The Day of Excitement Continued!!

Ok, I’ve told you all about getting locked in the bathroom, the finding of a snake, and the adventures of getting stitches in your hand. Now, I’m going to tell you about what was going on with the rest of our team and with the family.

The excitement continued with the arrival of part of our team that had not been there for the first week. One of our team members, Sifiso, was having some problems getting his papers from the South African government. Because of this Sifiso, his wife Gugu, and their son, Christian were not able to begin our outreach journey with us. Today they arrived! However, the team was down in the field and they had no idea that they were there. Cut to the bringing in of the harvest.

This is the first time the family had planted the land and they had been praying for a great harvest. They got one! Because there was so much to bring in, our team paid for a tractor with a trailer to help bring it in. You could hear the family and the team singing and rejoicing all the way up the mountain! If we, as a team, had not been there to help them bring in the harvest it could have taken up to two months just to get the field cut, stacked, and separated. We did it in three days!! So of course there was great rejoicing!! I’m hoping that you can picture this in your imagination because right now there’s no data to upload photos. The team is all rejoicing over the harvest and they look up and see Sifiso, Gugu, and little Christian. Let’s just say that the noise level…oh I mean rejoicing…went up 10 octaves! Corn and pumpkins were flying everywhere. The team was hugging, the family was hugging, and everyone was singing and laughing! It was such a beautiful moment and to be honest, it made me cry. Of course, the tears were a mixture of rejoicing for the harvest, the rest of the team being there, and Brett’s cut hand.

Remember when I said I handle things good in the moment? Well the moment was over; it was time to fall apart. Here’s the place where I bare my heart and become very transparent. I truly was rejoicing about the harvest and the rest of the team being there, but I was also having a pity party.

What was I thinking?! My husband is off, somewhere in Africa, getting stitches in his hand with, what I hope, are clean instruments and I’m not with him! Not that I could do anything but at least he wouldn’t be alone. If it were me, he would be with me. Blah, blah, blah. All the negative thoughts I could possibly have are hitting my brain like a locomotive. At home I would have a cell phone and would be able to keep in touch with him, but here I have nothing. The team is out rejoicing like nothing has happened and I’m falling apart both inside and out. Lafo happens to see and, Lafo being Lafo, asked what was wrong. The tears fell even harder and faster and in the midst I was able to get out, “I’m really happy about all that’s going on but nobody has asked about Brett.” She looked at me with that what in the world are you talking about look and then said “what happened to Brett?” The team had no idea what had happened! They just knew that Petros has been called and needed to head back to the house. They thought he was in the room taking a nap. Of course when they found out they were shocked and worried about him, too.

This is that place where trusting in God crashes headlong into every negative thought the enemy can through at you and, you can easily get into a place of fear. It did happen to me and the only way I knew to move past it was to cry out to God and rest in His peace, so I did. I put my headphones on and listened/sang worship songs until my heart and mind were at rest in the Healer! My head knew that God was going to take care of Brett but my head and my heart had to get in the same place. We all have those moments in life. It’s what we do in the moment that matters. Do we continue to be afraid and let our mind go crazy with everything that could happen or do we go to the Word and rest in the scripture that says fear not? Here are just a few that give me comfort and I encourage you today, if you are stuck in a moment of fear, to read them over and over until you feel the literal peace of God that, HE HAS PROMISED, will transcend all your understanding!

 Psalm 56: 10-11 In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Exciting Day!!

