Caroline and the kids she's looking after : Matthew, Elijah, Princess, (haha joshua- a mission boy), and Jaykonjay
A bunch of the kids in the mission

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

- Matthew 7:7-8

 

“A measure of grace which God gives us and which we allow to elude us is like a precious treasure floating on the stream beside our vessel, which, unless we grasp it at once, will be carried away by the current”

- blessed Ildefonso Schuster

 

 

            This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the things of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and He will say: Here I am!

            If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the Hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

            -Isaiah 58:6-10

 

But God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

- Romans 5:8

 

Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the Law.

- Romans 13:10

 

The night is always darkest before the dawn.  Yea, I know I stole that from the Dark Knight, but it definitely applies to more than a movie.

 

We all have hardships, tribulations, times in exile, but if we didn’t have them ..well first we wouldn’t be human.. but life wouldn’t be as beautiful as it is.  The good things would not be as good, because we wouldn’t appreciate them.  They would lose the purpose - The pleasure.  From every struggle, there is a gain.  And usually the best things in life, at least in my experience, have come after some of the worst times.  And that is the hope, and thought I have to cling to whenever I’m going through one of those “spells”…

I Love these Children.  They give me something to look forward to waking up at 6 in the morning.  They give me hope in this world.  And after experiencing something like what they’ve have instilled in me a sense of wanting to do anything I can for everyone who needs it.  So sense I’ve been hear I’ve been praying for God to help me help His people.  To help some people who really need it.

 

Well like always, God provides.  And last Thursday I was eating breakfast in the kitchen and David (the man who started Mission Liberia in 2003 – he was here for a week visit) walked in and told me that the Holy Spirit had just came by and was waiting outside for me. Now haha, at first I didn’t know what he was talking about.  I was like “wait what?!” – but I had forgotten that I had shared with David my prayer.  I walked outside at the front of our steps and met a woman who looked slightly familiar.  She introduced herself as Caroline and told me that she attended the Church we all attend (OK I thought, that makes sense of why you look familiar).  She continued by explaining why she had made this trip to the house.  She told me that she was looking after two boys who’s parents were murdered - She immediately had my attention.  She said she started looking after them, but had no way of providing for them.. She didn’t have to go anything further.. I quickly told her I would do everything I can to help her take care of the children and I would also put all my efforts in trying to get them into our nearly-at-capacity mission.  She told me that is what she was coming to ask because she didn’t have a place for them..I didn’t really understand but I agreed and told her that I would help her financially take care of the boys until the next semester starts when we can get the boys in the mission (summer).  She cried, we hugged, for a while…and the only request I made was that she bring the boys by sometime soon so I could meet them.

 

So the next morning Jerome walks in the Kitchen and goes..” Your woman is back outside my man”.  I ran outside excited to meet the 2 boys.  But as I turned the corner a surprise was awaiting me – there were not 2 children, but 4 (3 boys and 1 girl).  At first I was taken aback, but then I was more and more excited to be given the chance to help more kids.  I hung out with them for a little while talked to Caroline a little more (by the way..she told me that since their parents had died she wanted them to have my last name…) and told her that them getting in depended on the director of the missions approval (I figured that would be easy enough) – and that we could all talk at church Sunday morning.  So that night I prayed.  I prayed that God would help Emin (the director) to make the decision He needed him to make – taking the children in is what I thought that would be.

So that Night I talked to Emin, who by the way is Honduran and speaks English worse than I speak Spanish.  Clarissa, Jerome’s wife, helped as the interpreter and the discussion ended with smiles and high-fives as Emin agreed to take in the Kids.  At Church the next morning I couldn’t wait to tell Caroline and the kids the news.  Emin told me he wanted to talk with them but had to talk with the priest first. So mass ended and I ran up to Caroline and told her.  She was so happy, so happy in fact, that she felt fine telling me more about the children and her story.  She told me she didn’t have a house (not really a house, but the village they stayed in was more of a colony of mud huts), and that was the reason she came to us really trying to get the kids in the mission - Because not only was she taking care of these children without money, but without a home. I just sat there in awe, smiling at this beautiful servant of God.  Emin was still talking with the priest when she told me she had to take the children to their grandparents (over an hour away) so they could sleep somewhere that night.  I looked at Emin and thought that he could talk to her another time so I just hugged her, thanked her for all she had been doing, and told her I would see her and the kids soon and Emin could talk to her then.

 

Well here is when the night gets darker.  When Emin came up to me and was distraught about not talking to her I didn’t understand.  He said that he had to talk to her about the system and how it worked.  So we ran over to the village trying to catch her before she left..No luck..  On the walk back we were joined by one of the Liberians who helps look after the boys, “Uncle Loofi”.  We were talking about the family on the way back and He had to break me down – He told me what Emin was saying he had to explain.  We could only take the girl and on the three boys.  I wanted to cry.  I couldn’t understand, if someone is in need, how can we say no?! This is a mission, isn’t that what missions do?

 

But as they explained to me, although still extremely uspet, I was a little more understanding.  They told me that one of the reasons our mission is so good is because its distribution of aid.  And that if we took in whole families we would just be taking in a village or two.  But if we only took in one person from a family or village, we would be able to take in people from the whole country.  And that the way the mission helps so much is because that one person we take returns the favor.  They take care of the village; they help end the cycle of poverty.  I understood.  WE weren’t ending the cycle, WE weren’t doing anything it was God.  It was His Love.  It was His passion and His will.

By teaching one how to fish, he teaches everyone he knows.  We had to help to distribute the aid, as hard as that is, so that those who receive the aid will help to distribute it as well.  OK, so I kind of understood, but I was still broken thinking about having to tell Caroline that we could only House 2 of the 4 kids (we could send them ALL to school, which with the help of all of your support is possible, but we can only have 2 completely in the program)

 

But like we heard in church earlier that day, out of everything that is evil, good comes after. I was so down about telling her.  So when the chief of the village told her we had come to see her, and I saw her walking up the road, my heart sank.  I told Emin and Loofi she was coming and we all met her to talk to her.. I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t have to really say anything – they did it beautifully. They explained that we could put all the kids in school but only completely take 2 – and they explained that it was so that we could help the maximum number of people in Liberia.  She smiled and told us that she knew that the kids who got the full opportunity would not let them down.  That they would pass forward the things they were to learn.  They she was still ecstatic we could help.  “Thank you God!” is all I kept repeating in my head.

 

So although a hard lesson learned, I’ve come away with an appreciation, and also an anticipation to meet the others (that through all of you! And your help!) We will be able to support and help them to help themselves and their country!  This was a tough lesson for me to learn, but we just have to keep telling ourselves that God has a reason for everything.  Thanks again for all of your prayers and support! 

 

 

IN ALL THINGS REJOICE!  “Savior, He can move the mountains - Our God is MIGHTY to SAVE!”

 

Life, Love, and Peace,

 

Uncle Matthew