5 year old needs your prayers and a school fee.

Habtamu Adugna is a 5 year old boy with a very cute smile whose parents passed away when he was living in another village 25 km away. He moved here to Debre Zeyit about 1 year ago to live with his grandparents and uncle. The grandfather is a daily laborer as the sole source of income. His grandma, Tsehaye, was the only adult besides his uncle home at the time of our visit.

Habtamu's favorite game to play is football (or soccer) with his best friend named Ashenafi. He likes the color yellow, his favorite animal is a tie between hyena and dog, and when he grows up he wants to (Are you ready for this?) work in a slaughter house. The social worker thinks he made this decision as a choice career because there is a slaughter house nearby the home and it's a part of his environment - perhaps at 5 years old all he knows.

The family is an Orthodox family and upon permission of the household to speak about Jesus, we gave them the truth as Scripture tells us to do and it included an offer of salvation if they had not received Christ's gift. I told them Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that no one gets to the Father but through Him. I told them He never leaves or forsakes us, all He wants is our heart and we begin a daily walk with Him. I said that following Jesus comes with a price but choosing not to follow Him the cost is greater. "What good is it if we gain the whole world but lose our soul?"

I shared with them that one of the things we get to look forward to as followers is sitting in His lap and that His promise is that in Heaven (after we've received Him) the bible says there will be no more tears, crying, or pain. I also told them about hell, as in that is the consequence to not making that transaction because our God is holy and sovereign. I told them He is the hope of the world, and if they were losing hope they could talk to Him.

By the end of our visit, I asked them twice if they were ready to receive Jesus, if this was something they wanted to do. They sat there completely silent. Either they were not ready to accept Jesus or they had made their decision.

Currently one of the needs of the family (aside from Jesus) is money for Habtamu to start school. On the limited income they have, they simply can't afford to pay the school fee. To my understanding, the lack of money is the only thing stopping it.

If you want to sponsor little Habtamu so he can start school, you can begin his journey starting at only $30 per month. Just visit the link: www.blessingthechildren.org/donate. Then fill out the sponsorship form to begin your monthly donation.