Even though I've been here before, it still amazes me how much work we can fit into a day. Our big events for the day were Vacation Bible School and the hospital visit.

Andy had a crew of men…and Jamie B. who tagged along, worked at a girl named Priscar's house. I'll write more about Priscar and the work our team is doing there after I visit the home site, but it's an incredible, and heartbreaking story.

Mike (Dayton) had his workers back at the Center starting to build a swing set for the children. Right now these kids have practically no equipment to play on, and what little they have is in horrible condition. So, we're hoping in the next few days we have left to finish it up…so be praying that we can find the specific workmen we need and that they would understand the urgency of the project, rather than acting on their normal relaxed time schedule.

The rest of us loaded up in the Pajeros and headed for the Grace Orphan Center in a more remote part of Zomba. We arrived at the center and the children were singing for us in greeting. There were about 100 kids there, and they were ready for a good time. After introducing ourselves in front of everyone, Chris Prater taught the lesson about Daniel and the lions' den and the power God displayed to save him from death. After that, it was my turn to teach them the Bible verse, and of course it had motions! We taught them Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save", and the kids caught on quickly with the motions. After that it was time for crafts, and I want to say a huge THANK YOU to Gail Waters once again for prepping all of the crafts for both of the trips. That was such a huge blessing to us to have all the prep work done! The children made bracelets with beads, and you should have seen their little faces as they proudly displayed their new jewelry. Game time was pretty much crazy, but such fun for the kids. We sang songs, and it has been determined that by the time we leave Malawi, every child in this country will have learned "Pharaoh, Pharaoh!" Drew closed our time together by sharing the gospel, and many children raised their hands that they would like to accept Christ as their Savior. What an amazing blessing! We gave them a baggie with candy in it as we were leaving, and the children fell into one of two extremes…either they dove in and ate it all in roughly 30 seconds, or they put it in their pocket to savor later. They were so excited about their "sweets", as they call them, so thank you for all that candy you donated for our trip!

Right after the VBS, we set off for the hospital visit. We had brought with us a bag full of gifts for the mothers who care for the children, full of bath soap, laundry soap, vaseline and a bottle of pop. Like last year's visit, the hospital visit was hard to emotionally process. Their setup is so different than what we are used to in the states. Even if we have to visit the Emergency Room back home, with the wait that can go on for hours and hours, it's nothing like what we experienced today. First off, we walked past a line of people, some adults, some mothers with children, all lined up waiting outside for their chance to be admitted into the hospital. Once you enter the "lobby", children are all sitting around, waiting for shots and IV's to be administered, right there in front of us. Instantly your heart just breaks with all the need that you see.

There is no such thing as individual hospital rooms. It's one main hallway per ward, with breakout rooms that are open going off that hallway. There are no full walls, no doors, and children with Tuberculosis are out in the open with other children. Sharon told us that it's no surprise when children come in with a broken bone and leave with an even more major issue. The health care is so minimal, and we found out later that there is one major surgeon and he is HIV positive.

So we did the only thing our team could do…we prayed to The Ultimate Healer and asked for His healing touch to be on these children, and then we loved on the mothers, telling them that there is a God who cares for them. The amazing part of this whole thing was that Joseph (Passion Center chaplain) handpicked certain kids in the Passion Center to join us as our interpreters. It was so awesome to see them jump right in, asking the mothers their names, why the children were in the hospital, and then some of them initiated the praying. These are special, special children, and it isn't happening in a vacuum…the staff members here are simply amazing, and so Godly. I know I've said it before, but this trip is worth it just to be around these men and women who have such a passion for God and for these children and the community. There really are no words to express how we feel about them.

Then it was back to the center to do what we love…play with the children we love! Chris has started painting on the Multi-purpose building where the children play on the weekdays, and then on Sunday it is where Pilira's church meets. She's loving bringing color to the Passion Center, and the kids are loving it, too!! Several of them ask to help with the smaller jobs, and it's cute to see them end up with more paint on themselves than on the wall! And they get a kick out of pointing out the paint that ends up on our skin and clothes!

On the way back from the playing and painting, Joni was walking back with Talitso, the boy who was brought to the Passion Center last year with the severe burns after his grandmother (a local witch) placed them in the fire after catching Talitso stealing a piece of bread because she wasn't feeding him. Out of the silence came his little voice singing "Hey, Jesus loves me!", one of our church's VBS songs. Do you know what that means to us who saw Talitso last year? This little boy who was being raised by a witch in the darkness caused by Satan and all of his demons, is now surrounded by the love of Jesus Christ, being taught that though he may not have an earthly father, he has a Heavenly Father who loves him more than any person ever could. This Passion Center is doing so much for these children, and I cannot begin to imagine how it must bless the heart of our God.

Only a few more days with these wonderful people and we're headed home, and already my heart is starting to hurt, and I know the team feels the same way. They get such a hold on you and you'll never be the same. But, I know that this is how God wants it…He doesn't want us to forget the things we've seen, experienced and learned. It's what we've been praying for all along.

Thank you for all your prayers! And, on a side note, Joseph (Passion Center Chaplain) says a big "hello!" to all his brothers and sisters back in Ohio!!

—Brooke