Operation Christmas Child

Yesterday, I volunteered at Operation Christmas Child which is an amazing organization that distributes Christmas presents in shoe boxes to children who are poor and in need. Their Mission: "To demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ." People all over America pack shoe boxes with gifts and then OCC sends them to children all over the world. Last year, 8 million children received a Christmas shoe box. Since 1993, 130 countries have received these shoe boxes! That is amazing!



You can learn more about OCC at their website which is here.

Have a great week!
God bless!
~Lily

Thankfulness :)

Happy almost Thanksgiving!
I feel so incredibly blessed! I have an
amazing family, I go to an amazing
church where I can fellowship with
great friends and I also have the
opportunity to go to school and work.

In Ecuador, I really realized how blessed
I am and how easy it is to forget that!
There were kids who couldn't go to
school, kids who were fourteen and had
to work in order to help their families.
In Kevin's family, both of his older
siblings work.

At the CDC, there was a young woman
in a wheel chair. She had lost most of her
limbs yet her face was still filled with joy.
I want to live like her. Have nothing yet
still be thankful. I really saw there that
you don't have to have stuff to be happy.
You don't even have to have all of your
limbs. What you need is JESUS!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!
God bless!

~Lily

Open Hand Children's Home

So once again I am here to tell you of a Children's Home that God
is using to rescue children from lives of poverty and hardships.
Located in Kenya, Africa, Open Hand has rescued 41 children and
loved them the way Jesus loves us. Check out their website to
learn more about the work they do! It is extremely encouraging
plus they have adorable pictures of some of the kids! :) God bless!

~Lily

What's next :)

Hey! Sorry it's been a while since I last posted... I've been super busy!
I am graduating this year and so I have been praying about what come
next! I am hoping to go to an orphanage for several months and immerse
myself and learn all I can. So right now I am looking and praying about
where I should go. It's really exciting and a bit nerve-wracking but I am
excited to see where God leads. :)

Also, click this to go to Maggie Doyne's blog. She has a Children's Home
in Nepal and is doing AMAZING work there. This is an intense story about
some of the stuff she does. God is really using her in the lives of the people
living in Nepal.

Have a great week! :) Here are two pictures of two sweet girls I met while
in Ecuador. Karin was a little love bug who just crawled right into my lap.
The older girl (I never got her name) was thrilled when she found out we
both had braces and never left my side for the rest of the day. :)



God bless!
~Lily

Covenant Mercies

Covenant Mercies is a ministry through the
SGF church helping orphans and those in
need in Uganda. Their website really explains
alot about what they do.

"Covenant Mercies’ vision for ministry to
orphans includes:

*Enabling extended families of orphans to
provide effective care through our Orphan
Sponsorship Program

*Building orphans’ homes in cooperation
with local churches in other nations

*Providing adoptive homes for orphaned children

*Providing Adoption Assistance grants for
qualified families through our Orphans Fund"

Covenant Mercies also allows the children to be
sponsored. For just $30 a month you can make
such a big difference in a child's life. Click here
to go to the sponsorship page.

God bless!
~Lily

Missing Ecuador and all the cuties!

Final Ecuador post :)

Well, today I'll try to wrap up this super long saga of my trip... ;)

I was blown away by how much I learned on this trip. I am so blessed
to be a sponsor and be able to sponsor Kevin. I actually just got two
letters from him where he told me how much fun he had. So cool to
hear! I am excited to correspond with Kevin now that we have so many
memories to share together! I feel like I receive more as a sponsor than
my sponsored child does. Being a sponsor is more than a monthly $ sign
but it is investing time and love into a little boy who lives across the
continent. I am so thankful for Compassion and their ministry.

Have a wonderful week!
God bless!

~Lily