These are the faces that break your heart...

Bel-Air Children's Home - "You are special!"

Spent all day with the 35 kids who range in age from 1-19; some handicapped.  Originally we thought it was an orphanage, but no, none of the children are actually orphans; they are - which is worse, I think - abandoned or abused.  Rejected by those who should love them the most, these children are starved for touch and affection.  God bless their caretakers who put up with a LOT - trust me, I know.  Our theme?  "You are special!"

Just their Bel-Air pledge shows their pain:

As a resident of Bel-Air

I want to prepare for a better future.

A place with room for you and me.

Where our minds can be safe and free.

With goals that you may try to achieve.

No matter what people may believe.

I have a life to live.

I can help because I am growing.

I am as bright as the sun that shines.

I am as strong as the wind and the rain.

As rich as the deep blue sea.

I can rise, I can try,  I can succeed.

I am going to reach to the top.

And I will, because I believe in me.

These are the faces that break my heart, and haunt my thoughts.  What will become of these children in a few years?

If we brought them smiles, even for a day, then we succeeded.

my little boy

running to greet me

Shondell & me

"SHONDELL"
she says he is a little more than a year
he looks at me
his eyes wide with untold fears
he's old enough but doesn't speak a word
it's too loud for him be heard
left alone in his crib all day
silent he sat
watching the others play

i pick him up
"he is too light" crosses my mind
only six teeth show
can he really be one year old?
do they feed him enough?
does he ever play?
who is there to care for him each day?

what can life have in store?
what future can he have?
doesn't the world care a little more?...
but he doesn't need the world
he just needs someONE.

his name, she says, is Shondell
he was my one-day baby boy.

RIGHT NOW!

This is right now, Sunday evening Aug. 9!  We might break a record!

All these people coming to visit the ship; each one hearing about Jesus. 

This is why we're here.

Kingstown, St. Vincent

Logos Hope - Bringing Knowledge, Help and Hope

our berth in St. Vincent

Special needs Children's Home

They may not have father or mother to care for them and love them, but they have a Father in heaven who sees and is watching over them.  

They have so little; by having three meals a day we have so much.  My heart hurts for these children - what can I do that will "make it better?"  But we give what we can - love, touch, time - to show them that Someone loves them.

They played their hearts out -- to try and raise money to build themselves a new home.

...they are precious in His sight.

The book she's holding is the story of Jesus that we give out to kids.  They are so happy to get a book!

Kid's Programs

Day Off

(l.-r. Nicky and Simon - USA, me, Rosanna - Australia, Tony - South Africa)

Off to spend the day at the white sand beaches on the Grenadine island of Bequia!

The lines of people coming to visit the ship.

My first Hope Team!

Mental Health Centre

their first books!

Telling about our ship and sharing the message of hope.

Annika (Germany) and Kency (far left, India) officially handing over the books to start their new library project! 

with one of the patients 

Registered as a 160 bed centre, they normally have 226+ patients.  Bare cement walls and floor, locked behind bars; about half were barefoot.  Hardly humane living conditions.  The nurses do the best they can with what they have.  But if there are only 160 beds... I don't want to think about where the rest of them sleep...

Pray:

• for all the people in these pictures; the orphans, special needs children, mental patients, and visitors that Logos Hope crew are getting a chance to reach out to
• that they would understand and accept the message of salvation - their only certain hope
• for Hope Teams, a part of the ministry that is just starting up in the Caribbean region.  Pray for creativity and unity in the teams, as we as a team are told where we are going and then must come up with the "program" we are going to do - dramas, music, testimonies, flag parade, ship presentation, etc. - and then present it.  It is a stretching experience, and can be stressful if it is rather spur of the moment.
• for energy for me, each day!
• that I would get many more opportunities to reach out to orphans and children, as this is really my heart
• against Satan's attacks.  At times we can really tell that we are fighting a spiritual battle - pray against dissension and sickness onboard
• THANK GOD for all my supporters who are making it possible for me to be here!  Did you know???!  I have had enough support come in each month to be fully supported for the past 7 months - 1/4 of my time! 

THANK YOU

for standing in the gap with me in prayer!

During our 14-day Atlantic crossing, this verse came mind:

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.  

Habakkuk 2:14

Do you have any idea of how much water there is in the sea???  Enough so that we can sail for days and days and never see land, and can't drop anchor because it's too deep.  That's how much we want people to know about God!