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| Coffee ceremony at Kind Hearts |
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| "Clean water is such a blessing!" Makayla Meinert |
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| Makayla with smiles all around |
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| Note to Kyle and JK- Know which one is men/women's stall and make sure the door is shut :) |
Ethiopia group 2014 (minus Katie Kimble who is thankfully on the mend!!) Blog by Mack Starr below!
Click to watch Video: Kind Hearts School children playing
Click to watch Video: Mollie playing "Double Double this this" with children
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| Joey with her sponsor child Hyder! |
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| Guest House dining area Day 4- The Day of 1,000 Kisses Mack  
Our day started off nice and early. Everyone seemed to be
exhausted, but we were quickly awakened when Joey attempted to drive our
van, on the strange Ethiopian roads (she was also screaming the entire
time so that helped wake us up as well).
We arrived at Kind Hearts, even through Joey's scary driving,
and were extremely excited to see the kids again. We hung out with the
kids for about an hour. For me, hanging out with them meant continuously
picking them up, running, playing futbol (soccer), and holding their
hands. It was a great hour. After that, we started to hand out the care
packages. The kids eagerly waited as we called their names one by one.
This is a huge day for the kids, because they only get care packages
twice a year. When they received their packages, the looks on their
faces were priceless. They took the packages with an indescribable
amount of joy and thankfulness.
After we finished handing out the care packages, everyone had
lunch. Right before lunch, Matthew and I were heading to the bathroom,
and my precious little sponsor child (Mente) came to us with a big plate
of rice. I started to tear up a little bit as he tried to hand me his
entire plate (this is the only meal he will receive today).
I told him that he can eat it all. He looked sad and went directly to Matthew and offered it to him; he turned it down as well. These kids are so grateful for what they get, and they are just as happy to give it away.
We finished lunch and gathered the kids together. Sam presented a
color book that explains what Jesus did for us. We gave each of them a
book and i think that they understood it. When we were done handing the
books out, the teachers decided that we would play a game of futbol-
Ethiopians vs. Americans. It was a fun game as all of the guys on our
trip tried to play a competitive game against mostly eleven year olds.
We ended up winning by one goal, probably because of our extreme height
advantage.
The game ended and we sadly said our prolonged goodbyes. I tried
to hold back crying, but i didn't, as i said bye to Mente and my other
sponsor child, Fasika. It is fair to say that over 1,000 kisses were
given by the kids today.
After the kids left, the director of the school talked to us for
a little bit. As if it wasn't hard enough leaving, he told us that we
had taught them how to truly love their children. He told us that he
would give us something if he had anything to give us. That was a
heart-wrenching statement. We finally departed, and the sadness quickly
turned to fear as Ali took the wheel and went about 500 mph over the
many pot holes, until we got to the highway.
We went back to the Lulu house for about an hour, and went to
the Island Breeze restaurant from there. We had a great time there, and
had a lot of laughs.
Today was one of the best days of my life. It showed me that to
show God's love, language is not a barrier. All you need to do is show
them you care about them and you will probably get around 1,000 kisses.-- Mack Starr
       Makayla with the girls   Opening care packages     Saying goodbye is hard! MIZZOU! Bye Mollie! |
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