Before I left Missouri, I asked God to please break my heart for what breaks his. Looking back at that, sometimes I wish I could unask that? Not because I don’t want him to do any breaking but because I had no idea how hard this really would be. I have seen a lot in my 9 trips oversees before this one, how much more could he really break? Boy was I wrong.
In August we started sponsoring 2 children from the village of Korah through Project 61. I knew that I was going to meet them this trip and possibly their families, but God did not prepare me for what my heart was going to feel for them. The first day in Korah, Frehiwot ( our sponsor girl), came RUNNING up to me full speed ahead and jumped into my arms, told me she loved me and did not let go for at least 5 minutes. My heart melted. She took my hand and did not let go until lunch was over. She doesn’t know a word of English ( Except I love you) but I could understand everything she was trying to tell me. Her expressions, her soft voice, her smile said it all. She had Hope now, she is getting an education, she gets at least this one meal a day. To her that is everything and to me it was so much more.
Everyday in Korah I saw her. We played, laughed and prayed together. We sat together, walked together and held hands just because. On Wednesday we visited her home. By home I mean a 5 ft by 5 ft room with a dirt floor and mud walls. Literally all 8 of us could not fit in it even sitting shoulder to shoulder. Her Aunt which whom she lives with was overwhelmed you could tell, probably with the fact that no foreigner had ever visited her home let alone cared about her. We brought her at least a months worth of groceries, probably more like 2 or 3 months worth. It cost us $80 to feed a family of 4 for 2-3 months. She had tears streaming down her face because she was so grateful. We prayed over her and I asked her if she knew Jesus, she said yes. Mind you I am NOT a person that ever thought I could witness to another and I have to tell you I don’t know what I would have done had she said no, Thank Goodness I didn’t have to find out. After the prayer, She thanked us and kissed us and we were on our way. Frehiwot grabbed my hand and told me thank you ever so quietly and in her sweet Ahmharic at least 50 times. I have to say that day will be forever engrained in my heart forever. Not only do we get to be a part of changing her life but I get to watch it too with my very own eyes. That is my favorite thing about sponsoring a child through Project 61 is that you are able to build a relationship with these children and their families. You get to be an encouragement, you get to help, you get to love big on them, you get to watch them flourish and grow and have hope and you get to tell them about Jesus.
On Sunday of our trip we got to go to Shashamene where our Sponsor boy is. I was so excited to meet him too but again was not prepared for what God was doing in my heart. We pulled in and I asked some kids about him and they ran to get him. The minute I saw his big brown eyes coming towards me I was instantly in Love. Never in 1 million years did I think that I would go to Ethiopia one day, meet a 16 boy that is a total stranger and have an instant motherly connection with him. As we walked around and talked about many things, my love for him grew. My heart was saddened by his life story and all of the things he has been through Alone and sad. He told me that he has never had a dad and that his mother died when he was 12 but now he was happy again because he had a new family in us. He told me how everyday he ate sugar packets from the dump, he lived with pigs, he has never had a birthday celebration and I wanted to just hug him and cry. I knew at that moment that we were much more than just a sponsor family to him. We were his everything, his saving grace and he was our son. He told me at least 100 times that day how grateful he was that we changed his life. What I didn’t know at the time was how much he was going to change my life. He makes me know what grateful really is. He makes me a better mother. He makes me a better follower of God. He makes me smile everyday. In the few, very few, hours I have spent with him, he has captured my heart. I have spent every day praying for God to reveal to me the plan he has for Miyco and the plan he has for us. I know our meeting was not by chance.
I can not explain this love I have for this total stranger. The only way I can say it is it is a God thing, God planned this meeting, God picked him for us to sponsor, God let me meet him in Shashamene that day knowing how I would feel, God will hold him when we can’t. I am sure I sound like I am off my rocker ( Brad thinks I am!) but I know, I just know that God does not see it that way. He has a plan for him, a plan for us. God already chose him as one of the children that got to go to school and get out of the dump.
He wrote me a letter before I left Shashamene and told me to read John 14:18. “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you”. As I read his letter I wept. My heart ached for him, as if he was my own flesh and blood. I believe and I am praying that Same verse everyday for him. I wish it was as easy as getting on a plane because I would go get him tomorrow but its not. I am not sure how his story will end or begin for that matter but I know that everyday I am grateful for Project 61, for Sumer Yates who has given her life for these children and For My Ethiopian son. I am praying everyday for God to reveal his big plan and in the mean time trying to think up every scheme in my head on how to get him home to us. In the meantime, we are headed back to Ethiopia in January for 10 days, this time Brad is coming! I am praying that Ethiopia impacts his life as it has mine. I know he will love Korah! We will also get to spend time with our sponsor children while we are there!! So excited to be a part of this organization that is changing lives in Korah!
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