Raines, Brett and I all stayed back from the field today while the rest of the team and, all but three of the kids, went to finish the field. Sam, fifteen, stayed back with the younger ones and did the following…kept the fire going, washed dishes, filled the water barrels, and watched the younger ones…yes, he knows how to work! Our exciting day started as follows…

Since I didn’t go down to the field to work, I decided to have a hot bath. Let me describe to you where I took my bath so that a little further down you will get how funny things were. Petros and Elizabeth have three homes on their property. Standing down the hill and looking up you will see the following…right in the center is the main house, to the right is where the boys sleep, and to the left is where the girls sleep. Now, we girls take our bath in the girls’ house, makes sense, and the bathroom is on the backside of the house next to the field…I’m hoping you have a clear picture of this in your head. So! I went to the house, took my bucket bath, cleaned up my mess, and proceeded to unlock the door. Door WILL NOT unlock. Don’t panic! Just keep working the key, sometimes you just have to hold your mouth just right. Don’t panic! Take the key out, re-insert it into the key hole and try again, nope. Don’t panic! I know! Open the window, which opens onto a field, and yell for Brett. Brett! Wait a little bit, no response. Brett! Wait a little, still no response. Don’t panic! You’re just locked in the bathroom; eventually someone will miss you…won’t they?! BRETT!!! Still no response! At this point desperation is creeping in and I decide that if no one comes maybe I can fit through the window. Yeah Right!! DON’T PANIC!! Brett!! Raines!! Brett!! Raines!!  SOMEBODY…ANYBODY!!!! Finally, Raines hears me, goes to get Brett and I get out of the bathroom!! This is the start to a very exciting, interesting, hopefully never to be repeated day!

Our next excitement came in the form of a snake. Yes, a snake. Raines was cleaning up around some brick and stones that were on the property when he picked up a cinder block. Curled up all nice and cozy under the block was a cute little three foot snake. Praise the Lord none of the children had messed with the block and that Raines was the one that found it. As I’ve discovered since being in South Africa, Raines has a knack for finding and killing snakes. Or maybe I should say, snakes have a way of finding Raines and he has a way of lovingly showing them the doorway to heaven. You don’t mess around with snakes in Africa! You see a snake; you kill a snake…that’s the way it works! Ok! Snake dead, excitement over; let’s get on with the day. And please! No more excitement!

Not…going…to…happen! Raines had asked me to peel some potatoes for lunch, which I was doing, when Brett came out and asked if I would hand wash a few of his things, to which, I said “if you’ll peel potatoes, I’ll wash clothes.” OK! So, I’m getting some things together to wash, preparing to get the water in the buckets, when Brett comes up to me and says the following words…”we have a little problem.” I look at him funny and realize he’s holding his hand and blood is dripping from between his fingers. Now, when Brett Roseman says “we have a little problem” and not “just give me a band aid” I know…we’ve got a problem! He had decided to peel potatoes with his brand new pocket knife. Everything was going along just fine until he started to drop a potato. As the potato started falling, he tried to catch it—bad idea! The knife slipped and cut him right between his pointer finger and middle finger on his left hand. The cut was clean, thank God, but it was about 1” long and about 1 ½” deep. In the moment I’m pretty good at handling what’s going on and so is Brett. Our biggest issue was not knowing if he should go to the hospital or the private clinic in town AND if anybody could go with him. Raines got on the phone and called Petros, who had just made it to the field. Petros called for a bakkie to get him home so that he could help Brett with the particulars of where to go and how to get there. So we wait…

Finally a bakkie, I use this term very lightly here, appears and Petros gets out of the front. We hear him on the phone with Luciano, leader of the YWAM Swaziland base, and the following words are leaving his mouth, “this bakkie will not make it to town.” Ummm, ok, now what?! No problem! This will at least get us to the taxi stop at the bottom of the hill and we can take a taxi into town. Ok then let’s go. Brett, Petros and the driver all pile into the bakkie and down the hill they go. At one point, this is so much funnier when Brett tells it, Brett starts to realize that this bakkie is very quiet. Wait a minute! It’s not even running!!! It’s coasting down the hill!! You may not be laughing at this but, I’m telling you, if you could see Brett tell it you would laugh till you cried!! The adventure is just getting started! Finally get to the taxi stop and jump in a taxi. Need to stop here and describe the taxi to you. A taxi in Africa is generally a mini-van, driven by someone who may or may not have a legal driver’s license, and generally has a sign that says “maximum 14 passenger capacity.” Brett is seated on the back row of a taxi that is carrying 17 adults and 2 children, making a half-dozen or so stops along the way and is trying not to bleed on anyone. By the time Brett got to the clinic it had been two hours since he cut his hand.

