Late Night Here

Hi everyone,
 It is late here...almost 1 am and actually is now officially Tina's birthday! Happy Birthday to my dear friend!

Thank you for the prayers today especially related to Lucy and Moses. Tomorrow Tina and Jason will meet with a lady who has the power to move those two children to The Covering. Pray for her heart to be softened and her hands to act! Thank you sincerely for all of the verses. They sustained me today, even as we drove past the orphanage where they are and could not stop!

Today we heard an amazing story of a man who started caring for children during Sierra Leone's civil war. The kids were young then and have been with him since that day so many are now teens or in college. It was a really cool place being run by a really strong Christian man!

Later we visited what is known as Grafton Refugee camp. This camp was set up during the war. It was amazing to see the original tents, all tattered and torn, still being used by people today! All of the children were yelling something along the lines of "Ad-a-ma". When we asked what it meant, Osseh told us WHITE MAN! Jason had all the kids in one area singing "Father Abraham". It was so cool! As we were getting ready to get into the car one little girl ran up to me, grabbed my hand and said, "Can I have your phone number?" Oh...again, just melts your heart!

The best part of the night though was getting to hear Quami's salvation story. I will give you a condensed version. He was a young boy when his father died. He was raised in a Muslim home. Some evangelistic missionaries came to the area and his older brother started attending an after school bible activity without his mother's knowledge. His brother came home one day and told them all he had become a Christian. His mother began starving him. Later Quami also started attending and accepted Christ as his savior, growing in the Word and become strong for Christ.

When the war hit the area Quami was working for a Christian organization, keeping track of all of their donations in a warehouse. His friend and him had bunkered down in the warehouse for about week when they decided to venture to their families. They came across a rebel soldier who wanted to know who they were. They tried to explain that they were just peaceful citizens but the soldier took them to a building, partially stripped them, and bound their arms behind their back. There were two other young men also bound there. The rebel told them he was going to execute them. Quami tells of trying to reach his id to place it in the front of his pants so when someone found the body they would know who he was. He said he simply began reciting a verse from God's word,  praying to be saved but accepting that He knew of his assurance of heaven in the event he was killed. Within 15 minutes the rebel came in, untied him and his friend and told them to leave. The other two men were executed. From that moment he knew God had a special plan for his life which he is seeing play out in his work with the orphaned children from the war. WOW! You could have heard a pin drop as he shared his testimony!

So...tonight, my words are not about the children. My words are directed at you. Do you know the saving love of Jesus? Do you know of your assurrance in heaven if you were to die today? Quami did and it gave him peace in such a terrible moment. You can have it to. Just admit that you have sinned, that Christ died for those sins, and you will be saved!

Sorry no pictures tonight, but it is really late and I am really tired. I promise more tomorrow! Oh yeah...get this, Quami played in a basketball tourney that had come to Freetown when he was a teen. He said he scored 34 points in his first ever game! God is making connections! Looks like we might be fundraising for a basketball court at The Covering!!! :)