Saturday, July 12, 2014
Dear family and friends,
     We have been in Kenya for three days now!  The flights were basically uneventful and we drove into Kijabi (one hour from Nairobi) around 2 am on Thursday. Megan greeted us at the airport and we are enjoying every minute with her.  She is doing so well and is loving serving the Oasis ministry and the kids during this past month.  Megan is enjoying living and working with the Smith family- and, of course, any day spent with the kids of the Oasis Children's Home are the best! Today, on Sarah's birthday, we joined the Smiths and Ruzga's hiking Hell's Gate gorge.  Seeing zebras, warthogs, monkeys, giraffe and gazelle while descending into a very deep gorge and then praying that each one of us will make it back out again ended up being a wonderful birthday memory for Sarah.  Tonight, we have prayed with our good Oasis friends and are very, very, very ready to make the trip to the Hill tomorrow morning!  We have had some restless nights courtesy of jet lag, but tonight the excitement of seeing the kids and friends on the Hill will probably make it more difficult to sleep.  We are so very thankful to the Smiths, Oasis for Orphans, our family and friends and especially to our God who is able to "do more that we can ask or think"- He is truly the God of miracles!   What a gift we have been given to have this month!  Please pray for the baptisms of the kids, the community women's conference, the birthday party celebration, Bible studies, building projects- we are so looking forward to all things wonderful things, but also to just being with the kids again.  Please pray also for our health and physical safety, for wisdom and discernment, for relationships to grow with the kids, staff and community and that glory will be brought to God through everything.  We are looking forward to sharing with you this month.

All God's Blessings,

The Derse Family

Some final thoughts upon our return...

Greetings from the Derse Family from back here in the United States!  Ann and Rick Smith have asked us to share with you some highlights of our 5 months living at The Hill in Kenya for the July Oasis newsletter.  We immediately said “of course,” and started quickly making a list of all the different activities and projects that we were involved with there but quickly realized that we are still trying to understand how God moved through us to minister to the people there and, just as important, how He changed our hearts forever in ways that we are still struggling to fully comprehend.  We spent months planning our “to-do” list before our trip only to quickly realize once we arrived in Kenya, God’s plan was much different than ours’ in ways that we could never fathom.  What follows are what we feel were some of the highlights of our ministry opportunities and we will try our level best to convey what we feel God was trying to accomplish throughout and what He was trying to teach us and how He was transforming our hearts in the process.

 

It was evident to us upon our arrival at The Hill that God had prepared these children’s hearts for significant growth in their spiritual life.  What a privilege and blessing it was for our family to see God moving so very powerfully in this area of their lives.  Over seventy of the children prayed the salvation prayer and invited Jesus into their hearts for the first time!  What an incredible praise!  It was great to work hand-in-hand with the staff to develop Bible memorization and implement Bible curriculum to help provide for continued spiritual growth of the children. 

 

We are also so very thankful to have been welcomed into Pastor Andrew’s small community church and for giving us many opportunities to share.  Kathi and Scott were able to preach several Sundays to this congregation.  Quickly after our arrival in January, Kathi discerned a huge need in the spiritual lives of the women in the community and felt burdened to help in this area.  She joined the weekly women’s Bible study and this grew rapidly- drawing 30-40 women every Wednesday to study God’s word and we witnessed significant healing of hearts and relationships.  This culminated in an all-day women’s conference which was attended by 108 women from the surrounding area to hear God’s word through several different speakers and to worship together.  God also gave James an awesome opportunity to serve God’s people there.  He was able to film and produce music videos of the church choir performing several worship songs.  These will soon be uploaded onto YouTube for viewing.  The choir was very excited at the prospect of bursting onto the internet as the newest worship sensation!  Matthew and James also spoke on pursuing careers based on the giftings and desires that God gives us.  This was an important message for children of this community to hear as there is a real cycle of poverty and hopelessness which squelches many of the hopes and dreams of the young people there.  Sarah spent many hours in the kitchen learning the finer points of making chapatti and how to prepare meals for 100 hungry kids as well as helping out with the afternoon preschool and just running around playing with the kids.  Megan, returning to the Hill after finishing her spring semester, came with tremendous enthusiasm and passion to love each one of the kids as well as organizing and conducting the annual sponsor calls.  Trying to coordinate these calls with all the sponsor families given the 8-hour time difference, peoples’ busy schedules and the communication challenges in a 3^rd world country was no small task but seeing the kids’ faces light up when talking to their families was definitely worth the effort!

