Feb. 1, 2008

February 2008 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

As I write this letter, the center is full of activity.  We've had a couple of good snows this last week which means snowball fights have been breaking out fast and furious.  There's one happening right now, in fact.  From what I can see, David and Josh are pitted against a bunch of 3rd and 4th grade boys.  I'm cheering for the munchkins, of course.

Earlier today I was watching little Florin (the 3rd grader as opposed to big Florin the 5th grader) play a Spider-Man game on the computer.  I've seen other kids (and adults) play this game before so I sort of know what you're supposed to do.  Spider-Man is supposed to run around stopping burglars and fighting villains.  Well, apparently there's some freedom programmed into the game which allows you to just run around punching and kicking civilians.  That's what Florin was doing when I saw him.  He was attacking random people on the street and laughing as they ran off screaming.

Lau, who was working with the kids at the computers, tried to get Florin back on track by directing him to go help stop a robbery.  Florin (as Spider-Man) succeeded in stopping the robbers but then tried to punch the police officers.  Apparently, that's one thing the game won't let you do.  Florin was pretty disappointed.

Our Christmas celebrations with the kids went great.  We had two full nights of caroling, the first night at the children's homes and the second all over (and I mean ALL over) the city.  I actually got blisters on my feet this year after that second night.  We walked a ton, but a good time was had by all.

On Christmas night we had a full house for our all-nighter at the center.  I think every single kid that was invited to come came.  Usually, we have at least a few no-shows, but not this year.  Plus we have more kids now than ever, so we were packed.  But that only made the night that much more fun.

We started the evening singing and praying together and reading the Christmas Story from the Bible.  Then we played lots and lots of games (two or three hours worth I think) until dinner.  We celebrated with a huge meal together around 10pm, everyone getting as much (or more) as they wanted to eat.  After dinner, we had a time of honoring the children.  Each child had one of the adults on our staff talk about what a blessing they are to our community and also about positive changes we have seen in them this past year.

We then opened presents together, each child having one large shoebox-sized gift full of great stuff.  They all received new mittens and a hat and scarf.  They received a stuffed animal of some kind.  They got school supplies and books and, of course, toys.  The kids seemed really happy with their presents.  Vali does a great job every year preparing the gifts for the children.  She seems to know their individual tastes really well.

Around midnight or one in the morning we started watching movies that we projected onto a wall (very cool).  We watched Transformers (which the boys loved), Shrek the Third (which the girls seemed to especially like with its love story and all), and Treasure Planet (which all four or five of the kids that were still awake by that point seemed to enjoy).  At seven in the morning all the kids headed for home, presents in hand.  The staff members left shortly thereafter and, I assume, went home and crashed.

We all got the time off this year between Christmas and New Year's.  That was really nice, but I was really glad to see the kids again on the 2nd of January when we started back up at the center.  Of course, by now school has started again and we're back in the regular swing of things.  Florin, of course, is taking his swings at civilians.

Thank you for remembering us this holiday season.  Please keep praying.  There is a very real battle going on for the lives of these children.  Please continue to intercede, to stand with us as we stand with them.

Love,
Paul

paul.rase@wordmadeflesh.com