Please Pray for this little Guy!

Well school started Monday at our house. I am a highschooler! It is going awesome! I really love my science!

Anyway that is not what I am blogging about. . .

Our youth group sponsors a little boy. His name is Holito, and he is from the Philippines. One of the college guys in our youth group (Dustin) sponsors him, in his name and writes him. Everyone tries to give at least a dollar a month and that pays for him. If any of us want to write Holito we can because he knows he is sponsored by a group. :)

Isn't he cute handsome?!? 

A few weeks ago Dustin  had an update to share with GPS ( Gracepoint Students) about our buddy Holito. He had received another letter from Holito's mom. She shared that they just found out that little Holito has a heart disease. :( Our hearts are so sad and we pray God heals him. One of the things our youth pastor shares about a lot is how "God is sovereign!". We have to know that God has this in his hands along with everything else ever! He loves Holito more then we ever can. 

I ask you to pray for Holito. Please pray that if it is God's sovereign will that He will touch and heal little Holito. That he would be healed completely of this heart disease. That He would use this sweet boys story, which God is the author of 

            for His awesome glory! Pray that God's peace that only He can give will be with this family.

 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28

                                 

                                               All for Him,

                                                         

From: Ethiopia!!

About a week ago I received my very first letter from my Aster from Ethiopia!! I am so excited about this African Princess! She is so sweet . . . I can tell. :) 

The letter is a fill in the blank so there really isn't a full letter. . . I learned a lot about this sweet girl though!!

Aster lives with both her parents. She has one sister named Sheuase. Aster's favorite game is pretending. :) In school she is best in English. Her favorite pet is a cat, and her favorite color is red.  Her favorite bible story is about Jesus. I guess that means all with Jesus in it. :) She likes Christmas. She said she likes to learn, and she wants to be a teacher that means two of my girls want to be teachers and one wants to be a doctor. 

Beautiful girl! 

I love this girl already!I can't wait to get to know her even more!These girls are changing my life! 

Sponsor a child and change a life!

All For Him,

A Changed Future!

For those of you who don't know, "Student Life" works with Compassion International to promote sponsorship and release children from poverty. They get a few Compassion LDP , (Leadership Development Program) students from Kenya and fly them to the states. At each of the camps a student will share their story and help work the Compassion table. :) 

Maureen (side bar), my sister from Kenya came to the states for SL back in the Summer of  2010. That was before we knew her. :(  Mandi met Maureen, on her trip to Kenya in the fall of that year. -_-

I knew I would meet a LDP student at camp. That was one of the reasons I really wanted to go to a SL camp in the first place. Well my mom was SO excited that I was going to meet a LDP student ( I was pretty stoked too!) she found out who was going to be at my camp, found him on Facebook, and sent him a messege telling him I would be there. Oh my mom. . . I love her! :) 

Tony was who would be there at my camp. The first night of camp after worship I walked over to the Compassion table and looked at the beautiful faces. The guy at the table looked Kenyan and this is how are conversation went. . .  " Hi, are you Tony?". . . "Yes." . . . " Hi, I'm Lysa". . . " OH! Is your mom the one who sent me a messege on Facebook?!" . . ." haha. .Yeah that is my mom!" . . .  " She was so excited you were coming" . . .  " Oh yes!" 

It was so funny!! 

It was great getting to know him.  

 Tony grew up in a slum in Nairobi with his mom and two siblings. His dad died when he was very young. He is the youngest of the three children. In Kenya women without husbands and have kids are looked down on. Tony's family needed a place to live and sometimes their own family would not let them stay with them.

They were able to rent a little house in the slum ( a hut). One of the things he said that almost made me cry ( It takes a lot to make me cry. BTW) was that his mom would have nothing to eat for dinner, but she would not want to tell the kids so she would put water on to boil and act like she was cooking and just wait for the kids to fall asleep. Tony said the next morning he would realize they never ate. 

One day when Tony was walking on street a guy told him he should go to the church and they will give free food. It was the day Compassion was registering kids! He would go to the project a few times a week and hear about God and how He loves him. He would get a meal and medical care.  Then one day, when Tony was a teen he came home from school and his mom had died. :( The children were older and able to care for themself but it was hard for them I am sure. 

Because God intervened through Compassion, Tony now has a degree in finance and accounting!! How AWESOME is that?!? 

YOU can do that! You can change a life for Christ! You can make a difference! Sponsor a child! 