 

Our entire family was involved in various building and other projects.  James and Matthew worked diligently on building many large storage cabinets.  Matthew learned much about building and construction and was also able to mentor several of the young men as they assisted him in these various projects.   A huge thank-you goes out to Nate and Kurt for helping them get started on this project!  Every dormitory room received a fresh coat of bright paint and 8 new sets of bunk beds were installed.  It was amazing to see how happy the children were with their new “digs.”  Friday nights were movie and popcorn nights.  The 3 hours spent every Friday afternoon popping over 100 bags of popcorn was a burden of love.  This was all the kids could think about towards the end of the week and it was great to see them lose control as we handed out the popcorn and started the movie.  We enjoyed many special Bible studies, nightly devotions, anatomy/physiology lectures and numerous special events (group birthday party, staff appreciation party, bonfire devotions, all-week Easter celebration, etc.).  All of these activities became important avenues for us to build relationship with these special children. 

 

As we reflect back upon this amazing experience, we are aware of the many mistakes and cultural faux pas that we made but the staff and community were more than gracious to us and welcomed us into their lives and loved us anyway.  For this, we will be eternally grateful.  Despite encountering significant spiritual warfare, times of discouragement and life-threatening illness, the privilege and blessing of loving and serving those 98 children has had the greatest impact on all of us and we will forever be changed because of it.  All six of us miss each one of these beautiful children deeply.  We can still see their faces, hear their laughter and singing and feel their arms around us.  God has imprinted these kids on our hearts forever.  We have seen God move in miraculous ways and He has taught us that He is indeed faithful and His ways are absolutely beyond what we could ever plan for, hope for or expect.  Thanks to all who have supported us financially and, more importantly, with prayer.  We know that it was through this on-going prayer that God was able to further His will there with children on The Hill and the Massai people.  It was also a privilege to serve alongside the Smith family and we would like to extend to them our thanks and love for all that they did to support our family during our stay in Kenya. 

 

In God’s Service,

 

Scott, Kathi, Megan, Matthew, James and Sarah Derse

 

 

May 29, 2013

Dear family and friends,

      We walked home from the Children’s Home in silence under a cloudless Kenyan sky tonight.  We had just had a very long goodbye with seventy eight of the children and the staff.  We knew that it would be heartbreaking- and it was.  The tears,  hugs, kisses and prayers lasted for several hours before the final “see you soon” was said (the kids had decided that to say goodbye was not good- “see you soon” meant that our time apart would be short and temporary).  Each of us had written letters to each of the children telling them how much we love them, sharing what we value in each one of them and reminding them of God’s love and plan for their lives. How many nights in the past five months had we walked back to the guest house after hugs and goodnights in each bedroom of the Children’s Home?  For the past few days I had been thinking of all that was left undone here, all the regrets of words not said or heard, had we really done what God was calling us to do.  What hurt the most was knowing that some children were just beginning to open up and share a little piece of their hearts with us.  Why didn’t we spend more time, more energy on those things that will last for an eternity?  We leave tomorrow morning for our flight out of Nairobi.  We have prayed that God will help us to sort all this out- to leave behind the things that could bring doubt and discouragement- to treasure those things and times that brought glory to His name and made a difference in the Kingdom.  I shared with some of the older kids tonight that I was thankful for the pain of leaving them, for that pain was a reminder of the deep love we feel for those children.   One girl replied, “Mom, only God can do that!”  Enough said- Amen!!!  Thank you family and friends for joining us in this life changing adventure!  God has moved through your prayers and support!  We will write much more after returning to Sheboygan. 

 

Love in Christ, Scott, Kathi, Sarah, James, Megan, Matthew

Derse Family in Africa  May 13, 2013

 

Dear family and friends,

We want to express our very deepest appreciation to you for lifting us up to the Father during these months- especially during these times of such intense spiritual warfare.  The severity of these attacks to both our family and the Smith family (living in Kijabe) has been increasing the past few weeks. We are learning what it means to truly seek God for everything and to cry out for His direction and protection.   

