Nestled among five villages, Hope Village care center is a beacon to hundreds of village children who choose to spend their days among the resident orphaned children, often benefitting from the community Bible camp, clothing distribution, and meals. These were thechildren who gathered round, their curious faces pressed against the windows of the meeting hall, the day we launched Hope Village’s first Memory Book Club.
“I have a story,” I offered the children in invitation. “In the beginning, God created the stars, and placed them in the sky, and the moon, and the sun.” I continued with the creation story, concluding, “Everything God created has a purpose, including you.”
We taught the children over the days that followed about the God who knew each of them before they were born, who has a plan and purpose for their lives. They learned and recited the meaning of their names, and created a self-portrait inside their personal Memory Books. They painted a ‘coffee filter’ flower and participated in a drama about the tiny alpine flowers atop Kilimanjaro, in coordination with the Memory Book Club lesson, “Bloom where you are planted.” They discovered through Bible lessons the significance of Jesus’ blood and how his death was part of God’s plan from the very beginning. The children stood to their feet in eager response, asking God to heal their broken hearts through Jesus.
One club meeting, I had the privilege of sharing my childhood story. Two teenage boys responded by standing and volunteering the story of their parents’ deaths, as if they had recited it in their minds for years. On the final day of Memory Book Club, a child announced, “I liked hearing your story because I realized I am not alone.” More children echoed his sentiments, remembering all they enjoyed about that week – the crafts, the stories, their personal Memory Books.
Our translator, Lawrence, was so struck by the value of Memory Books that he offered to coordinate the Memory Book Club monthly. “Can I have 150 more books so I can open the club to the children in the surrounding villages?” he asked. What a wonderful request, one we were happy to oblige!
God asked us to travel to the far side of the world to tell the children, “God loves you. He sees you. God knows your name.” Just think of the ripple effect a simple Memory Book will have in Hope Village, and to the villages beyond.
F ollowing our ten days in Malawi, we were off to Uganda to meet with Good Samaritan Ministries (GSM) Representative of Uganda, Patty Pullen, who I met during a Global Leadership Summit in Portland, Oregon in August 2015.
Uganda, home to 37 million people, is located in the heart of the African continent. It is one of the poorest nations in the world with the median age being less than 15 years of age. It is home to three million documented orphans, and the nation ranks third in the world with the highest percentage of its population infected with HIV.
For 12 days, we traveled with a GSM team to churches and schools to launch Memory Book Clubs and distribute 700 Memory Books, with a promise to send 3,000 more. Wherever we went, we presented God’s plan to heal and to save, and saw many children respond to God’s invitation to begin healing their broken and wounded hearts.
I visited a local prison on my last day in Uganda, sharing the same Good News message. Most of the prisoners were young men devastated and demoralized by life’s struggles, least of all their petty crimes. Four men stood wanting to commit their lives to Jesus, including a young man just admitted that day, and a Muslim man who responded, “Today is the last day I will fast for Ramadan.”
Thank you for continuing to support our outreach to children! Memory Books are changing lives across the globe! May God bless the children of the world forever and always.
READ MORE IN OUR JULY 2016 NEWSLETTER.
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