Ok back to Mark.
From his blog profile as to what he is doing... He explains it better lol
"Since the summer of 2004 we have been developing relationships with the children from the "Home for Children Without Parental Fostering" in Roman, Bulgaria. Although there are many orphanages in Bulgaria, God drew us to this one and we have been seeing the fruit of our endurance. God is faithful and will always finish what He starts. With this in mind, we are very excited about what the Lord will do this summer in the hearts of these beautiful, precious children. Your prayers are vital and most welcome. In the grace of our Lord Jesus and for His glory we labor...please stay tuned for updates throughout the entire summer."
Before he left this year he had brought some pictures of the children in the orphanage for the children at our church. He asked them each to pray for the child on their picture and in return he would take their picture to Bulgaria. He gave each child on the pictures in Bulgaria a picture of the child here who had their picture back here at our church. Did that make any sense??
On Mark's last Sunday Punkin was telling him all about how and what she was praying for in regards to Mira (the name of the child Mark gave to her), and asked him how to pronouce her name correctly. One prayer is that she says is for Mira to be able to find a family. More specifically she would like us to adopt her. She wants Mira to be her sister. She is very serious about this. He pulled us aside and said there is something very special about Punkin and he saw it in class as well. He loved it and loves her. So he more than obliged on answering her questions and taught her how to say Mira's name in Bulgarian properly.
Punkin was just glowing.
He told us that once he got to Bulgaria he would take a picture of Mira holding Punkin's picture and post it on his blog so Punkin could see that Mira actually got her picture.
Oh the excitement Punkin had is indescribable.
Well Mark held true to his statement and Punkin was super excited.
He posted her picture and Punkin was ecstatic.
We printed out the picture (Because Mira had 2 pictures of her. She wanted 2 pictures of Mira too) and now Punkin has both pictures hanging up on her wall. She prays for her every night. She has even "given" Mira a stuffed animal to sleep with at night as well, and carries her picture sometimes around the house so Mira can take part in playing with her as well.
I am not making any of this up!
Now Mark is home. His 3 months in Bulgaria went super quick and Punkin was super excited to hear more about his travels and to welcome him home. Actually 3 weeks ago was his first week back, and before we got to church Punkin had asked my husband if he thought Mark would be at church that Sunday because "Summer is over and he said he was coming back when summer was over." He was there and she was very happy!
Sunday night though was Missions Night at church. We all went to hear all about the "Bulgaria Child Project" and it was all fantastic! All he is doing and starting... Such.Great.Things.
Punkin sat front row the whole time.
At the end we told him thank you, we loved it, and then started walking to the car. That is when Punkin asked a question that filled us with pride and just pure awe of all that God is doing in her.
She was wondering what is it that she can do to help these children know Jesus more since she is not old enough to go over there with the next team next summer. We were already in the car so I said well if you would like you could go back in there and ask him if you'd like. She was all over it. So out she hopped and back into the Lodge we went.
Then she said it.
Words I will never forget it.
Words from a 7 year old that melted every inch of my being.
"I just feel God is telling me that there is something I can do to help. I want to ask Mark what it could be. I want to help."
Really????? She is 7!!! The words so mature and so solid. You could feel with every fiber that she feels God leading her to help. You could feel she isn't just saying it. It's real. It's true and it's a fierce calling. Is that not amazing or what!!!???
We think so!
It took all I had to stay walking after that. She is amazing! She is inspiring!
When we got back in there they were all taking pictures so Punkin and I just hung back waiting for them to finish so she could ask. While we were waiting one of the gentlemen asked Mark if he had a picture of him and Punkin together. He said no and that would be awesome so he called her over and they got their picture together. Once the picture was done Punkin asked him...
"Since I am not old enough to go what can I do to help them know more about Jesus?"
Mark looked at me and I could see how blown away he was. How touched he was. A huge smile on his face and all I could do was smile back. He looked at her and said "Punkin that is a fantastic question. Let me think about it and we'll talk about it next Sunday ok? In the mean time though what if you wrote a letter to Mira and the other children at the orphanage telling them what Jesus means to you. Then I will have my translators translate it so that they can read it." Punkin said she could do that and was just absolutely beaming from ear to ear. He then taught her how to say "I love you" in Bulgarian.
Oh this girl melts my heart I tell you what!
Then off to the car we ran to tell daddy all about it.
This summer she was also all about another missionary from our church and her recent trip to the Congo this summer. She wants to know all about Bulgaria, Congo and all that Mark and Jodi did there. When they each spoke to her Sunday School class she was totally wide eyed and just in awe of all they were doing. She is so proud of them and wants to know anything and everything there might be that she can do to help.
We are so thankful for these people in her life. So thankful!
We love this little girl more than words can describe. The pride and honor we feel for her and to be her parents... speechless. We are asking God what can we do to help harvest this. Encourage her growth and help her to not feel discouraged by anything but to press towards what she feels God is telling her to do.
We can't wait to see all that God has for her in the future.
Thank you Lord for this amazing little girl and all that you are doing in her!
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