Meeting physical needs first

"…the whole gospel involves more than preaching; it also means caring
about the whole person and finding ways to meet that individual's
needs." (pg. 248 The Hole in our Gospel)

I was so blessed to be able to live this out Saturday afternoon. This
past Wednesday Mary Ann and I met two young girls, Gloria and Diana.
We decided to take them shopping Saturday so on Saturday Dennis, their
mentor, graciously came over to the guest house and off we went to
their house. We stopped the car on the side of the road and got out
to walk back into a neighborhood. We walked past many houses and
eventually got to their single room house. Diana was the only one
there at the time so Mary Ann left with her to go find her younger
sister Gloria. Meanwhile Richard, the older brother who is not
sponsored, came home and Dennis started asking him questions. Dennis
finds out that both their parents have passed away and they have an
older sister who is probably only 18 who works at a salon so sometimes
has enough money to give her younger siblings dinner but not every
night. He also finds out that Richard carries water for the neighbors
in order to earn money so that he can go to school. He is not able to
pay the full amount and normally that would mean the school would not
let him come but his teachers feel sorry for him so that let him
continue even though his debt is high. Eventually Mary Ann came back
and we took Diana, Gloria, and Richard into town to get some lunch
since it had started to rain. They filled their plates and were all
smiles. (What a change it was to see them now from this past
Wednesday when we first met them!) After lunch Dennis took them
shopping (if we went with them they would have been charged mzungu
prices, so we hung back and bought them some other necessities). Then
we made our way over to another store to buy them all mattresses and
blankets. We loaded everything in the car and drove them back to
their house where offloaded everything. We also got them a new
padlock so that all of their new things would not get stolen.

And now with their physical needs met we were able to tell them how
much God loves them. What a blessing it is to be His hands and
feet!!!! Thank you Mary Ann for your heart to take care of these
kids! (Children of Grace does not have the budget to be able to do
that for all the kids that they encounter.)