Hope House

You may indeed be wondering what Hope House is. It is an orphanage run by one of the Gabonese pastors and his wife (Pastor Israel and Natalie). They have 26 children who have been abandoned by their parents and they all live in a rented house. There are, I believe, 18 boys and 8 girls, and they range from 2 years old to 16 years old. The girls split two rooms and the guys have a "bunkhouse" outside which they share with only 2 bunkbeds (you do the math...). As cramped as it is, they are blessed to have food, clothing, shelter, and love.

We go to HH every Wednesday afternoon to have time with the kids. We sing songs, teach a Bible lesson, and play with the kids. The older boys usually play soccer in the school yard beside the house, girls talk and do "girl stuff," and the younger kids just run around. Today, Steve sent over a plastic jungle gym/swing set for the yard. You should have seen the looks on the younger kids faces. I have never seen kids go down a slide so many times before!

These have so few things, but the joy on their faces is still very visible. They are a family of 26, and the key word there is family. A family takes care of each other, no matter if they are from different parents or of different color (though they are not of different colors). They remind me each week God's goodness and faithfulness, for they are in Hope House because it is in God's plan. He has a lot of things in store for each one of them, I know it.

Next week we're inviting them over to the Bible school by the house for an afternoon of "Olympics." This idea started after I started a long jump contest a couple of weeks ago with some of the boys. It's awesome to be able to connect with them and really be intentional about building relationships with them. I ask that you pray for Pastor Israel and Natalie as we found out today that the owner of the house that they rent wants to sell the house. This means they will have to find another house that houses 28 people or land they can build on. Pray that God would show them where they are to go and what they are to do. This ministry would not have started without Pastor Israel and Natalie.