Our Final week of Mission Peru 2009 was unimaginable

Never would we expect that God would touch our heart the way He did. We had set aside a couple days to build a small prefab house for an orphan girl named Santa. We met Santa (age13) at a park where she shared with us how she was taken from her home and brutally raped by a man. She was trying to protect her sister. I asked her what we could do for her and she said she would like to be able to lock her door.

I said we would put a big lock on her door....well.......she didn't really have a door.........so I said I would build her a door and put a lock on it.......well........she didn't really have a house..........So I said we would build her a house............a small 10 by 10 cabin..................So we did. And we found out Santa and her 15 year-old sister take care of their 3 younger sisters. Their dad is dead and mom is gone for weeks at a time in the fields.

And just like that....our life is changed forever.

You see, we have built 10 of these homes before, and have fed more than 10,000 hungry children. We have helped hundreds of families. We have seen hundreds of beautiful children, living in poverty. But never has a family impacted us in such a powerful way.

It started as we were building the house......We didn't want to leave. We spent the entire day there with the girls...There in the filthy conditions, dusty, dry, smelly, flies, mangy dogs, and that hot mid day heat of the equator. As strange as it may sound, it felt like heaven. At sunset, we finished the house put on a big-ol-lock and took the girls out to dinner with a group of children from the orphanage. We then said our goodbyes....ha ha ha yea right...... You might say we unexpectedly bonded. Very unexpectedly....And God was not done with us.

God speaks in cloud form

Never have I experienced something so mystical. Jennie and I had gone to sleep listening to the Psalms being sung on our laptop. At about 2 in the morning I woke up (at least I think I was awake) and there was a cloud the size of a cement bag in front of the computer. It was white and translucent. It began to move toward me and God spoke...... not in English, not in my thoughts, not audibly, but Spirit to spirit. I cannot even articulate what He said, it was too big, too wonderful, too deep for human words........I still marvel at this...........The closest I can come to is that He let me know how important these little ones are to Him. I always kind of knew this but when God speaks, it is a whole 'nother story.

By this time, Jennie was awake and we lay there for 4 hours marveling at God's heart and both knowing God had done something in us. Something deep, something new. Something life changing. You see, these girls were true orphans, their father died and mother gave them away. God didn't even have to tell us these were now our girls. We knew it already. They are our girls now. We have 5 beautiful daughters. Our 5 sons have 5 sisters. It was a no brainer, we would be there for these girls and provide for them. Oh yea, forgot this......when we showed up to build the house, the girls hadn't eaten in 2 days.....no food. To their name they own 2 beds, 2 chairs, and oven, a radio, 8 chickens, and 2 turkeys.....Can't forget the broken mirror and the broken hair brush.........maybe a few cooking pots and wash basins........dirt floor, cardboard walls.........

The next day we woke early to meet the girls and tell them the news. We wanted to catch Flavia (age 16). You see, that morning was Flavia's first day of work. She was dropping out of school to provide food for her sisters. We caught her just as she was coming around a corner. We told her we were taking her and her sisters into our family. We would buy their food. And she would stay in school. She broke down.......She wept.........and wept..............and sobbed...........and sobbed.........I will tell you that young lady experienced the love of the Father that morning. And so she had no sooner started her job when she quit it. We had a family meeting....The rest of the girls were ecstatic. Do you want me as your dad?????"YES" they yelled and hugged. The rest is History I suppose. God did something big is all I can say. And He saved His best for last. We are eye witnesses of His power.

Our plan is to go back in May (Jennie and I), to spend 8 days with the girls, and then we will be moving there in September. How long we don't know. We do plan on coming back to Alaska.......when I don't know.........We will be enrolling in language school for a good part of a year I suppose.

I bless you all, and pray that God continually shines His great light into your spirit. For it is only with His light that we can be the light. With Love, Jordan and Jennie Hess proud parents of 10 beautiful children!