Day 7

It's hard to believe that we've been here a week. The last few days have been intense and we've all dropped into bed exhausted at the end of the day. It's a "good" tired though. We've met so many fabulous people and have seen how hard all of these people work, and their amazing faith in the Lord.

Two days ago was probably one of the highlights of my life, let alone my trip. It was our first day of teaching at a one of the schools here. Our team of 15 was greeted by 150+ children all telling us “good morning” and clapping upon our arrival. While my partner for the day and I thought we were prepared for class, we got a slow start as neither one of us is a teacher. It gives me a new appreciation for what my mom does, walking into a class cold and having to go with the flow. It's much harder than you think it would be.

The kids here are really well behaved – they stand up when you enter a room – and they say "sir" and "Ma'am" to EVERYTHING. I've never been called "ma'am" so many times in such a short span of time. I was teaching 5th grade, and all of our kids were great. They were conversational in English and actually were much further along than we prepared for. Oh well, we've learned to roll with such things. The kids worked hard and performed an entire program for us at the end of the school day. They sang songs, recited verses, performed skits and danced local dances. They were fantastic!

After the school day ended, we then went on a "safari" of all the other amazing ministries that are going on here in this area. It is incredible how hard the people here work to help make other's lives better. Our first stop of the day was at a settlement of what is essentially the rejects of society here in this country. There were a massive amount of stick huts that these people had constructed to live in. The huts were made of sticks lashed together, sometimes with black plastic or tarps to help keep out the rain.

They welcomed us, but were a little hesistant at first. We thanked them for allowing us to visit and told them how wonderful we thought it was, and they warmed up. We saw two of the outreach programs there, one is teaching basic health, things like not setting dishes on the ground inside their huts, and basic hygene principles. the other is a "nursery" school.

The term "nursery" is used very lightly here, because there are children in this school up to 10 years of age. However, they have nowhere else to go and learn, so the kids stay in “nursery” as they have no where else to learn. The people here have been working for years to help this class of people, and slowly they are making progress.

The contrasts here are incredible. The settlement is next to a dry riverbed where the people pick up rocks and break them by hand for other uses. This is their meager existence. Across the dry riverbed are beautiful buildings and entire development that looks out over this vast poverty. Such are the way things are here. Poverty is not defined neatly by neighborhood like it is in the U.S. Here, they coexist and people turn a blind eye to it as neatly as they would a homeless person on the bus in the U.S.

The people were amazing and kind. And never has my digital camera made me so many friends. I quickly discovered that kids LOVE to see their picture taken. And as these children live without the benefit of any electronics save maybe an occasional cell phone, a camera with a screen where they can see themselves was a big hit.

Our second stop was an amazing micro-business program supported here. One of the ladies helps others learn skills to help support themselves. The woman is handicapped and the ladies sew beautiful pillowcovers, make wall art, macrame hangers and bags. We bought the few items they had there. Once it was all said and done, after we left, we realized that between all of the stuff that we had purchased (around $60 worth) we handed over more money than the teachers at the school make in a month. It's heartbreaking and yet enlightening how much these people do on so little. They are all amazing, happy and grateful for what they have. This mirco-loan program is touching lots of lives and making it possible for these women to make a living. It was incredibly touching.

Our third stop of the day was to a Gypsy church. This fellowship of people were amazing. it's hard to describe the area where they live. It's a bunch of buildings, yet many of them don't really have all four walls, or are fairly open to the outside. We rounded a corner and were overwhelmed with color. The awning for the church was in bright pink and green, and everyone was sitting in a red plastic chair. The women all wear brightly colored outfits and head scarves, so it is a swirl of color.

One of my teammates made faces at a young boy, probably 2-3 years old, for most of the service. She taught him to make eyes at people, and then he spent the rest of the service honing the skills on others. It was precious. The women were all very beautiful. It was incredible. The more I looked at them the more amazed I was, dark eyes piercing through you surrounded by brightly colored scarves.

After the service was over, we were able to spend a little time with the people there. One woman made a beeline for me, grabbed my arm and didn't let go until she had taken me to her home and showed me her children. She didn't speak a word of English, but we seemed to communicate just fine. The children here were very funny. I also made a lot of friends with them. They would rush to get into a photo and then wait for me to turn my camera around so that they could see their faces. They would actually fight for a spot near the camera. One mother asked me if I could giver her a picture of her child. I assured her that I would give a CD of my images to someone here so that hopefully they could give her some photos. There is more to tell, but they day was just too much.

Besides this, we've seen amazing places of pagan strongholds here. Places where children beg as a way of life, and places where people feel they have to come and take a dip in the river to have their sins cleansed and must come back to honor their dead and come again if they have sinned. The idol worship here is intense. People worship statues. Most of their "gods" are worshiped because they are afraid that they will do bad things to them. It's a different way of thinking, and we're all trying hard to get our head wrapped around it.

Yesterday we finished teaching at the first school and then were the guests of honor at a prayer room dedication service. We were able to hear amazing faith stories, and the stories of what the Lord is doing in all of these people's lives. We were able to pray and worship with an amazing fellowship of believers. These people are on the front lines. They are persecuted for their faith often. Yet they still choose to follow Jesus. It's wonderful to see how dedicated they are. And it's also difficult to realize how good we have it in the U.S.; No one would beat me up if I decide to attend church or get baptized, so their faith seems strong because it HAS to be if they want to believe.

Their worship service is the closest I've ever felt to God. We sang songs in a language I don't know, (and some in English) we prayed, we gave thanks, and we listened to each others stories. The translations were arduous at times, but everyone was so into hearing what was happening in others' lives that it was always worth the wait. At the end I was able to share a devotional about foot washing and why it is important. And we held a foot washing ceremony for their church planters. Amazingly, they turned around and did the same for us. I have new friends here now, and many new people to pray for.

We have also heard several other people's faith stories in the last few days. One of them was an amazing story of a man who came to know the Lord because his mother, who had been possessed by demons for more than 15 years, and at various times tried to kill her children and her husband, was freed from her demons. And also later, this same man was attacked by a brain tumor, given three months to live and within days was miraculously healed. He had a vision where he fought a demon in his dreams who told him he was going to kill him because too many people would become believers because of him. He called upon the Lord to heal him that night. In the morning he knew he was healed, went to the doctor and insisted upon a new brain scan. When it came back clean, his doctor was amazed and asked him how it was that he was healed. When he heard the answer, the doctor too became a believer.

These tales of demons and demon possession many times would sound ridiculous when told in the U.S. but here, they are very much a part of everyday life. The places here are strongholds for demons and mystical activity. It is not uncommon here to hear stories of this nature. Only 0.004 percent of the population of this area believe in Jesus. Most believe in other gods that they think control everything from the water to the rocks. Those are the gods they worship and they do it out of fear and appeasement. One of our guides told us that "If Satan were ever to need a vacation, this is the area where he would come - He would run into no trouble here." Not to say the people here are evil. In fact, they are wonderful and amazing. Most just don't know any other way of life. Many are trapped in a cycle of poverty, and others are just trapped in a cycle of fear, worrying about gods or demons that do hold some power here, but are nothing compared to my savior, Jesus Christ.

Today I feel blessed to be an American and even more blessed to see what God has in store for us here in our second week.

God bless and keep us in your prayers!

I hope to blog more in the next few days. We change hotels again tomorrow and it sounds like we may (fingers crossed) have internet access tomorrow.

-smc