the children of the island (I can't get them outta my head)I realized recently that I haven't typed out anything really about my mission trip. I'm sorry!!! I thought I would share a life changing moment that happened to me on that trip. If you've already heard this story, go ahead and close the window, but I know that some of my readers, I haven't sat down with in awhile. The island I was on (for their security, I won't be saying the name of the island) absolutely broke my heart spiritually. The religion was a type of hindusim and very highly stressed on the offering of sacrifices to "millions" of gods, in order to gain favor with the gods and demons. The people live in a constant fear that they will offend SOMEONE. The children even take field trips with their schools to temples in order to present their offerings. FIELD TRIPS! I observed such a field trip and I had to choke back tears. I went a week and a half under the impression that only 6 TOTAL Christians believers existed on the island (according the missionaries that lived there). Then, I went to The Lion King Project. The Lion King Project is an orphanage that holly, jordan, jody, and I found out about from a friend. As we entered the area, Jordan mentioned to me, "Amanda, I didn't see any offerings outside the door. Are they believers?!" She looked hopeful, and honestly, I just was not as hopeful as she was. We received a tour of the orphanage and then the tour guide asked me and holly, "Would you like to meet the girls?" I jumped at the opportunity and then, within 10 minutes, holly and I were left with 5-6 teenage orphans. My first thought was... WHAT ON EARTH DO I TALK TO THESE GIRLS ABOUT? I had nothing in common with them, I assumed. Not only were we from totally different backgrounds, but I could assume that we believed totally different things, AND we spoke different languages. (one of the girls spoke english but not very well) Holly apparently felt the same way b/c I found myself asking the questions to Winta (the english speaking 19 year old). I asked them simple things like, "how old are you?", "Do you have any siblings?", "where do you go to school?", "do you like school?", etc. Finally I reached a question that hit home.... "What do you do for fun?" They looked at eachother and then back at me and said," we sing." SCORE! I had found common ground! I told them that I sang too and said, "I would love to hear you sing sometime." They immediately took me to a room and Winta got out a guitar. Then they began to sing....in 4 part harmony... "My Jesus My savior Lord there is none like you..." Surely I was hearing things. A Christian worship song??? There was no way that these kids were believers! When the song was over, I asked Winta,"Do you understand what you are singing?" She smiled and said, "Amanda, of course I do. I'm singing about my Dad." I smiled back at her and explained that I loved that song. As the week went on, Holly and I spent the rest of our time on the island with those children. All 40 are believers in Jesus Christ and are all willing to die for it. Ages 7-19 and they are all probably braver than most adult Christians in the United States. Those kids have touched my life in an unbelievable way. A day doesn't go by that I don't think of them. I have emailed them and they are some of my favorite people that I've ever had the blessing of being with. Please pray for their safety. sorry for the long post, but I think EVERYONE should know about the strength of the Christian children of the WORLD. We're such pansies over here in our safety net. | 