 

The long-awaited baptism of over 50 of the kids here was cancelled- much to the frustration and disappointment of all of us.  We decided, along with staff, to make Sunday as special as we could before the high schoolers returned to school by doing a very special blessing ceremony, presenting them with the 2Corinthians 5:17 bracelets, and worshipping around a campfire ( with testimonies and, of course, cake).  The kids also really enjoyed celebrating their birthdays all together, with more cakes and small gifts, as part of the “Who Am I?” devotions for this month.  We were so impressed with how the older kids took leadership roles in planning a surprise staff thank you party with thank you books written by the kids, sweets and food, speeches and music.  It was awesome to see how touched many of the staff were by the letters of appreciation written by all the kids. 

 

The weeks of break from school were also filled with volleyball (thank you Nate) and football games, Bible study, human anatomy/physiology lectures (taught by Scott), and lots of fun time laughing and playing together.  James premiered the second music video he made of the church choir yesterday and continues to work on building projects, Maasai culture documentary video interviews, and the worship CD of the kids.  Matthew is really working long hours finishing up building projects and then taking time every afternoon to play volleyball with the kids.  Megan has jumped in with every part of herself to be with the kids every minute and make sponsor family phone calls for all the kids.  It is so precious to see the looks on the kid’s faces when they see their sponsor families on Skype!  Megan and the two Oasis interns who arrived last week have been painting, helping the kids write sponsor letters and will be leading the kids in devotions in the next few weeks.  Sarah and I are trying to finish up some school in the mornings and then she loves spending time with her friends on the Hill after they are done with school. 

 

As we are on the countdown for our remaining days here on the Hill, we are so thankful that God has gifted us with this privilege of knowing and loving these beautiful children.  I begin to cry even thinking of how we will say goodbye to the kids and staff here.  We had prayed as a family that would use this time to grow us and change us to be image bearers of Christ as well as working through us, despite our weaknesses, to show these children His love.  It may take some time for us to truly see how God has worked- despite the warfare, disappointments and challenges, but God has been faithful in working miracles.  We want to extend a huge thank-you to all of you who have given generously and have made all of this work possible.  God is working through your giving here in the lives of these kids.  Please pray for:

• For the women’s conference next Sunday with more than 100 Maasai women in the surrounding communities- that lives will be given to Jesus, hearts will be healed and all will see the love and power of the living God
• For our health and protection against spiritual attacks- Kathi had an anaphylaxis episode few night ago from an unknown source- Scott has thought of bringing meds needed for such an occurrence and saved her- Praise God!! She was well enough to speak at church yesterday- twelve people gave their lives to Christ!!!
• For our family to finish strong here with time with the kids, teaching, projects for the home, connections with community members
• For the two Oasis interns who have joined us- that they will enjoy and grow from their interactions with the kids and community
• For God to continue to work in the hearts and minds of the 98 children living here
• That God’s will would be accomplished here in this ministry despite severe spiritual oppression and attack

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!  We are looking forward to seeing you all soon!

                                                                                                In Christ,

                                                                                                 The Derse Family

                                                                  Scott, Kathi, James, Sarah, Matthew, Megan

April 25, 2013

 

Dear family and friends,

     Of all the comforts of home, it is the people we miss the most!  There is nothing like living in the middle of rural Transmara Kenya (even though we are literally surrounded by people everyday) that has taught us the life-giving value of real friendship!! Thank you for your continued prayers on behalf of our family, the children here and the people in the Maasai community.  There have been times when we have been experiencing the oppression of the spiritual warfare around us and have desperately sought God’s peace and wisdom that your prayers and God’s grace have brought forth.  It has been just what we needed at the time.  We are leaving this weekend to Nairobi to pick up Megan on Sunday night form the airport.  We can’t tell you how excited we are to have her finally back with us on the Hill!  The kids have been asking everyday for months when Megan is “coming home?”  She has done an outstanding job handling school, work, and all the crazy things that have happened with the pets and house since the middle of January. 

