Unseen Heroes

When most missionaries come to serve with Blessing the Children they focus all of their attention and effort on the children in the program.  This is a great opportunity for the children to be exposed to people from different cultures.  These missionaries often bless the children by bringing clothes, shoes, toys, and health supplies.  The missionaries also purchase items for the children such as beds, mattresses, and blankets while they are here.  We also have had missionaries prepare programs for the children such as VBS and drama camps.

But recently, we had a group of people that wanted to not only bless the children while they were here but one of their major goals was to bless the mothers and guardians of the program children.  This team from Faith Community Baptist Church in Alberta, Canada came with a plan to hold an event for the unseen heroes of the BCI program.

Many of the guardians in the BCI program are making sacrifices for their family to raise other people’s children.  These women have taken in neighbors, extended family members, and even strangers that have needed a place to live.  They are truly living out    Matthew 25 where God says we are to take care of these least of these.

This is also what the team from Canada did.  They picked out a group of poor women in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia that society has called the least of these and they decided to serve them.

Preparing for the ladies event

They planned an event that they only invited the mothers and guardians to attend.  This was a day that much planning and prayer went into.  They had a huge support system backing them from their church and community in Canada.  Much prayer went into this event.

Praise and worship

The day started with all of the women gathered together singing praises to our Lord.  Next, Rachel Hildebrand (pastor’s wife of Faith Community Baptist Church) shared a message titled “What do you need God to do for you?”  She talked about how everyone, rich or poor, needs something from God.  We are all the same to the core in that we all need something from Him.  It may be material needs, salvation, physical healing, emotional support, or any number of things.  An invitation was given for the women to be able to come forth and receive prayer for the things that they needed in their life.  One of the BCI moms came forward and accepted Jesus as her Savior!!

After Rachel’s talk the women were divided into groups of four.  There were four “stations” that the women cycled through.  The “stations” were: a talk on personal hygiene, a talk on nutrition, a talk on menstrual hygiene, and a “spa” station where they could get manicures.

The ladies manicure station

The women were then fed lunch and were given an opportunity to socialize.  But that wasn’t all.  The team from Canada had a gift bag for each lady, that were full of toiletries.  The women had a great time opening everything.  They were smelling things and trying on lotions and finger nail polish.  Each gift bag had a surprise gift in it.  Each bag contained a business card for Blessing the Children Canada (BCC).  The ladies were instructed to take the business card to a local shop that we partner with.  When they did this they were able to exchange the business card for a new bra and a new pair of underwear.  The women were so excited about this!

Two of our sweet ladies with their gift bags

This was such a successful event for our ladies.  They were so surprised and touched that a group all the way from Canada would think about them in this way.  Many of the women remarked that all of the programs up until now have been geared towards the children but they were so happy that someone thought of them and allowed them to have this special day.

This was such a special day.  We pray that this day encouraged our moms and allowed them to see how important their roles are.  We also pray that the women remember this day and know that their efforts and sacrifices do not go unnoticed.  The Bible says we are to give honor where honor is due and we are so grateful that this group thought to honor our ladies.