Clinic time! Petros helps Brett get signed in at the clinic and the receptionist says “have a seat and the doctor will be with you shortly.” An hour later, the doctor appears and asks “what’s the problem” as they enter his office/examine room. Brett says “I cut my hand badly and need sutures.” They immediately turn and leave the room and the doctor directs him down a hallway, up a few steps, to a chair and says “wait there, while I have the nurse prepare a tray, and I’ll be right there.” Fast forward an hour…no nurse, no doctor and its lunch time. Brett had gotten to the point where he was looking around for someone to ask “where’d everybody go,” when a lady, who had seen him sitting there, said, “you’ve been sitting here awhile, who’s your doctor?” To which Brett answered “I don’t remember his name, oh wait, there he is now.” The doctor, who was finally walking up the steps, saw Brett and said, while slapping his forehead with his hand, “I’m so sorry, I forgot!” Enter the treatment room!!

The treatment room looked like a room from the twilight zone. Think 1940’s/1950’s! I think this is the place where his thoughts went to “Jesus, could You just heal me now, so I don’t have to go through this?” Nurse gets the tray prepared, doctor comes in, Brett shows him the cut and the doctor says “the knife must have been very sharp.” Ya think?! Brett sits on one side of the table, doctor sits on the other. Doctor numbs the area and Brett has to help move his hand around so that the doctor can stitch him up. It was an awkward place to have to put stitches. There were seven stitches, really needed nine or ten, and Brett made it all the way to five before needing to put his head down and not watch. He’s a tough fella! Doctor wraps it up and instructs him to come back Tuesday to change dressing and then Friday to have the stitches removed. “UMMMM, let me think about this…NO!!! I can change my own dressing and remove the stitches. I will not be coming back here!”

Stay tuned! There is so much more that happened on this day that I haven’t even touched on! 

More from yesterday!

Yesterday, I felt that I had come to a stopping place before I was actually finished with the day, so…I had a one on one time with Elizabeth that I would like to share with you. Elizabeth was sharing how there are times when she gets “weary in well doing.” So we decided to look up Galatians 6:8-10 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. I had taken a study Bible with me, and at times I wondered why! However, in this moment I understood the reason for this particular Bible. We were able to follow many references that were great encouragement for Elizabeth! When one is raising 18 children ONE NEEDS ENCOURAGEMENT!!

After one on one’s we had small group. Avelina led group tonight and she read from Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. She spent some time explaining the importance of looking on what is good in a person, in our day, when we’re working, etc. From here she decided to have the girls tell what made them laugh at some point in the day. Thinking about that evening makes me laugh even now. These girls are so shy when you ask them something that you pretty much have to prod them till they’ll start and then you can hardly get them to hush!! What makes it really funny for me is this…we can barely get them to start talking in our little group BUT get them in with the rest of the family and team and they’ll start singing at the drop of a hat! I should understand this as there are times when it’s easier for me to sing than to talk. This next part is directed at my family…STOP LAUGHING!!

 Friday, April 12, 2013

As most of you may know, I have, in the last year, been diagnosed with a severe peanut/tree nut allergy. This is an issue being that the staple protein in the house is, you got it…peanut butter!!I I tried my best to “roll with the punches” but this particular morning there was none doing. Brett and I were on breakfast duty and it was tea, coffee, and bread with jam, butter and peanut butter. Let me just say here that I do not suggest taking Benadryl on an empty stomach! I got the water boiled for the tea and coffee but that was it. Brett sent me back to bed! I finally got up at 10:15 and that’s because I made myself get up! Since I stayed back I was in charge of lunch…rice and one egg each. Was quite pleased that the rice turned out because I had to eyeball the water and the rice and that is just not my strong suit! The team got back right after the last egg was fried and so they were able to have a hot lunch after working in the field.

