Servant's Heart

Well, we've been back for a week and a half now from Tonga and are getting settled back into life in New Zealand.  But there are so many memories and experiences that are engrained in our minds and hearts.  Our main purpose for the trip was to build the house for the family with the blind daughter and also to participate in the home visits and pastoral care of the disabled.  We stayed at the Mango Tree Centre for Disabled People which ministers to 80 families with disabled family members who live in the community around the Centre

Over the next couple of weeks, I will share some of the experiences so that you can get a taste of what life was like in Tonga for us during the week-long outreach.  In this post, I will start with what J experienced.  Actually I will let you just read what he wrote about the time in Tonga and what God was showing him.

While I was in Tonga I experienced the LORD working through me and the others around me, helping me and encouraging through the whole trip.  I felt like I had a real purpose, to serve the LORD.  The only things I gained while I was in Tonga were wisdom, friendship, and faithfulness.  I met some great people who showed love and affection to me.  The girl and her family who we built the house for were a great family, the girl we built the house for was blind, (but you wouldn’t know it) she was at a real disadvantage because of all the rocks and junk where she lived.  So when we built the house for her family, we built a ramp so that she could get into the house without hurting herself.  One of the most rewarding things while we were there was the looks on the family’s faces and their joy when we finished the house.  All in all I think the best thing while we were there was the feeling of serving.  - J -

A young man learning servanthood. :-)  He helped do a little painting on the new house and digging the pit for the sandbox and building the shelves.  And he went with us on all the home visits - he bought little balls and toys for the kids and helped to keep them entertained while the adults visited with the parents and the disabled family members.  Almost every home that we visited had kids so he was pretty busy!  He also played a lot with the director's 5-year-old son - who was only lonely because he is the only kid at the Centre for Disabled People.  Overall, it was a an experience he will never forget!