Recently I hosted a Back to School Party for the children's home I've worked with for a number of years. Some of my family members had donated really nice shirts, pants and shoes, and my friend Shirley Hilton, a retired missionary from California, sent two huge boxes of boys' and girls' things. Mary Padgett, another missionary friend from Texas, brought ball caps and transistor radios when she came for a visit. So I had over 200 garments and 70 ball caps plus the radios for the kids. I let them look through everything and take anything they wanted, and as you can see from the photos, it was like a bunch of women at a Foley's Day after Christmas sale!
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Each kid got at least six garments, some got shoes, and all had 2-4 ball caps. They kept looking at their clothes, folding them up, looking around and grinning, opening them up again, and laughing. They didn't know what to do. They had never had this much even at Christmas. It thrilled me to be able to bless them with material things in addition to sharing the love of Christ
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I had been buying karaoke VCD's for over a year and had picked up some really good ones in Manila. You can get them there for $1.00-$1.50, so with the ones I got at the Christian bookstore in Houston, I had over 30. Of course, they had never heard Blue Suede Shoes or Hound Dog. They loved those songs and wanted to know all about the ‘50s. They also had never heard Debbie Boone's You Light Up My Life and wanted to learn the words.
I was surprised that they knew all the words to the 70's songs but I guess everybody has heard the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. When there was a song that I thought the words were "objectionable," I would tell them to change the words. They would laugh and make up different words. They ended up singing for over 3 hours.
I had all kinds of food, so they were able to eat their fill of grilled chicken and beef curry and salads and vegetables and fruit salad. Since our retreat house is so near the children’s home, the boys like to visit often. Most of them are teenagers and are always foraging for something to eat, so I try to have extra food on hand. They also like to watch cable TV, which they don’t have at the home.
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The founder of the home died three years ago and the board, headquartered in Canada, has asked me to take these kids. I’ve known many of them for ten years now and have regularly bought them clothes and shoes. I'm a father figure to them, and they call me Uncle Ron or Lolo Ron. (Lolo means grandfather.)
The only way I could take over responsibility for these children would be if I had a facility that was completely paid for. The retreat center property is 5,000 square feet, and we have a two-year lease on the house with an option to buy. When I found the house it needed a lot of repairs, but because the owners were thrilled to have missionaries on the property, and because I agreed to completely refurbish it, they let me have it below market value. It has been such a blessing to have this facility, which serves as a retreat center, a school, and a church.
I will have to make the decision whether or not to exercise my option to buy the house by December, so I’m praying for God's direction and provision. Please join me in praying for these children and the purchase of the retreat center.
Blessings,
Ron
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