We started the day bright and early, and traveled down the mountain for the first day of VBS. Today's lesson was the baby Moses, and we focused on how God protected that baby in the basket and had a special plan for him when he grew up, just like God loves and protects us and has a plan for each of His children today. The verse we taught them was Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save." They loved hearing us attempt to learn it in their language, and I'm thrilled to say I've just about got it down! It doesn't help when the words "with you" is a phrase about seven syllables longer with too many "p's" and "a's"! Song time was a hoot, and the kids loved watching/teaching us how to dance…all except Pastor Mark, who was pretty much keeping up with them!

We headed back for a quick lunch, and then it was off to our various projects. Joni, Jocelyn, Jill & Liz took charge of the women's encouragement time, where they pampered and shared with the ladies on staff of the Passion Center. The ladies were amazed that our team would take the time to be with the workers, and were thrilled at the gifts they received. They literally squealed when they saw the fingernail polish! One lady pulled Jocelyn aside and in her broken English asked her to tell the ladies of her church "thank you"! So, thank you to all the ladies who donated the various pampering gifts we put together for the staff. It was a sweet time of fellowship for our team and theirs.

While that was going on, Drew single-handedly played with the kids! Imagine about 30+ kids, most who barely speak English, and one American guy and a bag of sport toys. Pretty much chaotic fun!!! Drew attempted to organize a game of kickball, but the language barrier resulted in every ball, base, and rope being used. No kickball, but tons of fun. If we've learned anything this week, it's low tech/high touch. These kids just need to know people care, and Drew filled that bill today.

Back on the construction front, Andy pretty much was THE MAN! The desks and benches for the dorm rooms are done, and since there just happened to be leftover wood, he asked the kitchen staff if they needed anything. Say the word kitchen, and to most of us, a room with a refrigerator, stove, microwave and cabinets comes to mind. Here at the Passion Center, it's a brick "hut" of sorts, with a fire place. Nothing else. And each day the staff serves all the children through a window. But they never complain. So when Andy asked if they could use a table, they were thrilled. Now they have a large serving table that will hold all the plates, which up until today had been served from the ground. When they saw the table, they felt comfortable enough to ask if they could have a stand for their large pot so they wouldn't have to bend over so much when serving. Mission accomplished! The special part of the day was watching Andy teach one of the Passion Center staff how to use a power saw, so now he can fix and build things in the coming months. And to show you how much the cubicles in the bunk rooms mean to the children, one of the girls pulled Tara over to her bed area and said "here, come see my room." They are so excited and grateful and it is such an awesome blessing for us to see how these little things are changing their everyday lives for the better!

The rest of us were part of the team who went to the local hospital to visit the children's wards. I hope I can do justice to this experience. We entered the hospital and each ward was one large room. No individual rooms, not even double occupancy rooms. It was a large room with half walls, and in each section was six beds, and each bed in the hospital was filled with children. In Malawi, the mothers are in charge of the child's care, so they sleep in or under the beds with their children. The horribly sad thing is that a child may come into the hospital with a broken leg, but in the next bed is a child with Malaria or Typhoid. One child we met had come in for a blood transfusion a few months ago, left the hospital, and instantly developed a horrible cough, and had been hospitalized since. Each story was similar. They had either not seen a doctor, or they had seen him a couple weeks ago. Our emotions were so raw as we prayed over each child and mother. Along with our team came a few of the Passion Center children. You can't begin to realize the blessing it was to see those young people talking and praying with the sick children.

At one point for prayer, Pastor Mark put his arm around one of the Passion Center's boys, Yamakani. The boy is incredibly nice, but like any teenager, he can have those moments when he chooses his actions by what is "cool". But when the arm wrapped around him, Yamakani instantly put his arm around Pastor Mark. When the prayer ended, he slipped his hand in Pastor Mark's and didn't let go. This young man has been years without a father, and he clung to the attention.

If the normal children's wing wasn't enough to bring tears to our eyes, we went to the children's malnutrition wing. The commercials you see on television don't do this horror justice. Their sunken-in eyes, discolored hair, and bloated stomachs…we were speechless when we left. We held the mothers and laid hands on the children while Pastor Stewart from the Passion Center prayed over them. When we were through with our visit, we stood in the parking lot, holding hands in prayer. As much as our hearts were broken, we serve a God who cares for these precious children so much more.

In our team time tonight, Pastor Eric (the man God used to assist the founding of the Passion Center) shared with us from Psalm 10. In verses 14, 17 and 18, the Psalmist writes how God is the helper of the fatherless, He sees them and they are never forgotten. What an amazing God we serve!

We love you all! And, you guessed it…you have got to come over here and experience this for yourself!
—Brooke