 

The week after her return, we have planned a huge birthday bash (complete with cupcakes with candles and plenty of balloons) as part of our devotional series “Who am I?- Being an image bearer of Christ!  They are all extremely pumped for this event!  Many of the children do not even know when they were born or have ever had that day celebrated.  That week we are helping the kids plan a special thank-you party for the staff with letters of appreciation, songs and drama to honor the staff, and, of course, sweets!  Now that the kids have discovered cupcakes, there are no other possibilities for desserts!  The biggest event that we are all looking forward to more that any other is the baptism on May 5!!!  We are not sure whether the kids will be baptized in a tub or the river- but it will be a day of true celebration (special baptism scripture bracelets, pictures, and a big feast are also planned) We have been teaching for a few weeks on the significance and calling of baptism and there will probably be over 50 kids ready to be baptized on that day!!  God is so good and He has made Himself so present in their lives these past two months!!!  We know this will be a day we will all remember for the rest of our lives!! 

 

Sarah is working hard to finish up school work while continuing to play with kids of all ages here.  The mamas in the kitchen are helping her to learn to cook “Kenyan” as well as braiding her hair.  Matthew, James, and Scott are continuing on building and painting projects at the Children’s Home. The kids love it when Matthew plays with them and “flies” them like an airplane.  We frequently hear his name “Matayo” being chanted as they hang all over him.  Scott has been teaching Human Anatomy/Physiology classes to the older kids and Kathi has enjoyed every moment of the Purity Bible Study with the older girls.  Two Oasis interns will be joining us on May 6 to help with preschool, special activities with the kids including their yearly sponsor family phone call and a Women’s Day of Encouragement, Pray and Worship for the women in the community.  James is finishing up the Oasis- Kids on the Hill worship CD and his Maasai culture and history video project.  Kathi celebrated her birthday this week by finishing up the family and children teaching series at church complete with baby and motorcycle dedication.  Yes, the motorcycles (form of the only public transportation around here) were driven into the church and dedicated to the Lord near the end of the four hour service.  God spared us from carbon monoxide poisoning as the cycles’ engines were left running, headlights on and turn signals flashing during the dedication ceremony.

 

 As we prepare to begin our fourth month on the Hill, we continue to pray that God will show us His way each day and that He will truly give us the eyes and heart to see each child as He sees them.  I love it when at the end of the day, my arms are tired from all the holding and hugging of the kids.   I know then that it has been a great day! Please pray for the kids and their baptism on May 5, for the Women’s Day in May- that many women would understand the life changing love God has for them and begin to see themselves as He sees them, for Megan’s safe and uneventful arrival back to the Hill, for Kathi’s health (typhoid complications of the gallbladder), for wisdom and discernment as we seek God for direction here, for protection from the spiritual warfare heating up in this area, and that God would do a mighty work in this community.

 

Personal note:  I remember writing on our last blog that there had been two newborn infant deaths in this small community right before Easter.  Pregnancies are not publically talked about because home abortions and murders of newborn babies are not uncommon.  Some women feel hopeless to be able to feed and provide for a new child or are totally overwhelmed with the number of children and responsibilities they are “burdened” with so they feel that they have no choice but to “dispose” of their new baby.  We found out about a newborn baby boy thrown into a outhouse pit soon after birth only 6 days before Easter Sunday. The mother of this baby lived right down the road from us, only a stone’s throw from the Children’s Home- why couldn’t she have brought him there?  Family members found the baby and called authorities- the baby laid face up in the feces with the placenta still attached and appeared to be doing fine.  This precious baby boy was taken to a hospital down the Hill and the mother was arrested.  The whole community celebrated that God had saved this baby from death and our family prayed fervently for him.  I (Kathi) asked around the community about what would happen to this little guy- was God calling us to love and care for him?  Would he someday become part of the family of children on the Hill?  Three days later, I was meeting with many women from the community for Bible Study.  Toward the end of the study, a woman blurted out that the baby had been given back to the mother (who was still in the hospital being treated for “stress”) to be fed.  The mother killed the baby as she fed him earlier that day. What?  How could this happen?  I felt like I couldn’t breathe or speak.  My grief was so raw I could hardly see through the tears as I ran from the room to the back of the Children’s Home overlooking a pasture.  I cried out with everything that I had for this beautiful baby boy who would never be held in loving arms, would never know the feel of the sun on his face. Three months of grief, frustration, and disappointment was all pouring out of me at once.  I don’t know how long I stood there until I heard several small voices behind me, “Mom, Mom?”  I turned around to see precious little faces that I had grown to love looking hesitantly toward me.  I put out my arms to them and they all ran to embrace me until we almost fell in a heap.  One little girl, who has the sweetest voice and brightest smile, looked up at me and said, “Mom, why are you crying? It’s Easter!”  Out of the mouth of one of His precious children were the words of hope, truth and love.  We had spent weeks talking about Jesus and the Easter story!  This little one had learned the true message of the death and resurrection of Christ!  Yet, we live in a world of sin, death, hatred, suffering- we, as children of God, followers of Jesus Christ, live in  joy, peace, and love because Jesus’ victory!  Halleluiah!!  Only in Him can we live our lives, despite our circumstances, in this victory and bring God’s message of life, love, and hope to this world so badly in need of Him.  This beautiful baby boy is safely in the arms of Jesus!

