Team Member Story

In July and August we had a team here from our home church, Red Rocks Church.

Kristy, one of the ladies on that trip, was particularly impacted by what she saw and experienced here.  Shortly after the trip she wrote an email to the team members, sharing about how she was struggling to adapt to life back in the states after what she had experienced here in South Africa.  With Kristy's permission to share, here is a portion of that email:

"The comparisons to how we live in the States to what they live in is obviously drastic. Since I've been home, going out to eat even makes me uncomfortable. We waste so much here and are served so much on our plates alone. I've started asking if they serve 1/2 portions... the answer is always no.

When we were in Freedom Park we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. My mom will tell you I've never been one to eat the crust. I've just never liked it. But ugh, I couldn't bear to NOT eat it because I was thinking this could be a meal for one of the sweet children I'd spent time with. I know I may sound crazy but these are the things (among many others) I've thought about since I've been back in Colorado.

Daily, I think of walking through Freedom Park on our home visits. We visited AIDS patients, brought them food, water, and prayer. The stench of hopelessness hung over the shacks of those we visited. The people of Freedom Park struggle with poverty, death, and the sickness they've named "our disease." (Known to the rest of the world as AIDS.)


Daily, I think of what a gift_____________

- it was to be born in America (or any non-3rd world country)

- it is that I was not an orphan

- that my parents adopted me

- that it was a specific and true plan that they are the ones that have me

- that they are still with me on this Earth and they raised me in a loving, supportive home

- that even though I'm an "only" I have friends that I love like family

- it is to have an education

- to have a job that doesn't cost me selling myself

- to be healthy

- to not have to eat dirt or live in it

- it has been to teach all those great kiddos that have been put in my care for a school year

- that I can walk outside my door, drive down the street, or hike a trail and not be afraid that I'll be mugged


I could go on and on... 

Make your list. 


Finally I'm thankful for the gift of knowing the difference."

One of the things that we love about our work here is being able to see lives changed in this way.  The people who come to work with us go home different people than when they arrived.

~Lincoln