The Heart of a Child

Jimmy asked Kap's oldest daughter if she would like to write a letter to us, letting us know what it is like to have visitors. Below is what she wrote... (I'll warn you - I was thankful I had a box of Kleenexes closeby on my desk.)

My name is Nadia, or that is the name my friends call me here. My real name is too hard for them to say. I am 10 years old, but my birthday is next week. I will celebrate with macaroni and cheese! Our friends brought in boxes of mac-n-cheese for me as a gift. I have three sisters, and all of us are happy that our friends came to visit.

We had to get ready for them to come by cleaning up the guesthouse. It was really, really dusty and full of spiders. We swept and scrubbed and made their beds nice. Then we each made a welcome card to put on their beds. The welcome card was fun to make because we colored, put stickers on it, and then we wrote a sentence from The Book on it. We each chose our own sentence. I chose from the book of Psalms. It said,

I look up unto the hills, from where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

the maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

 I chose this because living here is hard and sometimes hard things happen, but this says that the Lord is the maker of heaven and earth, so that means He has made everything and that means He is in control of everything. So we do not need to be scared, because He even controls the hard things. I hope that they like my card. I left it on the pillow with two pieces of candy.

Every day they work on our house from early in the morning. I have heard that they put in fans and lights! They are working on getting a toilet in the bathroom. Today they said they would set up our beds. I am so excited inside! I am ready to move into OUR house. We have been living in different homes for many months now, and I am tired of moving. I am so glad that they came to help. It is a big, big job to make our house ready.

During the day, my mom and I cook food for our friends. We also have washed their clothes in our water tubs. I love washing clothes because I see something dirty and then it becomes clean - from me! It's hard to wring out the water, but my hands are getting stronger. When our friends come back here, we have dinner and talk about the day. They are very kind. Sometimes we sit and sing together. They have taught us good songs and funny ones, too. One night we built a fire, roasted marshmallows, and sang songs to Our Father. The moon was very bright that night.

Another great thing about our friends coming is that they surprised us with gifts! That was exciting. I got crafts to make, lots of them! I have worked on making a doll and crocheting a baby blanket. I love it! The yarn is so beautiful and soft. I am thankful that they were so kind to me and brought me these special things. It made me feel cared for and loved. Oh, and I got my own pack of gum, too!

The only bad thing about friends coming to visit is that they have to leave. I don't like to say good-bye. I am sure that I will cry when their plane leaves the air strip. It is hard to see the plane fly away and know that our friends are on it.

Love, Nadia