 

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.  Until then, God’s blessings to all.

 

Scott, Kathi, Matt, Megan, James and Sarah

April 25, 2013

 

Dear family and friends,

     Of all the comforts of home, it is the people we miss the most!  There is nothing like living in the middle of rural Transmara Kenya (even though we are literally surrounded by people everyday) that has taught us the life-giving value of real friendship!! Thank you for your continued prayers on behalf of our family, the children here and the people in the Maasai community.  There have been times when we have been experiencing the oppression of the spiritual warfare around us and have desperately sought God’s peace and wisdom that your prayers and God’s grace have brought forth.  It has been just what we needed at the time.  We are leaving this weekend to Nairobi to pick up Megan on Sunday night form the airport.  We can’t tell you how excited we are to have her finally back with us on the Hill!  The kids have been asking everyday for months when Megan is “coming home?”  She has done an outstanding job handling school, work, and all the crazy things that have happened with the pets and house since the middle of January. 

 

The week after her return, we have planned a huge birthday bash (complete with cupcakes with candles and plenty of balloons) as part of our devotional series “Who am I?- Being an image bearer of Christ!  They are all extremely pumped for this event!  Many of the children do not even know when they were born or have ever had that day celebrated.  That week we are helping the kids plan a special thank-you party for the staff with letters of appreciation, songs and drama to honor the staff, and, of course, sweets!  Now that the kids have discovered cupcakes, there are no other possibilities for desserts!  The biggest event that we are all looking forward to more that any other is the baptism on May 5!!!  We are not sure whether the kids will be baptized in a tub or the river- but it will be a day of true celebration (special baptism scripture bracelets, pictures, and a big feast are also planned) We have been teaching for a few weeks on the significance and calling of baptism and there will probably be over 50 kids ready to be baptized on that day!!  God is so good and He has made Himself so present in their lives these past two months!!!  We know this will be a day we will all remember for the rest of our lives!! 

 

Sarah is working hard to finish up school work while continuing to play with kids of all ages here.  The mamas in the kitchen are helping her to learn to cook “Kenyan” as well as braiding her hair.  Matthew, James, and Scott are continuing on building and painting projects at the Children’s Home. The kids love it when Matthew plays with them and “flies” them like an airplane.  We frequently hear his name “Matayo” being chanted as they hang all over him.  Scott has been teaching Human Anatomy/Physiology classes to the older kids and Kathi has enjoyed every moment of the Purity Bible Study with the older girls.  Two Oasis interns will be joining us on May 6 to help with preschool, special activities with the kids including their yearly sponsor family phone call and a Women’s Day of Encouragement, Pray and Worship for the women in the community.  James is finishing up the Oasis- Kids on the Hill worship CD and his Maasai culture and history video project.  Kathi celebrated her birthday this week by finishing up the family and children teaching series at church complete with baby and motorcycle dedication.  Yes, the motorcycles (form of the only public transportation around here) were driven into the church and dedicated to the Lord near the end of the four hour service.  God spared us from carbon monoxide poisoning as the cycles’ engines were left running, headlights on and turn signals flashing during the dedication ceremony.