We had a bit of “down” time this afternoon, so many of the team did their laundry. No, we don’t have a washing machine and yes, we did it all by hand! In the evening we had our small group and Elizabeth gave her testimony.

Elizabeth married a man who up and left her with two small children. He left and just never came back. After being treated in such a manner, she decided in her heart that she would never marry again. Never say never!! She met Petros and, well…marriage! After they married Elizabeth got very sick. She could not keep anything she ate down or in and no one knew what was wrong with her. She drank all kinds of medicine and nothing seemed to be working. One day, as she was lying in the bed, she decided that she would not drink the medicine anymore. She laid in there and asked God to forgive her and she would serve Him. At that moment she felt the healing power of God touch her body. She knew right then and there that she was healed!! This is the place where she learned to trust God. She got up, went into the kitchen, and told her mom that she was going to the toilet…something that she had not had the strength to do in some time. Her mother tried to get her back to bed but she insisted that was going to go to the toilet. She walked out of the kitchen, down the hill and went to the toilet. She then proceeded to walk back up the hill and back into the kitchen. From that moment on she continued to recover and hasn’t suffered that illness again.

When she finished, I gave my testimony. The girls’ eyes just about popped out of their head when I told them mine and Brett’s testimony. If you don’t know it, please feel free to shoot me a message and I’ll share it with you. In the meantime, know this…I praise God daily for a husband that continues to love me the way Christ loves the church, with lots of grace and abounding mercy. Elizabeth thanked me greatly for telling the girls about my life and for encouraging them to wait for the man that God has planned for them and not to just settle on anyone that happens to come along.

Dinner time and family time came up next. We sang a song and everybody…Petros and Elizabeth included…danced! It was pretty cool, we didn’t understand the words but we sure did enjoy the dance. If I remember correctly it was about God’s provision. Who wouldn’t dance thinking about how God provides for us?!

One last little thought…we got to Swaziland on Monday and, even though we were in the same bed, we were separated by our sleeping bags. This was NOT working for me! I like to be able to at least touch Brett’s foot when I’m sleeping. I know it’s weird, but I’m sure I’m not the only wife that’s like this! Anyway!!! After much “I can’t sleep” from me, Brett fixed the sleeping bags so that my foot could touch his foot. I love my husband!!

More of the Outreach story

Thursday, April 11, 2013

The weather has turned off cold and rainy, so a trip down to work in the field is out of the question. Amazing how quickly it turned…yesterday we were in short sleeves and today we’re all in our coats! Our day was supposed to revolve around cutting more field and going to the church around 2:30 to spend time ministering to the children, instead it turned into going into town and then to the church. Before we headed into town we took some time to have a team meeting and talk about what had spoken to us during our quiet time. We all shared what God had shared with us, but Lafo had a beautiful word that I felt needed written down.

Lafo was reading in Matthew about the birth of Jesus. She talked about Herod and how he was threatened by the birth of Jesus because the wise men said He was to be the King of the Jews. A grown man was afraid of a child! One child shook up an entire kingdom. In the Old Testament Pharaoh wanted the midwives to kill all the male children so that the Jewish people would not multiply. Jesus told the disciples not to turn away the children and that we are to have faith like a child. Her words were beautiful and powerful. I guess the words that struck me the most were…to be a threat to the enemy is to have a child like faith… I’m going to leave that one right there and let you think about it.

After we had a little time as a team, we called Petros and Elizabeth in and spent some time encouraging them. The Lord took me to Ephesians 2:10 For we God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. The Lord had me share that He has prepared this work that Petros and Elizabeth are doing in advance of their saying yes. Not many people have the right kind of heart to take in orphans. The kind of heart that says “it’s not about getting government money, but it’s about giving an orphaned child a Christ-centered home. A home that teaches them their value, encourages them to do well in school and gives them a “mom and dad. That’s the kind of home these children live in with Petros and Elizabeth and it’s the kind of home every child deserves. This man and woman sacrifice so much for these children and, the beautiful thing is, these children know it!

