Hello everyone! Sorry, that as usual, it has taken a million years for an update, but once resuming to the swing of things here at Hopeland, free time with internet, and Mac in my possession was once again nonexistent!
so... Mini- Outreach!
WEEK 7 - Kijura
We left for outreach on Saturday morning, around 8am. The leaving was hard... we had just spent the last 6 weeks trying so hard to become a family, and now here we were being torn apart. They sent us off in style, though, taking pictures, putting us on the bus and even chasing it down the road a ways. It was bittersweet. The whole bus trip took 8 hours! We went to "Fort Portal" which was more like the general area. Instead we stayed in two small villages, Kijura the first week and Kahuna the second.
In our first house in Kijura, we had dirt floors, no power, and the water was about 1/4 mile away and then down a steep, muddy slope. We did get power in the evenings by running our generator and then later on, borrowing from a neighboring shop. Our room was TINY. We fit 3 twin mattresses side by side, and then had two feet at the end of them for our bags, and that was the entire room. There were 7 of us. Yes, that means at least two per twin mattress. It was more "DTS Bonding Time". The whole house was tiny, and we were very squished (24 of us, plus the family who lived there, who, by the way, were AMAZING people- Willie & Josephine and their kids) Each day we did door to door evangelism in the morning and then a crusade in the early evening. It was exhausting. But good. Door to Door was challenging, considering I had never done it before, but God came through. My favorite Door to Door story comes from a day when we went to the Police Station. We went and talked to the "prisioners" there - 5 young men. They took time to share their stories with us, each was very different, but all were great. In the end, one guy was already saved, and the other four wanted to be born again. So we got to pray with them! It was so cool. We were also able to bless them practically, by giving them food (they had mentioned to us that there wasn't enough food to go around).
The other cool day in Kijura was the day we skipped door to door. Instead we went down to the bore hole (where you pump water from) and slashed the grass and cleaned the hole. Then we got to spend an hour at one of the local primary schools ministering to the kids. Msaki came up to me and said, "In 5 minutes I want you to tell a Bible story to these kids." (there were several hundred of them!!) So, I ended up sharing about the 5 loaves & 2 fishes (and was able to mix in the Gospel too!) and then asked the kids who wanted to be friends with God? They all raised their hands, and then we prayed. I don't know how many, if any, were real decisions for Christ, but at least I got to sow some seeds
We also played with the kids a lot during the crusades, and did our best to share the love of Jesus despite the language barrier. It was the hardest children's ministry I've ever done- I had no words to use! The only way I could share the love of Christ was through my smile and my hugs. It was frustrating at times.
Crusades were also really hard. Basically, you take this huge wooden platform, get a sound system and set up. Then you throw a bunch of people on the platform and sing about 15 songs and dance all crazy. Then you invite people to come and sing "special songs". After that, someone gets up and shares the gospel by shouting as LOUDLY as possible that you need to get saved. After that, they invite people up to come pray and get saved, and many come. So we pray with them, and write down their names. And then we ask if there are other people who need prayer for healing. They come forward. We pray for them. Then we sing a few more songs, and then pack up for the day. SO far out of my comfort zone, and gifting! Not only was it spiritually exhausting, it was physically too.
this is a typical outreach day:
5-6 Morning Prayer time
6-8 sleep
8-8:30 Breakfast
8:30-9:45-sleep
9:45-10:15 get ready for door to door
10:15-12:30 Door to Door
12:30-1:00 - Sleep
1:00-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:00 -Sleep
3:00-6:30 or 7 Crusade
6:30-7:15ish - Sleep
7-7:30- Supper
8:00-9:30 -"Short" evening meeting
9:30-10:30-attempt sleep
10:30-on - Sleep. sort of. with other people on top of you!
we were always tired... and the sleep was more like resting... lying on your sleeping bag. (Speaking of sleeping bags, Thank You SO much Mom, my sleeping bag is INCREDIBLE! So wonderful, none of that nylon and fake plaid flannel junk. It's like a big comfy blanket. The whole first night I slept in it, it was like one big cozy hug from home! I am sleeping on it now, at Hopeland, it's so wonderful!!) Not actually sleeping. The radio blared all night. We learned some great jingles from it though.. "Mirinda- Pineapple." and " I Love you, Gold Fry!" etc.
however, though many of us were completely out of our element, God blessed the work of our hands, or rather the work of our tongues, since we did not do much with our hands.
I also got sick the first week.. a cold.. not fun. But God used it in some amazing ways... I read another book that changed my life... "Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival" by Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain, & Adam Shapiro. God used it to confirm some things, firstly that He has given me a heart for East Africa, and secondly that He has called me to ministry of reconciliation and restoration. I know that I am not ready to go yet... I still need more knowledge and experience... but a desire for someday in the future. God has created in me such a hunger and thirst for knowledge, I can't wait to go back to the US and raid the local library and just devour so many of the things I don't know. And, incredibly, I find myself seriously considering and praying about going to a four year university after I finish my last class at Whatcom! I know, I know, we all never though that those words would come out of my mouth!
1 comment:
I love you!
Post a Comment