 

 As we prepare to begin our fourth month on the Hill, we continue to pray that God will show us His way each day and that He will truly give us the eyes and heart to see each child as He sees them.  I love it when at the end of the day, my arms are tired from all the holding and hugging of the kids.   I know then that it has been a great day! Please pray for the kids and their baptism on May 5, for the Women’s Day in May- that many women would understand the life changing love God has for them and begin to see themselves as He sees them, for Megan’s safe and uneventful arrival back to the Hill, for Kathi’s health (typhoid complications of the gallbladder), for wisdom and discernment as we seek God for direction here, for protection from the spiritual warfare heating up in this area, and that God would do a mighty work in this community.

 

Personal note:  I remember writing on our last blog that there had been two newborn infant deaths in this small community right before Easter.  Pregnancies are not publically talked about because home abortions and murders of newborn babies are not uncommon.  Some women feel hopeless to be able to feed and provide for a new child or are totally overwhelmed with the number of children and responsibilities they are “burdened” with so they feel that they have no choice but to “dispose” of their new baby.  We found out about a newborn baby boy thrown into a outhouse pit soon after birth only 6 days before Easter Sunday. The mother of this baby lived right down the road from us, only a stone’s throw from the Children’s Home- why couldn’t she have brought him there?  Family members found the baby and called authorities- the baby laid face up in the feces with the placenta still attached and appeared to be doing fine.  This precious baby boy was taken to a hospital down the Hill and the mother was arrested.  The whole community celebrated that God had saved this baby from death and our family prayed fervently for him.  I (Kathi) asked around the community about what would happen to this little guy- was God calling us to love and care for him?  Would he someday become part of the family of children on the Hill?  Three days later, I was meeting with many women from the community for Bible Study.  Toward the end of the study, a woman blurted out that the baby had been given back to the mother (who was still in the hospital being treated for “stress”) to be fed.  The mother killed the baby as she fed him earlier that day. What?  How could this happen?  I felt like I couldn’t breathe or speak.  My grief was so raw I could hardly see through the tears as I ran from the room to the back of the Children’s Home overlooking a pasture.  I cried out with everything that I had for this beautiful baby boy who would never be held in loving arms, would never know the feel of the sun on his face. Three months of grief, frustration, and disappointment was all pouring out of me at once.  I don’t know how long I stood there until I heard several small voices behind me, “Mom, Mom?”  I turned around to see precious little faces that I had grown to love looking hesitantly toward me.  I put out my arms to them and they all ran to embrace me until we almost fell in a heap.  One little girl, who has the sweetest voice and brightest smile, looked up at me and said, “Mom, why are you crying? It’s Easter!”  Out of the mouth of one of His precious children were the words of hope, truth and love.  We had spent weeks talking about Jesus and the Easter story!  This little one had learned the true message of the death and resurrection of Christ!  Yet, we live in a world of sin, death, hatred, suffering- we, as children of God, followers of Jesus Christ, live in  joy, peace, and love because Jesus’ victory!  Halleluiah!!  Only in Him can we live our lives, despite our circumstances, in this victory and bring God’s message of life, love, and hope to this world so badly in need of Him.  This beautiful baby boy is safely in the arms of Jesus!

 

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.  Until then, God’s blessings to all.

 

Scott, Kathi, Matt, Megan, James and Sarah

Long overdue post from Kenya...

From Out of Africa (more precisely, Out of Kenya on the Hill) Blog Entry

                                                April 5, 2013

 

Dear family and friends,

    

We apologize for not writing more last month- we actually started a few entries, but did not finish them before there was more to write.  We are beginning our fourth month here on the Hill and just returned yesterday from Nairobi where we went through the process of renewing out visas for a longer time.  It was great to take very hot showers and soak in the hotel pool to take off several pounds of dirt accumulated during these months!  We decided to spend yesterday morning at the Nairobi Wildlife Park where many species of wild African animals live and wander in from the Mara.  During the few hours we drove around, we saw wildebeests, several species of antelope, a sleeping lion only 10 feet from our van, zebras, various birds and small mammals, and (the highlight for Sarah) were a herd of giraffe very close to the road with their young.

