours and they took turns sleeping in my arms. I thought as they laid on my chest how blessed I am to be able to be a parent figure in their life for even one day. Just being able to hold them while they sleep and give them that sense of comfort gave me such a peace and overwhelming joy. My heart is heavy for these children who have no parents but know the love of their Father in heaven. Around 6 o’clock the majority of children who live at Canaan’s returned from school and we had the opportunity to meet and get to know them. Immediately two girls, Rose and Fariah, came up to me and we started to get to know each other. They are 8 and 10 with beautiful smiles and even more beautiful hearts. I also met Deborah, a 13 year old girl who is mature beyond her years. I had great conversations with all of them and can’t wait to get to know them better and hear their stories.
At dinner Pastor Isaac shared his testimony, that will have to be a story for another time. Extremely long story short, God completely orchestrated his life so that he is now a father to the fatherless. He is one of those men that you see his eyes shine for the Lord and you can just feel God speaking through him. I will definitely write more later about Canaan’s and how you could help. It is truly such an amazing ministry. There are currently 107 orphans living here and each one of them is a child of God just like all of us. If you want to find out more go to www.canaanchildrenshome.com. It is time for me to head to bed but there will be so much more to come!
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