After our time with Petros and Elizabeth came to a close, we headed down the hill to catch a taxi into town. I’m going to stop here and share something else that we talked about in our team meeting. We, as a team, had been spoken over that we “would lay hands on the sick and see miracles.” Well in order to see miracles by the laying on of hands, one must lay hands. When we were in town last, there was a woman that God moved on several of us to pray for. We didn’t. What stopped us? We could make many excuses like it was at the mall and I didn’t know if security might get called, I don’t speak her language or what if God doesn’t heal her. Thing is, those are exactly what I called them…excuses! So, today I decided that I would pray for her if she was there. I would grab one of the Siswati speaking members of the team and we would pray for her…no matter the consequence. She was there and we prayed. There was no instant healing but I believe we planted a seed and that God will send someone to water that seed and then someone else will get to see a harvest. That’s what it’s about in the Kingdom…doing what you’re asked to do in the Word and let God handle the rest.

Got back from town and had to head immediately up the mountain to church to minister to the kids. I will be honest, I was expecting about 50 kids and what I saw was about 120! We started by doing our joy skit. This is really a fun skit to do. It goes like this…one “little child” comes out with her “joy.” The “joy” is something that they really love, like a teddy bear. They walk around the stage showing everyone their “joy” and are so happy with their “joy.” In the meantime, the enemy is stalking around waiting to steal their “joy.” At just the right moment he grabs their joy and runs off. From here the “little child” starts crying about her “joy” being stolen. Enter the next “child” showing off their “joy” and the first “child” is trying to tell them about the enemy stealing their “joy” and that he’s coming to steal theirs too. You got it? There are tears about “joy” being stolen, of course the children in the audience are laughing at the antics on the stage and trying to warn the “children” that the enemy is coming to steal their “joy.” Enter the adult. The adult comes in, tries to figure what in the world is going on. You parents out there can picture this pretty good…chaos as every child tries to speak at once about the enemy that stole their “joy.” You finally get all the children settled down and begin to share with them about true joy. Jesus is our true joy; the other stuff is exactly that, stuff. Sitting here typing this, the Holy Spirit is sharing a word with my heart. Children wrap their world up in the stuff they own because it’s all they know. Adults wrap their world up in the stuff they own because they’ve worked for it and they deserve it. We love Jesus but He can’t take the place of our stuff. Our stuff brings us joy. Really?! Jesus is the joy giver. The joy that stuff brings is temporary, but the joy that Jesus brings is everlasting. Is your joy wrapped up in stuff or in Jesus? After some time of sharing how Jesus brings us joy, we asked the children if they would like to receive this joy in Jesus. I loved it when every single child raised their hand. Those of you who are saying “well they’re just children; it doesn’t mean they truly accepted Jesus.” STOP RIGHT THERE! Do not spend time judging, you are not the judge. I believe God planted a seed of love in their hearts and one day every single one of these children will meet me in heaven and say “I remember you! That was one great skit and on April 11, 2013, I gave my heart to Jesus and I’m so glad to finally get to see you again.” Amen!

Going to lighten things a little here…after we had finished ministering we went a little further up the hill to help the women who feed the children who were there, some of which had walked there from all the way down the hill where we cleared the field. They walk that far for school every day and get a meal at the church every day. On Thursdays the women fix these wonderful little things called fat cakes. It’s a deep fried ball of yumminess!!! One lady handed me three and I ate all three! A little later she patted my stomach and told me that eating fat cakes is what makes us fat…LOL! Of course I’m learning that in Africa for a woman of my age, who has had children, fat is a compliment and, kinda expected, so I’m good…well sort of!

Thank you for taking the time to read about journey and I hope you enjoy it enough to share it! Have a beautiful day!!

Just a thought..

The blog will be updated quite a bit in the next five days as long as I have Internet and I can get them to post. This will be a short moment out if your life but I hope you'll take the time to think about my thought. 