 

As Sarah’s little puppy Joey is growing, she found several animals that she thought would make nice pets in our home here.  We were excited to get back to the kids at the children’s home-several younger ones where very surprised to see us today as they thought we had gone back to America. 

    

We had the best celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus last weekend with the kids and staff!!! Devotions for two weeks prior to Easter were dedicated to the teaching of the life of Jesus, His last week on earth, His death on the cross and resurrection.  During these weeks, over thirty more of the children gave their lives to Jesus and we had the privilege of seeing the presence of God in our worship, group prayers, and in the questions and comments made by the kids.  The day before Easter, we had an Easter party with resurrection eggs and more Easter teaching, crafts, and games before the strong rains came which happens every afternoon now.  The highlight for the kids was to dye eggs (thanks to Megan for sending the egg coloring sets) and, after many pictures were taken of every child with their brightly colored egg, we all ate the eggs!  After Easter church service, which lasted six hours with foot washing and communion, we all worked with the mamas to cook an extra special Easter dinner for the kids and staff.  The mashed potatoes were a huge hit along with rice, cooked carrots, cupcakes, and more meat than you can imagine which stunk up our home the night before.  While we were still cooking during the late afternoon rain storm, the kids wanted to watch the kid’s version of the Jesus movie for the second time (we had never seem them watching a movie so intently= even compared to their all time favorite- The Lion King).  Praise God!

    

Scott continues to work on projects in the children’s home, taking care of minor medical issues and will soon start physicals on all the kids.  He faithfully makes popcorn all afternoon on Fridays for movie and popcorn night with the kids which they all really look forward to.  Matthew and James worked hard with our friends Nate and Kurt for over a week on building projects in the kids’ bedrooms and other areas of the children’s home.  They are both getting pretty handy with power tools and are determined to finish these projects before we leave.  James finished the church’s first worship song video- over two hundred people crammed into that tiny mud church to see the premiere and went wild when they saw the drama spearing scenes and picture of Jesus at the end!  The second video is planned to be taped this Sunday after church with a large crowd to support the singers.  Sarah still loves to work with the mamas in the kitchen cooking and serving the kids at meals.  They love to hear her sing and tell stories!  Sarah also helps with the little ones in the afternoons and can put a baby to sleep faster that anyone on the Hill.  I am continuing to teach a family series at church, loving women’s Bible study, and the devotions with the kids each night.  Along with the pastors, who are on staff here, we are planning longer into the future now and are excited about the big baptism when the high schoolers return for break. We still have kids to the house on Saturdays for lunch. Pasta is new to them, but they love the cookies, crafts, and games.  The Oasis team, who visited right before Easter, brought new wonderful games and toys for the kids- especially the little ones. Preschool time will have renewed energy now!  

 

Megan is finishing up her college classes and will soon be joining us here.  We have really missed her and so look forward to seeing her again.  The kids are counting down the days until her arrival and all the fun she will bring to the Hill. Please pray for her journey here. Megan is also bringing many materials for the kids and staff to use as they grow in their faith.

    

Lastly, there have been two deaths in the past two weeks which have been very hard on everyone.  Infanticide is still widely practiced here (along with illegal abortions) and two newborns never had a chance to know love here on earth before entering into the arms of Jesus.  Mamas worry about not being able to feed one more child or they want to hide the fact that they were pregnant at all.  Life is so hard here.  There is much child and spousal abuse and alcoholism.  Some of this behavior is accepted by the culture and some are acts of desperation.  Please pray for the people here so that they may receive the forgiveness, freedom and love they so need from the Lord and will follow Him above all else- even their cultural traditions. Thank you for your prayers and for taking an interest in these beautiful children here.  We have grown to love each one of them more than we could have ever imagined. Over time, they are opening up their hearts and lives to us and that is a very precious gift.  We are learning so much and yet now realize that, somehow, it seems we know less than we did in January.  God is using this time for all of us as a refining fire and we are praying that He is changing us more everyday into whom He is calling us to be. We really miss you all at home and eagerly await seeing you in a few months!

 

Love,

 

The Derse family