As I have watched our team and the children interacting with each other I realize that we have been constantly building the last 3 weeks. Building shelves for Canaan Children's Home, building a pantry for the kitchen at Amani Baby Cottage, building puppets with the children, building pictures with paint on the walls, building relationships with all the ministries that we have partnered with, building relationships with the children and the staff at each orphanage, building new friendships, and building God's kingdom. We realize that we are not "needed" to do any of these things that God has led us to do. And, we realize that we are much more blessed than those we have blessed.
So what is the purpose of these HEAL mission teams? To build love. To build a bridge that truly bonds all people in all nations for God's purpose. To look after orphans and widows in their distress. To continue relationships year after year with those we are constantly building things with. To realize God's plans sometimes change and these "short term" mission trips most often lead to long term plans that God has had in mind since the beginning of time.
We played with the babies at Amani the last couple of days and they enjoyed eating animal fruit snacks that we brought while making their tiger puppets. We enjoyed watching the "mammas" interact with the children. The males on our team worked the last two days building a promised kitchen pantry for "momma cook" at Amani and we are going to stain it and place it tomorrow. She is so proud of her new pantry. There are doors with locks and shelves at different heights to fit the different size pots for cooking.
Our last time to visit Canaan Children's Home during this trip was tonight. It was a bitter-sweet visit. We are sad to say good-bye but look forward to saying hello again in the future. Some of us will see the children again on this earth. All of us will see them again in Heaven. And that is the real beauty of this mission team that has been building.
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