About thirteen days before our Mandi left for Kenya Kristen introduced the Mercy House again I was touched deeply and kept thinking wow... Mandi will soon be in Kenya, I wonder if she could meet Maureen? I sent Kristen an email, told her Mandi was going to Kenya with a different organization and would it be possible for her to meet Maureen? Kristen was quick to reply and said she thought so .... plans were made and Maureen would meet Mandi... Mandi brought her snickers and bubble gum!
About a week before Mandi left I asked her if she would like to visit the Compassion Project in Nairobi. She agreed but wasn't really sure how it could all work out. Compassion requires background checks and several weeks to schedule a visit. We almost didn't.... but I went ahead and sent in the background check even after Mandi was in Kenya.
Mandi spent three weeks in the orphanage at the village about six hours from Nairobi. Maureen decided to come visit her at the orphanage and Mandi loved her time with Maureen. God worked it out that Mandi would be able to stay at a host home that Compassion arranged for her. On Friday the 15th Mandi traveled back into Nairobi to the host home. God is so faithful. His ways are so different than our ways.....
This past week Mandi went with Maureen to visit the slum. Today she went back with Maureen to watch/help her teach the children. This coming week on the 3rd she will visit the Compassion Project in Nairobi. You can read all about Maureen as she shared at the Mercy House blog.
My point in all this.... other than sharing an update on Mandi and her new friend Maureen. God continues to show me that He sees the end from the beginning. He knows the outcome. I am just to trust....
MY surprise..... I realized that it wasn't going to really surprise any of you because God surprised ME. My love for Compassion and my sponsored child.... reading Kristen's, Ann's, and so many blogs and how lives have been changed through Compassion. How I have fallen in love with orphans.... how David Platt's .Radical is changing me. He knows the desires of my heart and He planned it all out before the foundation of the earth ........ HE goes before us.
I think what surprised me the most .... amazed really.... is how He worked all this out for Mandi, working in the orphanage, meeting Maureen, then going to the host home and being able to visit the Compassion Project but in doing that He also gave me the desires of my heart because I can now SEE more of what Compassion is about.... and how and what we can do to make a difference.
When I talked to Maureen thanking her for helping Mandi with the host home and praying with her.... Maureen's words to me were "Auntie Teena, I do for Mandi's sake because Jesus did for my sake."
He sees the end from the beginning..... we are called to trust.....
What a great post! Our family is continually blown away by these connections through Compassion. We started with one child in June 2009 and since then our Compassion family has grown to 7 sweet and amazing children. I do think they help us as much as we help them.
ReplyDeleteI second every word that Michelle said!! I love hearing Compassion stories and the way Jesus uses it in our lives and in the lives of others.
ReplyDeleteWe started with one sponsorship in 2005, and had three sponsorships last year. The momentum grew, and we now have 9. It's life changing, and like Michelle said, sometimes, it's hard to tell who has benefited more from it...
God willing, I'll be going to Kenya and Uganda in 2013, and I pray I can bring at least one of my children with me. I want them to experience this too.
God goes before us. This is what He is teaching me EVERYDAY! He connects our dots and He is in everything! Love that our girls have spent so much time together. I'm just a little jealous of Mandi :)
ReplyDeleteThat is such an amazing testimony. I was able to connect with Mandi a few nights ago on fb and was able to talk a little about my experience in Kenya, many years ago. It was so good to talk about some of the hard stuff that she is experiencing right now, I know some of the stuff that she is seeing is so hard at times.
ReplyDeleteI continue to pray for her protection and that God will continue to use her in a mighty way.
Love ya my friend,
Sue
What a beautiful testimony to the Lord. He is so gracious and loving, touching each of us in extraordinary ways. Thank you so much for sharing - you made my day!
ReplyDeleteI loved all this update on your daughters trip...and the special surprises (o: God is so BIG and amazing.
ReplyDeleteWe've been sponsoring Compassion children for over 20 years now and though I don't write as many letters as I wish I did, I love seeing "our" children grow up and know that we've helped out in some small way to give them a better life. It's such a small thing that yields such amazing results!!!
ReplyDeleteGod is so good!!
Praying for Mandi... and can't believe how quickly the time has passed!!
Wow! God is amazing and does amazing things!!!
ReplyDeleteStephanie