A collection of thoughts/memories from some past visitors to Myanmar.
Morning Breakfast:
During my week long stay at the Agape Orphanage I woke up early a few days to help cook breakfast. Typically a group of kids and one adult will wake up in the early hours of the morning to prepare breakfast for everyone. On top of the difficulties of preparing rice and vegetables for one hundred plus hungry kids every morning, there are occasional power outages. I experienced this one day when I arrived in the kitchen around 4am and the power was out. Gosane (aka Joan), a woman who lives and serves at Agape, was there in the dark with 4 of the girls attempting to prepare breakfast in the dark. The only light around were dull embers from a coal fire. I showed up with my headlamp, which I gave to Joan and used the flashlight from my cell phone to give the other girls light. Eventually power was restored but I left my headlamp with Joan, for the next time she wakes up 4 and there is no power.
Arts and Crafts:
Myanmar is a hot place. During the day while it was too hot to be in the sun we put coloring books and other arts and crafts items out to be used. As soon as the coloring books came out, the kids flocked to the room. From the little ones to the older ones, this was a fun activity to be part of for everyone.
Praying for Aungthroo:
While at Agape I heard some of Aungthroo’s story (pronounced In-gah-woo). He shared with me that his heart will get sad when he thinks about his parents. He misses his mom and dad and he feels lonely when he remembers them. I was able to pray for him and encourage him to come to God with his sadness. I met Aungthroo towards the end of my stay at Agape. After he shared some of his story with me, he was by my side the rest of the trip. I pray for him often and ask God in heaven to send his fatherly love to this heart broken orphan.
Kids carrying my backpack:
Jere and Esther are two girls who I fell in love with during my stay. They waited for me between meals and never let me carry my own backpack. Little Jere would not only carry my backpack but would rush to help me put my sandals on. The urgency to be a servant and to be helpful is heart melting.
Safety and Accommodations:
Before going I of course had concerns about what it would be like there. Would we be safe, or feel threatened at all? What are the accommodations like? The bathrooms? The beds? THE FOOD???
Well, I won’t go into all the details here but I can say I absolutely never felt in any kind of danger and we were well taken care of and VERY well fed. It was hot but we were comfortable enough and I could not be happier that I decided to go!!!