Day 4

Here's what Teresa had to say on Thursday nite:

What a mind-blowing, astounding first few days. I’m absolutely numb as I sit here and type. I’m still processing all the events of the past few days. My heart breaks for the despair and longing I see in their eyes. Today was the 4th day…we had 26 children today. They were so happy to take baths and wash their clothes. We had our first girls today, they are 13 and 14 years old. All the kids are just so adorable. They range from 5 to 20 years old. We have come to realize that all the children who are coming are part of the same gang. Today they were drawing pictures with their gang sign and Project Destiny together….so we are now one big family with the gang. So far they are really so respectful and thankful. We are focused this first month on just relationship with them and gaining their trust. We spend the morning with baths and washing clothes, then we eat and wash plates, then we play, draw, and sleep. The children come at 10:00 a.m. and leave at 3:00 p.m. Next month we will add in worship and Bible stories. For now they love being loved and hugged. Our staff is just the best. Today we had 2 staff and 2 staff in-training. We really need more staff...like tomorrow. We will start training next week. We will train at least 8 new people 4-7 p.m. We are continuing to have feeding outreaches to children still in the streets 4-5p.m. Today we canceled the outreach due to rain...it's been raining a full 30 hours!!! In fact when the kids arrived this morning they we soaked from head to foot and inside out.

Today was the first day that the kids washed their own clothes. They were so cute! One of the older boys was too funny...he brought a whole bag of torn up clothes to wash. We realized we really need to buy a washing machine to help out. We want the kids to learn responsibility by washing their own clothes but we want to help them out by spinning the clothes so that they will dry by the next day. When we took the clothes home tonight, we discovered that they were still so smelly and decided to re-wash them. The water was completely BLACK with dirt as the washer cleaned away. Now our house looks like a village of street children exploded all over our walls! Their clothes are hanging in almost every room with fans blowing to try to dry them. We're praying God's anointing will soak into those clothes as the dry here

Well, sorry for the ramblings today...here are a few things to pray for....(thanks)

Please pray for:

• More staff
• Wisdom and discernment for us all
• That we all hear God’s voice moment by moment in all situations big and small
• Safety, protection, and provision for the street kids
• Teachable spirits for the kids
  
• They really see and feel God’s love through us for them
• Provision for our monthly budget for the center