The Hills with HOPE for the Congo: New Friends and Good Times

I, Allie, have been able to help out with several ministries lately. Barb, a missionary who lives near us, has allowed me to tag along and become apart of what she and her team are doing here in Brazzaville. She has been a missionary in Africa for over 30 years! She is an amazing woman. Barb coordinates a women's prison ministry and an orphanage ministry. I have been to the prison once with her. They go each Friday afternoon and do a devotional with the women. I usually have an ESL class during this time :( They also bring food, clothes, and laundry detergent to give out. The prison is what you would think of when you imagine a prison in a developing country. All the woman are in one area. They have a common outside area where they cook their food over a fire. They rarely have electricity or running water. There are 2 large rooms indoors where they sleep on the floor with a cot. There is one bathroom for around 30 women to share. The prison only feeds them once a day so many of the inmates family members bring them food each day. Also, it was crazy to see babies in the prison with their mothers! Barb said they allow the women to bring babies with them if they have no one safe to live with at home. I really enjoyed the one day I got to go. The woman were very welcoming and open to us. We all gathered in a circle in the common area, sang, and had a bible study. They don't have Bibles so we took pieces of paper with the Bible verse printed on it. Afterwards I started to crumbled mine up and put it in my purse, but all the women were like NO! I was told that the women keep all the pieces of paper and use it as toilet paper that week or sell it to other inmates for needed objects.

I regularly visit 2 orphanages every other Saturday morning. Barb has a team of Congolese young adults who lead the devotional at the orphanages. I go and help out with the devotional and activity. I will take pictures of these orphanages soon and post them for you to see!

Barb, Sarah, and I began a "mentor program" with some pre-teen and teenage girls from one of the orphanages we work in this past Saturday. We plan on doing this every Saturday afternoon for the next 8 weeks. We are hoping to be able to get to know these girls better and be someone they can trust and come to if they have problems. Sarah and her husband Jon moved here at the beginning of June to work with HOPE. They live near us and we have enjoyed having another young couple to hang out with. We eat many meals together and play cards. Barb, Sarah, and I bring the girls to Barb's apartment because we want a nice quiet place to visit with them. The orphanage is never really quiet or calm. haha This past Saturday was our first day and it went great! The first day is always a little awkward, but by the end they were talking and asking us questions. The girls only speak French so it gives us a lot of French practice! I led the first part of the Bible study, but then Barb took over at the end and wrapped it all up. I know I was butchering the conjugations, but they seemed to understand what I was saying...or they were just being nice! ha I had written out a lot of what I wanted to see before hand so I had a good guide to lead me along. After the Bible study we painted their nails and ate popcorn. They loved their nails painted. We had 6 or 7 colors and they were putting a different color on every finger.

I am really enjoying getting to be apart of these ministries. Please join me in praying for these girls we are working with. Many of them must leave the orphanage in a few years and dont really have anywhere to go. Pray that God will lead and prepare them for the future. Also, Barb said many girls around their age end up getting pregnant and being kicked out of the orphanage. These girls are deprived of love, attention, and parents to guide them. There are 2 women that care for 25 kids at the orphanage, and the older girls must help out with the smaller kids. They are so easily duped by men who show them a little attention. We are praying these girls will really know how much they are loved by God. How important each of their lives are to God even when they feel invisible or like they dont matter. May God use Barb, Sarah, and I to saturate these girls in His love, wisdom, and peace.
Here are a few pictures from Saturday! And I had to add one of Perin. He is the son of a Wycliffe missionary couple that lives on the compound with us. He has stolen my heart :)