Sitting out on the front lawn waiting for the sunset, watching monkeys play in the trees, and about twenty different birds twittering away around me, and a sweet little kitty hanging out on my lap, I had this thought...why can we see the beauty in the differences of animals but not see the beauty in the differences of mankind? We see a lion, leopard, and cheetah all in the same day and we go "wow, all those cats are so very different! I'm so glad God did that!" We watch the Eukanuba dog show and find beauty in every dog they show, yet they are all so very different and yet we still say "thank You, God for your creation!" Now the moment you've been waiting for...why can't we look at each other and say those very same words?

Outreach...

Brett and I have been back from outreach going on two weeks and I’m finally at a place, St. Lucia Wilds, where I can take my time and begin to blog more about our outreach and the way God used us, corrected us, loved us, provided for us and those we served…basically what God did! I’ll be going all the way back to April 10 and my prayer is that you enjoy reading about our journey and that you take the time to share it with others.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Today we started having breakfast with the family…Petros, Elizabeth and all 16 kids! We had a breakfast of coffee, tea, bread, jam, butter, and cookies. Raines (pronounced Highness), our leader for this part of outreach, has prepared breakfast today. Now you may think it doesn't take much time to prepare coffee, tea, bread and jam. But let me take a minute to remind you that we are preparing for 27 people, there is no power, and we heat the water on a two burner propane stove. By the way, we have to get up at about 5:30 in order for this to happen AND we’re about 30 minutes behind the rest of the family getting up. Let me explain a little more here. At this home everybody works and I mean EVERYBODY! Every single member of the family has a job. One has to get up and get the fire started down in the “hot house,” which is where the water for baths and washing dishes is heated in a big pot. While that’s being done, someone has the joy of making sure others are getting awake and getting the buckets ready for baths. In the midst of all this, we’re in the kitchen trying to prepare breakfast. Ever heard of organized chaos?! This was it! As all the kids come in to have breakfast, its such fun listening to Raines ask if they want coffee/tea and how many sugars. Some of the kids, Grace, love about 4 sugars and Raines gives her a hard time! There is so much happening…kids eating, kids eating and getting ready at the same time, family jabber and joy! It makes getting up at 5:00 very worth it.

We have quiet time from 7:30 until 8:30 and then get ready to do ministry for the day. Today we’re not doing “spiritual” work but physical work. We are heading down to cut corn stalks in a field that Petros and Elizabeth have planted. Reminder here…Petros and Elizabeth live on the side of a mountain…walking down means, sooner or later, there’s a walking up! The walk down takes about an hour. The view is amazing but you have to be careful not to forget to watch where you’re walking at the same time…cow poop! I walk with Elizabeth and we just take our time, walking and talking about the Lord and her life. If I've learned one thing in life it’s that it’s important to follow the lead of the person who’s been doing this the longest. When Elizabeth didn't get in a hurry I knew I needed to pay attention! Our work waited for us at the bottom of the hill, across a road, and through a field. We finally got to our destination and got to work. Petros had already decided that we would work until about 1:00 and get as much accomplished as we could. We took that field by storm! The job was to cut down the corn stalks, saving what corn was on them, stacking the stalks and, in the meantime, keep an eye out for the pumpkin that had also been planted. There was laughter, there were tears, and there was fun. Going to be really transparent here…while we didn't know it at the time, this was also a time of learning how to squat to…well you know!! This lesson would come in very handy in Malawi, but you’ll have to wait to hear about that! The part of the field that we cut would have taken Petros and Elizabeth about three weeks to clear if we hadn't been there to help. It took us 2 ½ hours!! Remember when I told you what goes down the mountain must walk back up the mountain? Well it’s time! Took Brett and I about an hour and a half to get back…not because he walks slow, but because I do! Thing is, I was pretty pleased with the fact it only took that long since I was the oldest one there and that mountain was STEEP!!

