Louie and Fe: Our God saves!!

Many of you have seen pictures and read stories about Louie and Fe, the darling brother and sister with cerebral palsy living here in Sagay. We first met them last year -- an entire family existing in squalor due to extreme poverty and multiple mental and physical handicaps.

Let me tell you, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY we could save this family! Yes, we could give them food and medicine, but we all knew that was just putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. This family needed a SAVIOR, and in a big way!

Four adults and two children lived in this shack with no running water and no electricity.

This May, their father Irenao, already unable to walk, suffered a stroke and lost complete use of his right arm and leg. During his hospitalization, their mother, mentally handicapped and partially blind, attempted to care for them, but the results were distressing. Louie and Fe began visibly regressing.

We tried hiring a friend to provide daily home care....

We considered searching for a orphanage or institution that accommodate the whole family...

We wanted a long-term solution to ensure that the children and their parents would be provided for, especially considering that someday there may not be missionaries here to care for them. Seeing that we were powerless, our prayer came from a place of real need: "God, save Your people!"

AND HE ANSWERED!!!!!!!!

My friends, our God is a real God who does real things for real people in the real world! And just when we began to lose hope, Jesus came and brought His light to the darkness of this family's plight.

Our missionary community met together with the family's extended relatives who live on the other side of the island. They are a loving network of aunts, uncles, and cousins who had agreed to care for Irenao until he recovered. But our main purpose of meeting with them carried much more weight.

We asked if they would be willing to take in Louie, Fe, and their parents: to clean, feed, and care for each of them. For life.

After those last words fell from our lips, we waited, scanning their faces to see how they might respond. They themselves are poor, living in a small home on the side of a mountain, but we could see the love they had for one another and the generosity they had already extended to Irenao.

If you were in their place, what would have been your response?

How often Our Lord asks a simple favor of me, a little sacrifice, and I refuse Him. Not wanting to submit myself to unnecessary discomfort or inconvenience, I turn away or leave the task to someone else.

I am being honest when I say that I still have so much to learn from the poor. Because my friends, after just a moment of discussion and all-around nods of approval, this family said yes!!! Yes to opening their home to these four souls in need. Yes to the coming decades of service. Yes to the dirty work, the heavy lifting, the smelly tasks.

They said yes to love.

Smiles all around! Fe and Louie with their dad in their new home.

Praising the Lord during our meeting with the family!

God, in His goodness, had planned this from the beginning. All we had to do was to pray and seek out His will, and He did the rest!

We are still praising God for this miracle, and now I must beg for your help. We are committed to continue our financial support for their daily needs: four hungry mouths to feed, diapers, and transportation to physical therapy cost about $65 per week, or $260 per month.

Please, please consider donating monthly to provide for this family!! They so desperately need your support and your prayers! Our Lord Jesus has such a special love for them, and I believe that you too will receive great blessings from Him for your generosity on their behalf.

You can donate to my mission fund at rebeccatilyou.fmcmissions.com -- just write "Louie and Fe" in the comments box.

For more on this story, you can read my teammate Melissa's post here.

How great is our GOD!!