Patricia Laura of Ten Thousand Homes

Back in July this list came out in The Huffington Post. I was THRILLED, GIDDY, ECSTATIC to see Ten Thousand Homes included.

I know Ten Thousand Homes is a remarkable place. It holds a part of my heart and because of this I've decided to "interview" the ladies of TTH and introduce them to you. These Q & A sessions are being posted in the order I receive them.

First up is Patricia Laura, originally from Brazil. You may have heard of that country. It had some kind of soccer thingy there recently. 

How did you come to be part of Ten Thousand Homes? In 2012, God had revived in my heart the dream of being a missionary and a friend showed me a website with information about TTH. Then in 2013 I came to Africa and had been serving for only 1 month and here God told me that I should return full-time. I was invited to come back and do the YWAM DTS. I came back two months later.

Was it an easy decision to join the staff? No. I had a ticket to go back to Brazil after finishing the school and God spoke to me clearly to stay. The hardest part was telling my parents and friends that I would not return to Brazil soon.

How long have you been on staff? 6 months

What is your role at Ten Thousand Homes? I have been added to the Community Development team and help in all that is necessary. I keep praying to God to tell me exactly what to do.

How do you describe hope? For me HOPE is to see and believe that the situation can change in spite of circumstances.

Why is hope important to you? HOPE brings joy, faith and truth.

What is a dream you have for Ten Thousand Homes or yourself? I have a dream of seeing God's love changing this nation through the TTH family. For myself I have a dream to have my own family.

What is one thing you want people to know about Ten Thousand Homes? TTH is not about food or a house, it is about Love, Hope and Relationship with God and people. 

Thank you, Patricia, for sharing. You are so beautiful. I love your heart. I need to hug your neck.

I'm leaving on a jet plane

Today is the day the 2013 South Africa journey begins.

On Sunday evening we'll arrive at the Ten Thousand Homes property. I'm looking forward to hugging some necks!


Here are some blogs that have ties with Ten Thousand Homes.

KNOWN
Hearts For South Africa
i believe in love
A Journey of Hope

I suggest you check them out to learn more about what's happening in their neck of the woods.

What will I be doing there? I'll be working with the team at the feeding programs and teaching at the Compassion Discipleship School and whatever else comes up.

And, now, I'm trying to get excited about a really LOOOOOOONG flight or two.

Charity

I took this picture last year when I was in South Africa at the Dwaleni feeding.  It has haunted me ever since.  I never saw this child show any emotion or even move very much.  I didn't even know if it was a he or a she.

So, imagine my hope when I saw this picture on Kacy's blog post at Christmas time.

I was pretty sure it was the same child and I quickly asked Kacy to confirm it.  The answer was YES! The child has a gender.  The child has a name.  The child has a smile!  And food in both hands!

And, then this past week Kacy featured Charity in this blog post.  Oh! How it made my heart sing to see this little smiling face.

Ten Thousand Homes

Some people I know live in South Africa, just outside of White River, in a special place called University Village. They are a beautiful bunch with lots of variety in background and specialties. All that variety mixes together to make up Ten Thousand Homes. This is what they say:

Ten Thousand Homes is a movement of ordinary people actively building HOPE and creating HOMES for Africa's orphans and vulnerable children.

They call themselves ordinary, but if you have spent any time with them and watched them love and minister and disciple you know really fast that they are not ordinary.

At this time Ten Thousand Homes is working on University Village Phase 1: Three year campaign to finish the purchase of the 14 acre property. As this phase ends and Phase 2 begins, TTH will begin renovating all existing buildings to suit the needs of the campus as well as upgrade the property’s security in light of the crime problem in South Africa.

Three years will be up at the end of January. If you can, please help wrap up this part of the campaign. It's a very simple and safe process.

You can learn more about the people of Ten Thousand Homes at the following:
KNOWN
Saving The Lost
Zachary + Anneke - The artwork on this site is by Anneke.
The McMillian Tribe

or find the all of them on this page.

Maybe by the time you read this I will have stopped crying

Please read Kacy's blog post from today.

I got to be part of the miracle of the overflowing food.

Now my heart is breaking about this week.

If you can make a change in these kids life, please do so.

South Africa

Wish I had a lot of time to spend on this. South Africa has gotten under my skin. I figured it would, but not so fast. Yesterday was our first Discipleship Training session. I taught on True Leadership. Usually I'm a bundle of nerves before I speak. I really don't like doing it. My stomach is churning before, during, and after. The team started praying for me Monday night and continued all day on Tuesday. The peace God poured out on me was so pure. Today I'm going with 5 other women to help cook for the orphan feeding station. Pray for me. I'm hoping not to be a blubbering idiot.

Giving when it hurts

I've been reading up on Ten Thousand Homes over the last couple of days and let's just say that I've been extremely impressed and extremely moved.

For a few years now I've known about Ten Thousand Homes because I know a family on the ground with them in South Africa. Their faith family in the States strongly supports the ministry with funds and volunteers.

Over the last couple of days there has been a tug in my soul to visit there, so that's when I started doing more intense research about TTH.

I came across this in their blog.

10K Tuesday: A Sacrificial Gift

Last week, a local volunteer at our Kabokweni Care Center was seen counting her money. When asked why, the volunteer replied that she had seen that one of the orphaned children needed new school clothes and she wanted to help. This volunteer is a single mother with several children of her own and she struggles everyday to put food on her table, but despite all of her own trials she gave from her heart even though it must have hurt.

Creative Action:

This is a challenge for all of us this week. Find a way to give even when it hurts. Whether that means sacrificing your money, time, or emotions, find your own way to give sacrificially, which means ESPECIALLY when it hurts.

WOW!

TTH 2 from Ten Thousand Homes on Vimeo.