Dear Pastors, Principals, and Church Members,

There were so many wonderful parts to this trip and I feel so blessed to have been able to go, but when asked, I always feel that my favorite part was working with the kids. Because the church was built so fast, that left us some time to work with the children that were at the work site every time we were there - the numbers were over a hundred. For Sabbath School and on days we were building, Hannah Johnson, Rebekah Widmer and I would hold meetings for the kids. Each program began with prayer, followed by singing. Their favorite was Father Abraham, which has a lot of hand and foot motions. You will probably see this in videos from this trip. We would then act out a Bible story. Through a translator, the kids would tell us their favorite animals and they loved it as Rebekah played each animal going into the ark, with Noah, played by Hannah, standing nearby. We then played games, including Duck, Duck, Goose and Red Light, Green Light. The kids were shy the first Sabbath, but soon were laughing and choosing us to chase them around that Duck, Duck, Goose circle.

For this trip, several of us had brought balloons, lollipops, stickers, crayons, frisbees, beach balls, as well as an assortment of other toys. The kids would just mob us when we would hand out anything. They put the stickers all over their faces and you will see that in some of the photos.

Even with the toys, the kids always seemed to get the biggest joy out of us taking their picture. Each one wanted his/her picture taken. While they would be serious for the photo, they would then look at their image on our digital cameras and burst into giggles. Then we would get ready for the next picture, and everybody would be serious again.

While we were just doing it as a game, I didn’t realize the value of this until I started looking at them later. Working in communication, I know the power of a picture. But I was moved even more deeply when looking at these photos later. Between several of us, we have hundreds of these gorgeous, close up shots of all these special kids - kids that we hope know a little more about God because we were there. Some of the pictures are so crystal clear that you can see the photographer’s reflection in their eyes.

I would encourage each of you to please consider whether your church or school can go on a trip like this. If you can, it will touch your life.

If you go, please take toys for the kids. The money you spend will be so small compared to the joy you will see on their faces.

Because I’m in communication, the advertisements and promotional materials for Mozambique will be coming from my department. Please realize that the pictures you see are ones that mean something to me. We played games, sung songs, told Bible stories, took pictures, and prayed together. These are the kids - these are my friends - I met in Africa.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Kinsey
Communication Director
Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists