God’s hands and feet

My journey to Sierra Leone, Africa was amazing, heartbreaking, gut renching, and so much more that words can even describe. The 7 days we spend in the country was very busy with limited internet connection. God really showed us his favor multiple times while we were there. It is so neat to be God’s hands and feet in a world that truly needs the love of Jesus.

We arrived late Tuesday night to Freetown International Airport in Sierra Leone. The airport was very small and didn’t have a terminal to pull into, it’s was actually pretty cool to have a ramp pulled up to this gigantic plane and walk off the plane and smell Africa! After not sleeping for about 32 hours straight at this point I was running on pure adrenaline. We had 32 bags of luggage with donations and supplies for the Orphanage to get off the baggage belt and amazingly enough all 32 bags were accounted for with nothing missing.

We ended up getting settled in the guest house we were staying at and went to a little place called Alex’s to eat our first meal in Africa. It was really neat, an outside place right of the coast with dinner by candlelight and entertainment by a guy in the ocean eating fire.


The next day, Wednesday I had probably gotten 4 hours of sleep and my alarm goes off and I shot out of bed, why you ask?? Because today was the day I get to meet Kevin, today is the day I had been in anticipation for 7 months. Words cannot even express my feelings that day, all I could do was cry and cry and cry some more. I don’t think I have cried that much in my entire life. We get into the vehicles and trek our way up the mountain to the Orphanage that we can see on the Mountainside but seems like so far away. The roads are an experience. The people, the culture, their way of life are so different from ours. I learned a lot on this trip about other people and how God truly loves you no matter your race, color, nationality, living conditions, etc….. I knew all this beforehand but seeing it in action really is breathtaking. We arrive at the Center and are surrounded and greeted by all 79 kids and all the workers, they have prepared a welcome ceremony for us.


I am video taping, camera taking and searching for Kevin all at the same time. One of our ladies notice I can’t find Kevin and see’s my worry on my face and asks one of the caregivers to take me to him. The caregiver explains to me that he is sleeping. I said to her, “don’t wake him, I just want to see him.” Well she proceeds to run up the 3 flights of stairs ahead of me and wakes him, I hear him crying but can not see him yet. Finally around the corner and we meet. Yes I am bawling my eyes out at this point The caregiver hands him to me and he immediately lays his head on my shoulder and stops crying!! This was a moment I had prayed about for months. The caregiver asks me in her broken English, “You cry happy tears?” I say, “Oh yes, these are very very happy tears!”


This day was by far one of the best days of my life, seeing how happy each and every one of the children in the Center was so happy there. It was a harsh reality that the rest of the children in Sierra Leone don’t have a great place to live or maybe not even a place to live at all. We are truly blessed in America, my words can’t even begin to express how blessed we are. This trip has changed the way I think about life, material items, vacations, my family, and everything I do. Yes I was excited to finally meet Kevin and to be honest that was really my only reason for going on this trip, but once again God had other plans, he really showed me what it means to be his hands and feet.

The next couple of days, I will post blogs and pictures of our trip to the children's hospital, beach day, and much more.