Walking across the dirt roads with kids accumulating around me as we walk, such joy is flowing freely as we giggle, dance and love each other like what love is supposed to look like.
So much excitement!
These kids truly absorbed everything we had to offer for them as we did drama's and told testimonies. Then we split off into groups to do crafts! My group of 5 little girls and I had so much fun drawing pictures, me taking pictures of them with their pictures and then the excitement of getting to look at their pictures afterwards. I enjoyed telling them how beautiful they are. They found one of my weaknesses right off the bat which is the fact that I'm very ticklish all over, the overwhelming fingers and laughter as I got them back by tickling them. Their age ranged from 2-5 years old in my group! I loved this and soaked up every moment!
After dinner we went to Avian park where a bunch of little kids and their families came for a service followed by dinner. We did drama's and testimonies for them, which they absolutely loved!:) the whole time I'm holding a little girl prolly under 2! She is sweet!:)
It's the sweet moments God blesses us with to melt our hearts a little bit more for Him. It's that vision of Him holding His children tightly in His arms and then Him opening my eyes to His love coming out of me to this precious little girl warmly snuggled in my arms. This is the Fathers heart for us, shown to me just thru one little girl. As I held her I felt like someone grabbed my heart and tore it in half as I looked at her bare feet and felt her shivering body against me. I thought it couldn't get worse till sweet little coughs came out of her. I stood their holding her against me tightly to try my best to get her warm. It was prolly in the 30's or 40's with very strong winds, not helping me much. I had my jacket and rain jacket on but I was holding her with my hands bare. I didn't think at all about my frozen fingers till we got in the car. It's these moments God breaks my heart for what breaks His but shows me how strong I really am. I almost lost it in an ocean of tears but God always shows me more joy within it than anything. After they ate, a grandma of her grandson went up to me and asked me to pray for him so I did with such joy, which then I prayed for her without a thought about it. Her husband passed away a year ago and she takes care of her grand kids. Bless her heart, I can't imagine losing someone that close. Her heart is so precious and I loved every moment as I got to pour into her.
Tuesday 9/17
By 7:15 am we were all on the road to go teach devotionals at a primary school here. Jodi and I had worked on a sermon about Joseph and his robe of many colors. Tim (assistant leader of Ruth) joined us, which was a huge blessing. We walked into a room of 4th graders to teach. We learned a little about them and then started speaking about Joseph's story, the subject was hope. Connecting Joseph's dream and their personal dreams on life and giving them hope to never give up on it. I got to share a little of my testimony sharing about how I was inspired by a youth leader to do missions when I was 12 and that since then I worked hard up to graduating High school a year early to do missions and here I am. I loved speaking hope into their hearts.
All of our games we had planned fell thru so as I had observed the class as devotionals went along, a kid randomly started to dance in the middle of the aisle. It was really good! So I asked that somebody come up and show us their best dance move. They lined up for this immediately. Showing us the shuffle and a bunch of really cool moves.
Then we went back to avian park to do some more evangelism. Tim taxied us, little kids from the neighborhood crawled in and we let them. Their faces of excitement just to ride in a car was so cool and such a joy to all of us. Tim even let one sit on his lap to steer.
This afternoon we helped at an after school program. We played a bunch of games, then we moved onto drama's and then crafts.
These kids observed every part of me probably, as I am watching a game and I look down and a little girl is checking out my arm muscles as she mutters some African (said Africon) language. I just stood there and laughed. This group was well behaved and a lot of fun. It was fun meeting more brothers and sisters and getting to play/catch up on life.
