Living Hope, Laborra & House of Hope

Friday, March 5th 
Big day at Living Hope.  The ladies that were suppose to have come but were not sure of us, did show up on Friday.  We were scheduled for 72 women that day and we were able to pamper 108.  As tired as we were - we were so blessed by these women.  At the beginning of the day - 2 women gave their testimonials - I recorded it with translation but haven't had a chance to refresh my memory but I do remember thinking -  traumatic and touching.  A couple of comments from the day "This is the Lord's love" and "The Lord takes care of orphans & widows and I live by that"  We finished the day - I think at the Acholi for dinner.

Saturday, March 6th.

Repacked suitcases and off we went to Laborra. 1.5 hour drive and it was raining.  Laborra is similar to Suubi, a house mama with 8 orphan children. 1 or 2 can be their own. This is also sponsored by Watoto.  7 of us pampered the mama's (14) and the rest did kid's crafts for the kids (113).  We left after lunch time and had lunch at Acholi. 

We had some down time and then went back to House of Hope to see the swing set that Karen and the guys built.  We also handed out shoes and toys to the kids.  We played with them for a while.  While we were playing, the kids outside of the fence had climbed on the wall to see what we were doing.  Hard not to include them.  We worshipped with them and at the end, the children laid hands on us.  Each child, singing, walked around the room and laid their hand on each of our heads.  WOW!
Ended with dinner and devotions.  

As I write this down to remember what we did on this unbelievable journey - I can not even touch on how we feel here.  The mama's when they hug us - "Bless God".  These people have gone thru so much - more then we can even comprehend - keep going.  They live in conditions that we would not even have our animals live in and "it is good"  We see so much despair but we also see hope.  You would love to do more for them but it's impossible by ourselves.  Most of these people believe in our God - and with that belief  "all things are possible"