It is amazing what God has done and is doing in Tony's life! I am so thankful I was able to meet him and get to know him over that week! 

All for Him,

This girl!

This is Chanley! 

Chanley is one of my sweet 2 yr olds from the CDA. ( Read the last post :) 

We first met all the kids the first day on the playground. Chanley and a few of the other kids kept picking up sticks and little acorn things and would bring them to me and Katie and say " Popcorn" . Then we would play along and pretend to eat it and they would laugh and giggle. :) It was super cute! 

I love all the kids but I got more attached to Chanley then any of the other kids because she got more attached to me then any of the other kids.<3  After the end of the first day Chanley knew my name but she would say. . " What your name?"  then I would say, laughing " You silly girl. You know my name." . She would laugh and the say " Alyssa! " . She wanted attention. :)

 The end of the second day Katie and I were giving the kids hugs bye. When I got to Chanley she grabbed both my hand, looked with her pretty brown eyes and said " Don't go home".  I told her had to and that I loved her and would be back tomorrow. I wanted to stay though! 

:) 

By the time the next day came I was ready to get hugs from Chanley and the others! We got there and as we were getting out of the van a little voice piped up and said " Hi!". It was Chanley with her head poked out of her car! :) She ran and gave Katie and I hug and then went inside. It was SO sweet!

That day was water day! The kids got their swim suits on and went to the water arch thingies they had behind the building. I didn't know it was water day so I was in jeans and a shirt. I played with the kids any way! I love them to much to just let them play without me. :) Chanley would grab my arm and say " Come on!" as she pulled me through the water arches. It was so fun. I played with all the other sweet kids but none were as excited as Chanley! We all had a blast! 

Chanley with my glasses on. :)

Pretty girl!! 

I was having having a great time with the kids,but I knew in the back of my mind I would have to say goodbye soon. When it came time to say goodbye I gave all the kids hugs, told them they were special and that I loved them. I longed to tell them God loved them. . . all three days I longed to tell them, but it was against rules to talk about any religion or use the name Jesus or God there, and I didn't want to make Jesus loving people ( who we told them we were/ who we are ) look bad by breaking rules.

When I got to Chanley she held her hands out for me to hold he. I picked her up and she said it again . . " Don't go home. " I was on the brink of crying. Again I told her I had to and that I love her so much! Then she said "I want to come to your house!" . WOW!! The fact that she had only known me for two days, but wanted to come home with me hit me hard. She is only two but she wants to leave her family to come to my house!?! 

All kids want, is to be loved. Chanley showed me that. We want affection. That is just how God made all of us. You can show love to a child that may not see it. . . You can show them the greatest love ever. . . You can show them the LOVE of Christ. It is so deep. It is so awesome! He LOVES us!! 

Sponsor a child and SHOW LOVE! 

All for Him, 

Student Life in review. . .

Yes, I am alive. ;) I know I have not blogged in a LONG time. . . I am sorry.Since I have been back from Student Life ( read last post :) life has been busy .

Student Life was AWESOME!! God was in every little detail! I went with the church from Norcross and in the first one or two days it felt like we had known each other for forever! God is AWESOME right?!?  Katie and Hannah were my roommates. We became really close! We stayed up till 2:00 the first night just talking. They are so cool!!

Katie, Me, and Hannah. :) 

Back of the bus. LOL. I love the facial expressions. :) 

We worked with the C.D.A. ( Child Development Association) all week. It was kind of like a daycare for poor families. Katie and I helped in the two year old class. They had classes for up to 5 yrs old. Those children were adorable!! I fell in love! :) 

Love them!! 

We had eleven 2 yr olds and 2 or 3 teachers in the class each day. We were there to help with anything the teachers needed us to do . . . Help with lunch . . . Put lotion on the kids after water day . . . Read a book or two. . . and so on

The kids were very needy . . . Not for material things, but for love ( probably material things too). I could tell the children probably didn't get a lot of attention at home, and I was ready to give lots of hugs. :) 

Most of the children and I. <3

This baby is SO cute!! 

Does she not have the cutest smile ever?!? :) 

God did AMAZING things at Student Life!! He showed me so much!! One of the guys I went with (Katie's brother) started a saving relationship with Christ!! I can't even explain how God worked in that amazing moment. He is sovereign!! 

Thanks for all who prayed for me and helped me get there. You guys are super cool!! I will share more about Student Life in the next few posts. This one is getting long. :P

God is great and does great things!! 

All for Him,

Lysa