those freakin' muzungus

Well it’s been a few days since I was last able to give an update on everything, so I’m going to try to remember the highlights of what’s happened since then!

Tree of Life Freedom House Grand Opening:
Saturday was the opening of the Freedom House at the Tree of Life Children’s Village! Such a good day! We started out the day by preparing the villas for the arrival of the Americans by distributing all of the supplies that we had sorted the day before to each villa. We all woke up super early and were headed toward the villas at around 7 am. An hour later, all of the villas had their supplies for the week and the Americans were arriving! Annnnnd I can’t remember what happened after that.

But then eventually we ate lunch and headed out to the Tree of Life for the house opening! We all got there two or so hours before the house was scheduled to open, so everyone was working on staging the house with decorations and homey items! Once we had finished there, the house was adorable and it was time to line up to greet the new kiddos! All of us went down to the road that the bus would drive down and lined it, preparing to greet the Freedom House kids. It wasn’t until about an hour and a half later that the bus actually arrived, but during that time, we all got to spend some sweet moments dancing and singing and playing with the TOL kids. When the bus finally drove up, everyone was clapping and cheering and waving at the new arrivals-- there was such joy in the eyes of the old kids and the new ones! The Freedom House kids got off the bus and the old kids all sang their greeting songs for them. Then, Greer talked to the new kids and explained what was happening for them. The kids were directed toward their new home and they got to tour the God-send of a house that they would get to stay in! I unfortunately didn’t get to see any of the reactions or the looks on their faces because we had to rush to get to the orientation meeting for our Americans, but I’m sure they were overwhelmed with gratitude and joy!

First Day of Camp:
Monday marked the first day of camp! Being here on the Monday of the first week of camp was definitely a new experience for me-- I’ve always been here during the second half of the summer, never the first! Anyway, the staff had been warning us that sometimes, the first day/week is a little rough simply because it takes a little while to get all of the bugs worked out, so I was almost expecting something resembling a train wreck for the first day. However, the first day went really well!! Summer staff girls and John all headed out on Junior (the trailer/trucks that we haul all of our stuff around in) at around 7:30 am with lots of supplies for camp for the whole summer-- snack buckets, brooms, trunks of beads and costumes, etc... We unloaded everything and realized we had still left some trash cans and tables back at the villas, so Hannah, Megan, and I all climbed back on Junior and headed back. We got the stuff and headed back to camp! The rest of the day was wonderful, it felt so so good to be back!

Last night at around 10:30/11 pm the other summer staff girls and I were making our PB&J’s for camp and we got to talking about what would be happening at camp today. Today is the “freedom” day, probably the most powerful day of the week. During the first big session, we sing a song called “The Freedom Song,” and the first two minutes is instrumental. During that first part of the song, each American counselor makes his or her way down their line of kids and holds each one and prays freedom over them. The prayers are for freedom from any chains that are binding the children in darkness and anything that keeps their hearts from knowing Jesus Christ. It is an incredibly powerful day for both the kids and the Americans. Anyway, last night we got to talking about what would be going on today, and we had a really good, long discussion that lasted until 1:30. We all decided to pray for the events today, and we had one of the most incredible prayers together. We all went around in a circle and individually prayed for the freedom day, and it was truly so powerful. The spirit was so present in that prayer! Despite it being so late, during the prayer, I was not tired or distracted at all. But as the fourth girl in the circle was praying, I found my mind wandering and myself being super distracted. I quickly recognized that Satan was trying to take my mind and my focus off of this prayer for freedom for the kids, so I began praying (within the prayer) for an undistracted mind and for God to be victorious in the small battle over my mind during that prayer. This tells me that Satan is present, and He hates what is going on in camp. Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray with me for freedom for the children and that they would come to know Jesus! God is doing some powerful things!!

I apologize that it’s been so long since my last post, but as this first week wraps up, there will probably be less chaos here and more time time update y’all!! Hope all is well!

Blessings,
Mariah