Heart's Cry Children's Ministry
February 21, 2010
In this issue...
Ministry Update
Personal Update
Exciting Event
Greetings!


Hello again to our friends and family, wherever you may be.  We love you and thank the Lord for you.  Please read along to see what is happening lately with us, both with the work God has called us to do here in Panama and personally.

With love,
Misty Hedspeth
Heart's Cry Children's Ministry
Post Office Box 17507
Raleigh, North Carolina 27619

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  Ministry Update

We visited Chiriqui province, Panama last weekend, looking for potential property for an orphanage.  We have no idea where in Panama the Lord desires for this property and children to be, but we kept having things point towards this area.  So, we took a trip up to this mountain area to check it out.  It was about 6 hours away from Panama City and absolutely beautiful.  So cool and clean, much different from the City.  Please continue to pray and wait with us on the Lord to show us where He desires this property to be.  We are simply waiting and trusting on Him to make the path clear.  If you missed last month's email about the orphanage, just respond to this email and I will forward that to you. 

Also, we are still meeting with the Director over the adoption and at-risk children department of government, SENNIAF.  Within the next few weeks we plan to present our Findings to the Director from last year's investigation that we performed in her department.  Continue to pray for the Lord to give us clarity and the right words for her to hear.  We so desire for these efforts to make a distinct difference in the lives of orphans in Panama, so that they can be placed into their forever families soon.  We can see she is beginning to make some changes and it is very exciting to think of how much of an impact it can have on these kids.  Additionally, we have begun working with her on a government sponsored pro-life campaign in Panama.  A dear friend of ours, Luigi Crizon, is a graphic designer.  He and his business partner are donating their expertise and time to get this campaign kicked off.  The Director is thrilled at this, so we are just beginning to work diligently at this project together. 

A group of women from a local congregation, Panama International Church, are totally on fire to help the orphans here.  We are so excited!  We worked with them to coordinate volunteers for the Baby Holding Program.  They got started 3 weeks ago and it is running so smoothly!  Praise the Lord that for a minimum of 2 hours, 3 days a week, these precious one's are being held and prayed over.  Further, these women wanted to do something tangible for the kids here.  They raised funds through their congregation and we worked with them to coordinate buying school supplies for an entire orphanage of 64 children!  The school year begins next week, so Friday all these supplies will be delivered to the children individually.  We went with them also to take pictures of each of the children, so that they would have a keep-sake in the future.  A lot of issues in the lives of these children arise as they get older, when they do not even have a picture of themselves during their childhood.  Hopefully this will bring comfort and reassurance to these kids, whether now or in the future.      
  Personal Update

We have had another loss and just ask for your continued prayer.  3 weeks ago I had to have surgery at the hospital here in Panama because we lost another baby.  We were 8 weeks and 4 days along in the pregnancy when we found out that we had lost the baby.  It had been the happiest month for us and we enjoyed every second that the Lord allowed us to be with our child.  Yet we are saddened beyond words and just struggling through this like nothing before.  For many reasons this has hit us very hard, harder than I can express.  I must admit that it brought me to a crisis point in my faith, but the Lord is so faithful and is bringing us through.  Even when we don't have the heart to trust Him, He gives us the renewed faith to continue.  I just ask that you continue to pray for the Lord to heal our hearts.  I have pretty much recovered physically, but the pain in my heart is so deep.  Only the Lord can touch it and restore my joy.  He is beginning to do that and I know He will continue. 

This also brought up a lot of pain over the situation with the orphans here.  I have been waiting so long to see some visible sign that the Lord is working and freeing these precious children.  For so long we could not see anything, then when this happened to us personally it brought out so many questions and frustrations.  Yet we know the Lord is working, even when we can't see His hand.  It was very exciting because that same week we lost the baby the Lord allowed us to receive good news in the life of a precious teenager, whom we have been helping with counseling (because of abuse) and tutoring.  She had run away from the orphanage where she resides and we feared she was involved in local prostitution, as Panama is a destination country for this type of activity.  However, she just returned to the orphanage after several months of being away.  We praise the Lord for this answer to prayer.  Also, another little girl that we have been praying for the Lord to free for over 2 years just received the long-awaited termination of her parental rights.  She was placed in an orphanage at birth and just received this legal termination a few days before her 4th birthday.  But this is a giant answer to prayer.  We think she will be going to her forever home soon.  God is moving.  These precious one's are in His hand. 

Finally, on Wednesday of last week we learned Matt's mom is going to have to have another surgery to remove the cancer.  Please pray for her on Friday of this week, as she goes in for the 2nd surgery.  The next day after learning of that, our precious dog Walker died.  He had been our baby for 7 years and we absolutely adored him.  If you are an animal lover, you can understand how difficult this was for us when we lost our doggy member of the family.  It was very hard to come back to our apartment afterward, and our other dog Jake has been so sad.  Yet, I am so thankful the Lord allowed me to be with Walker over the past month.  He knew exactly what to do when I was devastated about the loss of the baby.  He would just lay his head on my lap and let me cry on him.  Matt said he learned what to do during this time by watching Walker :)  He will be greatly missed.   

So in the end, all we can do is trust the Lord and praise His holy name.  He gives and He takes away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.          

Exciting Event

Abandoned but not forgotten
Finally, we want to share with you some exciting news from a skateboarding event in Panama the weekend before last.  Matt had found out about this event through our friends in Christian Surfers here, where some famous skateboarders came and showed their skills, then shared the Gospel with whomever came.  Matt and some friends attended their first event in the City, then found out they were going to be holding a 2nd event near an orphanage that we work with.  He was so excited and wanted the kids to go.  Even though this was totally last minute, Ari was able to contact the director of the orphanage and invited the kids to come and the director agreed.  It was hectic trying to get all these kids over to the event, but the Lord provided and brought those He wanted to come, which ironically ended up being mostly girls.  It was amazing to see how excited they were and just thrilled to be there.  Then at the end, the speaker invited those that were interested to receive Jesus into their hearts to come forward, as a sign to others of their decision to trust the Lord.  We were absolutely floored when they started asking Matt if it was ok for them to go forward and if he would go with them.  Then when almost all of them went forward it was astounding.  The Lord knows the hearts, as to who actually entered His kingdom that day.  But it shocked us to no end and showed us that the power is not in our efforts or event-planning, but in the Lord alone.  Also we have seen some horrible attempts by Believers to try to "save" these children.  This was totally different and the Spirit of the Lord was truly present at this event.  The whole thing was so organic and unplanned by us.  We praise the Lord for this amazing show of His love on these children, and for allowing us to witness it.  Oh, and the truly humbling part is that a lot of these children have HIV.  Please pray for the Lord to protect their hearts and that the Holy Spirit will continue to speak to them and guard them in the days ahead.