Meet Hellen. She is Marvin's sister. The first 2 days I did not even know Marvin had a sister who lived there with him. Then on day 3 this shy, little girl came up to me on the playground and said, "Thank you for being kind to my brother." She had such a sweet, soft voice. While Marvin was swinging, I sat down and she sat right beside me. I told her that I was so happy to meet her and to know that Marvin had a sister looking out for him there. She looked at me and smiled and then begin telling me her life story. Her mom died of AIDS, her dad drowned, and about a year ago her and Marvin were brought to Canaan's. She told me that she had other brothers and sisters, but they were older and could care for themselevs so they did not come to Canaan's. I have no idea what you say to an eleven year old who has already lost both parents and been split up from brothers and sisters. I think all I could say was, "Im so sorry for all you have been through." She just smiled and then put her head on my shoulder. Then she asked me if I wanted to see her dorm.

One day while I was swinging with Marvin, my shoe fell off. She picked it up and then tried it on. It fit her perfectly, so I gave her those shoes when I left. You would have thought I gave her a million dollars. I spent a lot of time with Hellen and fell in love with her too. She is very quiet and doesn't seem to fit in with all the other girls her age. But then I think about what she has been through in the past few years and how she is still grieving the loss of her parents. I am reminded to pray for her and I ask you all to join me!

It was really hard for me to tell her bye. The night before I left, we put Marvin to bed and then I walked her to her dorm. I told her that I was going to miss her a lot. She pulled out a piece of paper and asked me to write my name down so she knew how to spell it. She said that the piece of paper would remind her to pray for me. An 11 year old girl who lost both of her parents and was split up from her family wants to put up a reminder to pray for me?

The next morning when I walked out, she was waiting at the door for me. We had already said goodbye the night before. I looked at her and said, "Aren't you supposed to be at school?". She handed me a peice of paper folded up and then smiled and said, "Yes, I am going. I wanted to give this to you." It's a good thing I didn't read it then, because it made me cry so hard. This letter is now framed and sitting on my desk at home. It's my daily reminder to pray for Helen.