Got back up the mountain and it was time for a bath. This should be interesting…two tiny buckets and me. There was a bit of a fight, I think the buckets thought they were going to win, but in the end I figured it all out! There was a bit of downtime and then we were heading down to a small group meeting. I was hoping that we were not going to have to walk back down and back up again and we didn’t. However! The small bakkie (truck) that picked us up was made for two in the front seat and we had three! Everyone else was stacked in the back of the bakkie…literally stacked! Down the mountain we go! When we got to the small group, we were ushered back to where they were meeting. There were stacks of shoes outside the door and we all took our shoes off and went in. This was not to be! The weather had turned cold and we were meeting in a room with a concrete floor. Before we knew it our shoes were being brought back in and we were being “loving” told to put our shoes back on. We tried to refuse but there was no arguing. I grew up the daughter of preachers kid/usher and for some reason I find it important to have an approximate number of those in attendance, so I counted…8 women and 33 children! 33 CHILDREN!! Talking with Petros on the drive back, I learned that many of the children that were there are actually orphans and they choose to go to this small group!

This group is studying the tenets of faith and the Pastor’s wife was trying very hard to get the group to answer questions about what they’ve been studying. I think they may have been a little intimidated with us there. We were asked to give a testimony and a word of encouragement. Ronny, one of our African brothers who comes from the local community Kabokweni, gave his testimony. He grew up without a father and he encouraged the kids to learn about God and make Him there Father. Ronny is very animated and he has such a way with the kids. They are just drawn to him and he ministers on their level in words they can understand. It’s quite beautiful. When he finished, I gave a word of encouragement from Jeremiah 29:11. It seems God gives me that scripture any time I’m in Africa and I believe He does it because He knows the people here need to be reminded that God is their hope and He has plans for them. There was a woman that I looked at, took her hands and told her “God has hope and plans for you.” She was so receptive! It was in that moment that I “felt” the Holy Spirit. Yes, I know the Holy Spirit is always with us, but there are those moments when “feeling” Him is so tangible! I believe that He wanted to do more in that moment but, I didn’t want to overstep my place. I believe He did a great work in her!

We head back to the house and get a few minutes of down time before we have our one on ones with the children. My one on one is with Domsile (pronounced Dom see lay). I haven’t quite figured out exactly which child belongs to Petros, which belongs to Elizabeth, which belongs to both or which ones are orphans and so I mess up with my very first question…is Elizabeth your mom? “No, my mom died in August. My dad lives in another town and, since he couldn't take care of me properly, I moved in with auntie and uncle.” At first I thought that would be it and she wouldn't care to talk to me anymore, but she continued to share her heart. She misses her mother greatly and the stories that her mother would tell her about life. She said her mom would tell her stories that applied to life and how to live a good life. She would tell her how important it was to focus on her studies and NO BOYS! I reminded her that she can always remember the stories her mother shared with her and that her mom would very proud of her. I also reminded her to focus on her studies and NO BOYS! She laughed, which is one of those laughs that make you laugh! From here we head to small groups with the girls age 15 and up. Raines has planned our every moment! LOL At small group we decide to talk about what we did today. We laughed as every one of them told every single detail of their day…even down to when they went to the toilet! We had to poke and prod to get them going, but they start LOOK OUT! You’ll never know what you’re going to hear them say!

After small group is dinner. Dinner is cooked the same way breakfast is and by oil lamp. I didn't write down what dinner was this particular night but I can say this...it was eaten as a family! Everyone comes together for dinner and family time after dinner. There's singing, dancing, scripture, and prayer. When is the last time you did this with your family? Imagine 16 kids and 11 adults doing "break one." This is something the family does that is similar to a hand jive! It starts with break one...easy enough. Break two...still easy. Break three...so far, so good. Break down...wait! What?! Show me again! Only took me almost the entire time we were there to get break down but the little ones do it like breathing! So much fun! Especially when the little ones look at you like you have two heads because you don't know how to do it! Lots of laughter!! After dinner and family time, the kids need to do their homework. Since there is no power, the kids also have to huddle around an oil lamp in order to do their homework. This may change!! Small tease!!

There will be more added as the next five days that we're in St Lucia pass by. There may two or three post a day but I pray you'll take the time to read all about us and our journey. If you would like to partner with us please follow the Donate link above. We truly appreciate any amount!