Home - where your story begins
Kee Poh Li & Lynnette Wong:
POR team checks in again with updates from South Africa as we get connected with Acres of Love story. We were inspired as we witnessed for ourselves the fruition of Ryan and Gerda Audagnotti's dedicated commitment and their strive for excellence at their homes to provide the highest level of quality care, love and nurturing. Their passion and hearts for the orphaned and abandoned infants and children, infected and affected by HIV/AIDS were evident and their desire to seek to save as many children as possible, one child at a time blessed our hearts as more lives continued to be impacted and the children flourished under Acre of Love's care.
Agnes Goh:
Sanibonani (Hello) from South Africa! After a good "early" night sleep, I woke up fresh and recharged and was all ready and excited for our events for the day.
We had our first prayer and reflection session at 8am conducted by Pastor Nicholas and the group was given the platform and opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences from yesterday. Our reflections within the group includes the importance of having a heart of joy and gratitude. Having seen the joyful smiles on the faces of the people and children we met and from the welcoming greetings we received everywhere, we saw the importance of a joy-filled heart. We must also always have a heart of gratitude. We experienced bountiful of blessings everyday but yet we are never satisfied. Instead, we often complain, compare and compete amongst ourselves.
We had a wonderful time touring Acres of Love and had the opportunity to visit the Provision Home, as well as Linden Home. The homes were beautifully furnished and well kept. more importantly, we were able to experience the joy and love in the surroundings and that the children were being loved and cared for in these homes. The children are blessed and are given an opporturnity to be educated, to DREAM and know that there is a FUTURE and HOPE.
Today, I am richly blessed and am very encouraged and know that God can use me as His hands and feet. As long as I am willing, accompanied with a heart of joy and gratitude, I would like to be used by God to be a blessing to the people around me.
Doyle Lim:
Greetings from Johannesburg, South Africa! Today marks Day 2 of our journey here to experience more of God's love and grace in this faraway land with Acres of Love.
The day kicked off with an early sumptuous breakfast at 7am that was accompanied by constant cold breezy wind. While the delicious food fed our physical bodies, the time of devotion was equally nourishing for our souls. We were once again reminded by Matthew 25:31-46 that our hugs, touch and smiles to the kids are not in vain as we are doing these to our Heavenly Father. In addition, the time of personal reflections shared by various ones really made us ponder about our individual lifestyles back in Singapore.
A visit to Acres of Love
Gerda, CEO of Acres of Love, came to share with us about the birth of
this amazing ministry. How it started and bloomed was totally not a
coincidence in expanding God's love and grace to this beautiful
country. We had the privilege of having to hear her share of one of
the most amazing miracles she had experienced in Acres of Love with
this young child, Kitty, whom came into Acres of could with a poor
prognosis for survival as she was found to be suffering from cancer at
a very young age. But God gave Gerda the faith and biblical words to
believe that He had not sent Kitty to Acres of Love to die but to
provide her a new lease of life. To cut the story short, as we speak
today, she is now a fine young lady, healed from cancer and completing
her education pursuits!
The team headed off on a bus tour to various places where Acres of Love had setup Forever Homes. One of the Regional Directors, Claire, shared with us that every home has a Home Mommy who will take care of all the kids and provide them with whatever that was necessary for their upbringing. It was definitely not an easy task and required a truckload of love and patience.
One of the Homes that we visited was Linden Forever Home where Evangel was involved in providing the resources for retrofitting the house interiors. It was a delightful experience to see it on site. The Home was beautiful; complete with nicely decorated bedrooms, fully facilitated kitchen, assortment of toys and not to mention a beautiful garden for the kids to have outdoor fun that many Peacemakers admired.
This whole tour brought me to think about what is our own Acres of Love today? For Gerda and her team, it was about rescuing and providing a home for the kids. They seek to create belongings for the kids. What about you and me? Can our "Homes" provide luxurious space and comfort for others to feel belonged? Or is it so filled up with our own things that no one can even enter?
The day came to an end with an awesome dinner time with the Linden Family, Gerda and Darren at Mezepolis (a Greek restaurant). Some of us had the opportunity to play with the kids. It was a wholesome experience and I could use 3 words to describe them: Smart, active and cheerful. Their smiles and laughter exhibited the simple joy and contentment they have in their lives.
The moments with the kids soon past us by quickly and it was time for farewell. I silently hoped that the kids had really enjoyed themselves with us even though it was for a short period of time. At the same time, I felt glad that these kids were given a new lease of life and living theirs to the very fullest. Thanks be to God's grace and mercy which was so clearly exhibited through their lives.
Tomorrow marks a brand new day where the POR team will spend the entire morning with a bigger group of children playing games and singing songs so stay tuned for an exciting write-up!
