All they need is LOVE :)

1 Corinthians 13:4-8- LOVE IS THE GREATEST GIFT! self-sacrifice is the very essence of love. John 15:13- THE GREATEST LOVE! it is in very deed our calling to become exactly like Jesus in His love and self-sacrifice. we are in the world, just as Jesus was, to have fellowship with men, loving relationships with them, and to win them to the Father who created them! We are in the world that men might see and long for what we have, that they might glorify the Father (Matt. 5:16). We are not of the world, but are entirely independent of all that the world holds desirable or necessary, with principles and laws completely opposite of those that rule the world. the glory of God should be the aim of our existence!

i went to "Loving Hearts" orphanage on Monday and fell in love! those kids were quite possibly the cutest and most lovable kids i've ever seen. there are 19 children, ages 0-2 and they just want to be held and loved, and i felt so blessed to be able to be there with them, even just for a little bit. it's probably one of the nicest orphanages in all of Kampala. i will be helping out there one day a week, which is such a blessing!

i went to the legit slums for the first time today to follow up with some of the kids from Frontline. heart-wrenching to say the very least! i can't even really describe it. part of me is still very speechless and trying to take it all in. it looked somewhat like a lot of kampala, but seeing up close the way they live...they have nothing! nothing! and yet they are still so happy! it's dirty and smelly...some of the most terrible conditions i've ever seen and pretty much all of them have horrible diseases and viruses. they say "muzungu! muzungu!" which means "white person". and they are so excited that you've come to just spend time with them. i got to sit down with a few of the boys in their "home", if it can even be called that. it's the tiniest room that you wouldn't even think would house one person; and four boys work there, making things (i.e. necklaces and different things out of wood, which are amazing!) to sell, and sleep in there! they sleep on the ground, many times with nothing under them. i saw one room, even tinier than that one that 16 boys sleep in! yes, 16! how? i don't know, but they tried to show me. they would hold my hand, have me put my arms around them, want to take tons and tons of pictures, and just hang out. i saw two babies, whose mother had thrown them away along the side of the road, who were over a year old, but were so tiny! they went hungry a lot and it was incredibly hard to not be able to do anything for them. but above any material thing or food we could give them all they need and want is love, and the most important thing we can do is show them Jesus. although they are so blessed to have us there, it was so much more of a blessing for me to be there with them. (check out my facebook for pictures.)

next wednesday i'll be going to an even worse slum area, where the kids get high and girls prostitute themselves. i can't imagine anything worse than what i saw today, but what i hear is that i have to see it. it's not something that can be described.

our verses for the boys who are a part of Frontline:

Romans 8:35-39- "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distresses, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord."

Ephesians 3:17-19- "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

i still can't believe i'm here doing this! as heartbreaking as it is, there's no other place i would rather be right now. it's one of the most blessed experiences i've ever had!

other than that this week i attended a class at the Bible College, went to a women's Bible study, went to church (which is sweet and people accept the Lord at about every service!) and babysat the kids here at the house. we colored and read bedtime stories :) their kids are awesome!

my prayer: Lord, give me the desire to live as You lived, and to love as You love. Cleanse my heart and purify my mind. Teach us all how You would use us to manifest Your love to the world. Fill us full of Your love, so that we may walk in love, even as Christ loved us. May we live everyday as people who have the Holy Spirit to enable us to love everyone with whom we come into contact. Under every possible circumstance, let us love with a love that is not of us, but of Yourself. Amen. Let that be our prayer!