WE MADE IT!

We have now been in Sri Lanka for three days, though our trip started five days ago. Our flights went really well, and everyone adjusted to the time difference fairly quickly. The day we arrived we were greeted at the airport by Thilini and friends. We took a bus to the orphanage where we were welcomed by all the children waiting for us who had formed two lines, one of boys and the other of girls. As we got off the bus they gave each one of our team members a lei to welcome us. All the children are beautiful, and we have already been extremely blessed by them.

We spent the rest of that day resting from our long trip, then later we got a tour of the farm. To give you guys an idea of what it is like, the main part of the farm is the orphanage, which is home to about 75 kids. The orphans come from either abusive and broken homes or were abandoned by their parents, and there is a lot of brokenness in their lives, which is why this place is so incredible and it has been great loving them and playing with them the last couple of days. The farm is incredible and the ministry here is very holistic from the orphans, to widow ministry, agriculture, and community. They focus on meeting not only physical and spiritual needs but also the mental and emotional needs.

The second day we woke up, and after breakfast we sat down with Uncle Adrian and he explained to us his vision for the farm and other ministries he is involved with and the theology behind why they do what they do. We have learned so much from him already. Later that day we got to play with the kids for a couple of hours and tried our best to learn names. The guys were learning cricket, and the girls were all holding hands and running around. All the kids are adorable and so easy to love because they themselves are so full of love. That night, we joined in on the girls’ prayer meeting. They come together every night for a prayer meeting in which they all pray for specific things together and sing songs. They taught us a couple songs and a dance to go with them.

Today, we SWEAT. That’s pretty much all there is to it. After breakfast we were put straight to work carrying mattresses and mats from the soon to be dorms. Then we went to the girls’ home while they were away at school and cleaned the floors and the walls and the beds. This took the whole afternoon to finish and after we were all so tired, but our tiredness did not take away from how excited we were to play with the kids after they got home from school. We played with the kids until they had to leave for dinner, and again were so blessed by them.

Now we are resting until dinner. The food has been delicious, and we are so grateful for everything they have done for us so far. We simply want to come alongside them for whatever they need, and we have been learning so much from them as well. We won’t be able to update you guys every day, but we will do our best to keep you up to date.

PRAYER

Please pray that everyone stays healthy.

Pray that Christ’s love will shine through us, and that Christ will be the center of our team keeping us united.

Pray for the farm and for God to provide for the projects they want to do.