Randy and Chris Wheeler

Randy is the Senior Minister at Twin Oaks Christian Church in Woodhaven, Minnesota. Chris is the US Program Manager for the Rapha House Kids Clubs.

Here is a blog post that Randy wrote about a recent trip to Rapha House.

Some moments you just really can’t prepare for. I’m blogging tonight because I’m not sure anyone else on the team is emotionally capable right now. We had known that Rapha had received a new 14 year old girl last week. Let’s call her “R”. We’d been warned that her final captors had blinded her but even that information did not prepare us for the emotional storm of meeting her.

Most of the girls’ scars from their abuse are invisible – hidden beneath the surface. “R“s are right there, visible to all, and seeing her was a punch in the gut to the whole team. Emotions range from anger to helplessness to deep sadness and back again. And though the welcome party and the dancing and the joy of the other girls were still all there, “R” was never far from our thoughts and prayers.

A couple of our team members held her hand and spoke to her through an interpreter, and one of them went the extra mile and joked with her and sang with her. And in that moment a miracle happened – I saw her laugh. It only lasted a brief moment but she laughed, and I believe her heart took one more step closer to healing. This is why we came – to reach out to girls like “R” and to try to be a small tool in God’s hands to being healing to these children that He loves so very much.