Orphanage Visit

We visited Orphanage Emmanuel where we lead several short term teams before going full time.  We were interested in sharing information about heat retention cooking with some of the leaders, checking on what the status of the hospital they are going to construct, and give Kelly an opportunity to see all the changes to the orphanages as she was last there about five years ago.

This is a photo of the team house with our truck parked out front.  The team house can hold about 60 people and there was currently a large team there who were doing various construction projects including the final touches on a new house for the big girls.

One of the things that is so impressive about Emmanuel, which is home to about 600 children, is just how beautiful the grounds and buildings are!

We were able to spend a significant amount of time with the girl we sponsor.  We have been sponsoring her for seven years, which was when she first came to Emmanuel, and now our relationship is very different as we can actually have a conversation with her!

Matt was able to give a Bible lesson to the "Power Toddlers."  These are 35 little guys with lots of energy!

The lesson was on Christ being our King and how when we put our lives under Him we do so for protection, provision and salvation, and in turn Christ has total reign over our lives.

These little guys pray hard, they pray with force and it is such a good example for all of us!

This is the new "Big Girl's House" that was finish and had this opening ceremony welcoming the girls to their new home!

Katja, to the right of Matt, is the Administrative Director of the orphanage and her husband, Max, oversees the little boys house.  We were able to spend an evening with them, share the heat retention lesson and make a bunch of balloons with their kids.  Katja actually cooked her first meal using the cooker the very next day!

Ellen and Kelly spent several mornings at the clinic taking care of six month filing backlog!

They also tackled a little construction project in the clinic.

Here Ellen is plugging in the newly mounted lighted examination scopes and Kelly is cleaning up the dust!

Proud trabajadoras (workers)!

We all spent a lot of time out in the special needs yard just playing with and loving on the kids.

This little guy with the blue balloon hat was burnt over much of his body in a fire at another orphanage.  He is doing very well and really enjoyed his balloon hat... then a balloon sword... followed by a balloon dog... and many more!

Our time at Emmanuel went very quickly.  We really enjoyed getting to meet the folks there on the construction team.  The majority of the team were all retirees who had been coming for years.  They could be going other places and spending their time in tours and leisure, but they have chosen to set aside from one to three weeks a year to serve.  In talking with them it was also obvious that they have remained faithful in serving in their home church also.  The oldest team member was 93, he still gets down to the wood shop making things like shelves for the new house, and he has a very strong testimony about living for Jesus!