To Love is to Forgive

We spent all Saturday afternoon at the orphanage with a group from our church. Our theme for them this year is "to love is to forgive". We're preparing for the Day of the African Child (June 16th) on which we'll have a big celebration with the 3 orphanages that we work with. The previous week we talked with the kids on the importance of forgiving other. We encouraged the older kids to write out letters to Jesus saying who they need to forgive. Some of the letters were extremely sad as they explained why they needed to forgive different people. They were very heartfelt. So this Saturday we taught them the story of Joseph and then spent time talking and praying with each child individually. At the end of our time we burned all the letters and we could see the joy in the children faces as many of them let their unforgivness go.

I really feel a burden for one 15 year old girl in particular. Anna just came to the orphanage with her small brother. She is from the village in the NW and only speaks pidgin English. Her parents sent her to Yaoundé a year ago to live with some relatives so she could go to school (very normal here). When she arrived the relatives put her and her brother to work instead of school. They beat her often and then told her she has to marry an uncle. She refused (she was only 14) and one day when everyone was out of the house, the uncle raped her. When the family found out she was pregnant she was sent off to social services and put into the orphanage. She is about 2 months pregnant right now. She says her parents don't know what has happened to her and we are trying to contact them now. Needless to say she has a lot of unforgivness. I asked her is she has accepted Jesus into her heart and she yes but I'm not too sure. She is very open to listen and a really sweet girl.

Anyway, I am taking her to the hospital this week as she hasn't been for a check up yet. She also has small amounts of blood come out of her ears and eyes (possibly from the beatings). So please pray for Anna that as I befriend and witness to her she will grasp the love of Jesus and allow Him to make a difference in her life. She is completely illiterate and doesn't speak French so she is sort of cut off from the other kids. Also pray that she has a healthy and safe pregnancy.

On a lighter note, we had singing and dancing with the children too, check out our new "Ski Videos" page and see Josh dancing African style :-)

(Talking with Anna)