Mexicans Building Bridges

Well as an update to our prayer request for our new relationship with Ntgozo, we met her last night.  One of the women at the Baby Safe ministry, Danielle, that is disciplining her brought her to our house to meet us.  We chatted for a while, and then Danielle left her to have dinner with us.  Danielle is an American missionary serving here and has been spending time with Ntgozo since April.  They obviously have a great relationship and Ntgozo was quiet, only answering direct questions while Danielle was here.  But then it was just us and her!  I invited her into the kitchen to help me make dinner, and learned it would be her first experience of eating Mexican food!  Count on the Mexicans to build bridges for Jesus.  Good stuff.  So we chopped and mixed and talked about school and small stuff.  We played with Kieren and blew bubbles.  She helped prepare and began to grow more talkative.  What I first noticed about Ntgozo was her beautiful smile and her face lights up when she smiles at you.  As Ntgozo grew more comfortable with us, that smile came out more, we saw more of her beautiful face, and she began to light up our house. It was truly incredible, but even as we asked deeper questions about her parents death and other struggles over dinner, she would speak about her hardships with grace and strength.  She doesn't seem angry or bitter, but even hopeful.  She was shocked to hear that Casey was also an orphan and REALLY shocked to learn we were both pastors.  Conversation became more and more comfortable and we all began to laugh.  Amazingly, Kieren was very comfortable with Ntgozo from the beginning which is VERY rare for her as she is showing her shy personality these days with new people.  The two even ended the night with Kieren showing Ntgozo her toys and them talking together.  She mixed up some amazing American cookies to finish up the night and then we took her home.  We gently explained that we would love her to stay with us for a bit and have her be a part of our lives, and she just seemed almost confused and overwhelmed by the idea.  I think to live with us is SO different than her life now, and she is a shy girl, but she said she would think and pray about it.

As we drove off after dropping her off all I could say is, "I love her."  And I do.  Already.  She has a beautiful heart and spirit.  She glows.  I want her in our life and I want to see how Jesus continues to transform her reality.  As we were sitting in the lounge right before we left she said that one day she wants a job and a house for her and Jacob (her son) and she wants it big enough so she can have people there and help them too.  Beautiful.  I want that for her.

So now we wait to find out her decision!  We are eager to know and ready for her to be in our lives.  Crazy how my anxieties have already been replaced with joy and an eager expectation.  Only God.  Only our great God.  He is amazing.

We will keep you updated but we pray that she will come to stay with us this week!  Please be in prayer for this big relationship, and THANKS for all your beautiful support!

Love,
Sarah