my boys

Just finished a wonderful week of camp with a group of boys! Here’s a little bit about it!

On Friday, I said goodbye to ten of the most precious boys I have ever met! Jonathan, Simon, Martin, Michael, Edwin, Ernest, Teddy, Joseph, Patrick, and Arnold were the names of the boys that God put in my group this week and the names of the kids that I have been praying so much for this summer. They were all from Misisi, which is one of the most dangerous communities that we have pulled kids from up to this point. They came to camp so hungry for love and affection, which was great for me because I had lots to give! We really did have an amazing week together, and they blessed me so much!

All ten of these kids were coming to Camp LIFE for the first time. All ten of these kids had never heard about Jesus before this week. And all ten of these kids gave their lives to Christ throughout this week. What a beautiful thing that I got to experience! These boys live in poverty, sickness, abandonment, and darkness, but they all asked Christ to bring them into His marvelous light and released their burdens to him! I’m so thankful to the Lord that I personally got to be a part of the beautiful rescue of each of these kids and physically see him pluck his children out of the pits that Satan has surrounded them with. The angels indeed rejoiced this week when they asked Jesus into their hearts! I can’t wait for all of you to meet them in heaven some day!

Although each of them now have received hope and have light in their lives, their situations haven’t changed. They suffer abuse, hunger, neglect and hardly feel loved by anyone. Many kids that come to Camp LIFE tell their counselors that they are the first people to have ever hugged them or said the words “I love you” to them. But the worst part is that without a good education, they will have no means to pull themselves out of the cycle of poverty that they’ve known their whole lives. Without an education, they won’t be able to provide for themselves or their families. About half of my boys go to a community school, which is really only 2 or so hours a day of lessons taught by an adult with only a 7th grade education themselves, and the other half don’t have the money to pay for the school fees. Even the boys that do go to a school now may be pulled out in the future because their caregiver has run out of money to pay the fees or the child will have to help provide for the family. Long story short, I want my boys to have a chance at breaking out of their dark home lives, so I desperately want them to have an education.

Family Legacy has recognized this need and provided a beautiful solution. In so many of the communities that we work in, FLMI has already built and established high-quality schools to educate our kids. The Lifeway Christian Academies are run by Christian educators who have at least a college degree. In the national exams last year, the kids at the LCA’s achieved some of the highest test scores across the nation. But not only do the LCA’s provide a good education, but they also provide Christian discipleship and a good, nourishing meal with lots of nutrients that these kids wouldn’t get otherwise. However, Family Legacy can only afford to provide this opportunity to the kids that are in their sponsorship program.

The sponsorship program, called Father’s Heart, is a $40/month commitment to providing education (and all of the supplies that are needed for that), food each month, and discipleship to these kids. We have Zambian discipleship leaders in each of the communities that work closely with these sponsored kids and know them individually by name; they are the ones that will check up on them, deliver their food every month, and know if and how their situation changes. By paying $40 each month, these kids are given a chance at getting out of the impoverishment and darkness that they’ve known their whole lives. They’ll receive one of the best educations in the country. They’ll have someone continuing to teach them the Word of God throughout the year so that they can grow in their faith. They’ll get food for themselves and their whole family. They’ll grow up into men and women of the Lord and have the ability to change their nation. And they’re given all of this in the name of Christ.

I feel like one of those “feed the orphans” commercials, but I actually know the stories and hearts of the individual kids that you would be sponsoring. I’ve hugged them, kissed their cheeks, held them in my arms, laughed with them, and cried with them. I’ve been to their homes and seen how they have to live, and I won’t stop until I see each one of them given an opportunity to break free. So please be in prayer about whether or not God is leading you to sponsor one of my boys. If you’re not at a place in your life to do that, then I would really appreciate it if you would join me in prayer that the Lord would provide ten people that would be willing and able to do this.

Be on the lookout for pictures and stories of each of my boys when I get back to the States! (I don’t really have the internet capacity here to upload pictures in bulk, so be patient with me!) But please do let me know if you’re interested before then, and I can definitely get you more information. If you have questions about my boys, the Father’s Heart sponsorship program, Camp LIFE, or anything Zambia related, please don’t hesitate to email me at mariahglasener@hotmail.com or visit Family Legacy’s website at www.familylegacy.com.

Thanks for sticking with me through this really long post! I have a week and a half left here, but I’ll try to continue to update in my time left! Thank you for your prayers!!