Indeed, as it is summertime the warmth is felt both here and there. Thank you all for being a part of this journey with me. 3.5 weeks ago I was extremely blessed when a dear brother in the Lord bought me a round trip ticket back to Bali. So, I am here again, enjoying the shelter of my room during the beautiful thunder storm outside, hearing the shouts and laughs of the kids as they splash through the puddles outside while completely and utterly content with what God is doing in life.
I got back on Wednesday the 20th, and hit the ground running. The kids were super excited to see me walking down the driveway and I was greeted with some of the most amazing hugs on this side of the equator. Each day has been pretty full between taking the kids skateboarding, to their surf competitions to catch some 10-12ft swell, church, short English lessons and evening discipleship with the boys. It is no longer just me as the only man here, but now I am one of three which makes things a lot more manageable. The two other guys are Jason, who has been working with the kids for a while and just got back from his long honeymoon, and Dustin, who was referred to me by a mutual friend. He ended up coming out here to help and now he will be staying probably until next year. What a blessing! They are both great guys to be serving the kids with.
Many of the kids are in new schools now, having stepped up a grade. Its fun to see them grow up, to see them mature (slowly) as my parents probably felt the same way about me. haha. All of the kids are in good health. The infants are now walking, the toddlers are now talking and there is a tremendous amount of joy here. Tina, the house mother has started a project on East Bali, so she often times gets away to go oversee the work over there. Our new non-profit organization, Loving Orphans Global, would like to help Tina pay back the building loans she took out for this East Bali project. Once we get this one squared away we will probably head over to Papua to get that project going. This is so exciting! Oh, and this reminds me, there is an orphanage in East Timor that is going under due to lack of support, so we are going to be taking in about five of the children, and another home here in Bali will be taking about 20-25 new kids. Please pray for this process as we desire the transition to be as seamless as possible for the kids. We do not know how old the kids are that we will be getting, but we know God already has it all sorted out. He is faithful and good, always.
This fall, in November, one of our boys here at our home in Bali is going to get ear surgery to help remove massive amounts of scar tissue, and then hopefully he will be able to hear! That is something to keep in prayer as well. The money for this surgery was donated specifically for this cause through the Asian Pacific Children's Fund. How amazing!
I will touch back with you all in about two weeks as I get settled in and back into the routine of being around a lot of kids... all the time. :)
Blessings and love,
Richard
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