Let me start off by thanking everyone for all of your prayers and support, we're all so appreciative. Everyone working with Transformed International is so nice and are making us all feel at home. We started off our day by loading into a few taxis and headed out to the Veronica Home. The Veronica Home is a house that invites HIV positive orphans to live there. Ben and Virginia are the house parents who care for 9 children along with 4 of their own. Before today's visit to the home, I was beginning to become a little discouraged. I started to question whether I was really supposed to be here or whether I chose to come on this trip out of simply just wanting to. I had expected to experience all of these amazing things the second I arrived in Africa. Don't get me wrong, it has definitely been a totally new and cool experience but it just wasn't that 'life-changing-Africa-experience' that everyone always talks about. As soon as we arrived at the Veronica Home, I knew this day was going to be a little different than expected. Before we knew it, our cars were surrounded by little children, waiting as patiently as they could, for us to get out. Once out of the taxis, the children ran towards us with big smiles and outstretched arms. I could barely even walk a step without having a child cling to me. Talk about feeling welcome! We were then given a tour of the home and they proudly showed us where their bedrooms, kitchen and area that the guys from our group are working on were. Throughout this tour, Joyce, one of the little girls who lives at the home, kept her arms wrapped around my waist, hugging me. Virginia generously cooked us a delicious Kenyan lunch consisting of rice, beans, potatoes and cabbage (yes Mom, I ate cabbage and enjoyed it!) and the day was spent playing with the mazungu's (white people) hair, getting owned in soccer, painting nails and just hanging out. Towards the end of the day, the children all began to line up on the side of the house. I thought that they were doing this so we could take a group picture of them but before I could really tell what was going on, they all began to sing. Right then, I knew for a fact that this is where God wanted me to be, He wanted me to witness this. I had so much emotion inside of my that the only thing I could do was just cry. As the children were singing, I was able to study each of their faces (I had time because they sang about 4 songs and each gave a little presentation). I noticed one thing about each of them; they all had so much joy in them. This was the joy I was searching for. I could tell by their faces they were so loved and cared for by their two parents. In Kenyan culture, it is common that children are mistreated and fathers rarely ever show any type of affection towards their children. Ben, on the other hand, stood beside his children as they proudly sang their songs and danced with them. Throughout the day, you could see how much he loves and cares for these children. Ben and Virginia are two amazing parents who are clearly living servant lives for the Lord. I was blown away by the way God reminded me of why I'm here in Kenya. I keep replaying a line from one of the songs that seems to be stuck in my head which says, "we are so happy to be with you...life is so happy,". Little do these children know that they are the reason for my current joy and sense of peace. They have no idea how just being in their presence is an amazing, unexplainable feeling that nothing could ever replace. The memories I have of these beautiful children with their contagious smiles will always be in my mind. The experience I had today was the life changing experience I wanted so badly, the kind I will never be able to forget. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity, God is so good.
In Christ,
Lauren Spiller
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