Little Orphan Update

On this, my 300th post, I thought I'd share with you folks a little inspiring story. Remember these guys? If not, read about them here and following, but regardless, they are now these guys...

and that's them...well...I'll just copy and paste. This is from Karen:

Last November I hired a break dancing teacher for our Abundant Life Home boys. His name is "Bank" and he is 18 years old. He loves our boys and recommitted his life to Christ at Christmas. He had fallen away from the Lord for a few years and was so glad to be introduced to our TLC family and be back with Jesus.

A little while ago, Bank asked me if the boys could miss school for one day, because he had gotten them an audition for our Thai version of American Idol, a show called "Game Panaan", very famous with Thai people. The boys and Bank passed the audition and the next week we all piled in our "A.L.H." van and headed to Studio 7 for the big day of filming. We bought matching outfits and prayed and practiced our interviews....confident we were going to win the big one!

Throughout the morning at Studio 7, the boys practiced, had show-make up applied for under the lights, and we prayed. Anticipation was high...we were all nervous giggles and butterflies.

At about noon, P' Ganiga pulled me aside and talked to me. She had remembered from the files of our boys, that one of our boys, Mac, had an aunt who worked at a large Thai newspaper. She noticed when we drove into Studio 7, that this newspaper had a factory right next door. They have factories all over Thailand....but what if the aunt still works there, we wondered? Mac had lost contact with her and all extended family members about 9 years earlier, and could not remember her name. We did not have the file with us.

"Let's call the boys' old orphanage and see if they have copies of his file," I said on a whim.

We called Sister Jinda at the Lorenzo Home and she said she'd look and call us back.

A few minutes later at noon, P' Ganiga and I were sneaking out of Studio 7 with the Aunt's name and praying as we hurried next door.

At the factory gate, we met a security guard and explained the whole story. He said we were nuts...that there were thousands of employees, and that nobody stayed working there for years on end. We begged him to let us go in or to check with the office staff. He said he would call us if he found out anything. We walked home dejected and ate some lunch with the Thai celebrities who were there to judge the show.

At 1 p.m., P' Ganiga got a call from the security guard who said that Mac's aunt still worked there, and would be in for her shift at 3 pm. He gave us her number, but as we called and called, we found her number was disconnected.

The sky turned black then and a big rain storm was imminent. The boys were now in the room finishing up their make up and waiting to be called on stage for their big performance.

At 2 p.m., a lady walked through the door and P' Ganiga noticed she had on the uniform of the Thai newspaper next door. P' Ganiga walked up to her and asked if she was related to Mac. The woman began to cry immediately and asked P'Ganiga if it was true....Was Mac still alive? "I thought he had died years ago for sure....I never dared to hope that he would live...I never come in early for work, but the rain was coming...."

P' Ganiga started to cry too and called me over. She introduced Mac's aunt and I started to cry too. We called Mac out of the make up room and with my arm around him, I explained to him that this woman was the aunt that had raised him when his parents died of AIDS, until Mac was 5 years old.

Mac was smilling and speechless, and his aunt hugged him and cried and cried. Pretty soon the boys all gathered around and everyone wanted to know what was happening.

Just then, the studio workers called us onto the stage. Mac's aunt came with us and sat with us as they introduced us. Mac kept stealing sideway glances at his aunt as we waited, and was beaming with pride as the M.C. talked about our children's home and how amazing our boys were. Mac really wanted his aunt towatch him perform, but her shift started at 3 pm and it was now 2:50. She wasjust getting up to leave when the M.C. called the A. L.H. dancers on stage and she was able to watch the whole show and cheer for Mac.

The boys ended up getting a score of 100 out of a possible 100 for their breakdance! They were asked what prize they wanted, and they asked for a computer for the new girl's home we had just opened. The studio rolled out a beautiful computer right there and called up the three girls from our children's home and gave it to them on stage.

Mac's aunt came to Chonburi that weekend and stayed for night at A.L.H. with Mac. Mac was able to share the story of Jesus with her and P' Ganiga was able to read some scriptures to her and answer some of her questions about God.

Today, Mac is taking a baptism class and preparing to be baptized in October with our church family and his new family at A.L.H.. Mac had asked P' Ganiga and me many times over the last year to help him track down his aunt, and this day at Studio 7, profoundly impacted Mac and showed him how much God loved him.

Only God can orchestrate a miracle at a T.V. studio that plays out more exciting than any box office hit!

*sniffle* I hope you're all a little bit weepy now. I am.