Wednesday, July 20 - After breakfast, we got on the bus to head out to a doubly-handicapped children's home run by the Catholic Church. We got caught in traffic and ended up getting there 40 minutes late, but we were able to sing several songs and do the puppet skit before 240 handicapped students, mostly children although there were also some adults there. With a staff of 160 giving them a student to staff ratio of 1.5:1, we could see a lot of joy and confidence in these kids in spite of their handicap. Pastor Ben preached a short sermon about Jesus being the living water and about 40 raised their hands to indicate their desire to receive Christ. There are a lot of children here from Buddhists and M families as there are very few schools or facilities to take care of these people. This place is expanding and building a multi-story dormitory for some of the children to stay. They also provide schooling and therapy (like speech therapy) as well as vocational training for the lesser handicapped, (IQ for the kids we were told range from 30 to 75). This visit changed many of our prejudices about handicapped people as we saw God's image in them through their innocense and joy although marred by their handicaps. After the meeting and a tour of the facility, some of us had a chance to talk to several mothers who were waiting to pick up their kids after classes. We learned that these moms get up at 5 AM to bing their kids here for classes and sit around for hours waiting until class is over to bring them home (and they had no complaints but just gratefulness). One lady said her daughter is now 26 and has been attending classes at this center for 4 years. She is so grateful that whereas before coming, her daughter could not talk and now can communicate and is working at the center (they do weaving, sewing, etc. and actually make money for themselves after learning some vocational skills. This center is a good example of God's shalom coming on the severely handicapped and turning them into useful members of society, giving them dignity. In contrast to YKASI yesterday, it was such a relief to be able to speak of God's goodness before a mixed group and even talk to their moms (we even got to pray for a few of them). Sometimes, God puts us in a place where there is no place else to turn and then God is able to break through. Some of us bought some souvenirs made by the students to also help their ministry.
After the handicapped home, we got on the bus to eat and go to a different Siloam Hospital. Again, we sang in the lobby for about 40 minutes with both Slim and Fanny conducting several songs, but the audience seemed busier and less interested. However, after that, all of us had a chance to go the patient's room to visit and pray. We had 13 Indonesian members (12 singers plus Fanny, their director who was able to join us all day) and 26 US members (including the Poli's son Aaron), 39 in all forming 13 teams. Again, we could only go to visit the patients who asked us to go in so they were all Christian. We were surprised how welcoming most of them were and several patients also prayed for us so we were encouraged and blessed by them. One lady was there to get her blood sugar balanced properly - she goes to a Pentecostal church - and she was tearing as we prayed for her healing and for her college age daughter who is studying medicine. It was exciting to hear this young lady also visits and prays for patients in the hospital with some of her schoolmates. One group visited an old lady (in her seventies) who was very grouchy and complaining of pain in her side from a tumor but she was all smiles after prayer and wanted us to come back in 3 days to see how she is doing (although we can't do that). A tourist from New Zealand was injured in a motorcycle cab accident 3 weeks ago and couldn't walk but could now take steps with a walker, We then returned to our dorms, ate dinner, debriefed our day and thanked God for another good day.
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1 comment:
Sir, you don't have to substitute the word 'Muslim' with the letter 'M'. I think that offends people as opposed to your intention. And plus, it attracts attention.
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