This morning we went to the two other main villages that were attacked in March of Zot and Ratsat. Upon our arrival in Zot we saw multitudes of children with no smiles upon their faces. They appeared scared, frightened, at the sight of unknown people in their village. We then met a few women who were walking by. We had casual conversation and then asked them their stories. Each woman was very vague and we could tell they just did not want to talk about what they experienced. One woman shared her story with us; yet another story that broke my heart. God told me before I came to Jos that my heart would break for what breaks His this month, and without a doubt my heart is broken. But at the same time my heart is resonating with hope and love. Hope and love that only come from Christ. Before we left Zot we asked the women if we could pray for them; they affirmed with a resounding, “yes please! We need your prayers!� Us women all held hands, we prayed over them, and prophesied hope and love over them.
After Zot we drove to the neighboring village of Ratsat; again my heart broke. The first person we met was a 100 year old man named Joseph. Joseph had one of the best smiles I have ever encountered in my whole life. He started talking to Justine and I in his own language as if we knew exactly what he was saying. He just kept talking away, and although in the physical I couldn’t understand what he was saying, I could feel hope in this man’s spirit so strong. We then met his wife Regina, who was exactly the same way. She kept talking away, and all I could comprehend was the hope of this woman. We had our friend come over to translate for us. We talked of hope and how blessed we are to be in their village. We talked about the beauty of the land and how much we experience God’s majesty by being here. Joseph started crying and told us how encouraged he was that we would decide to come to his village and talk so highly of it. He said he was filled with hope for a better day.
Before we left Ratsat, Justine went up to some of the women to say good-bye and yet again, one of the started talking away and pointing to her leg. Justine called over of the translators. She asked us to pray for her. Erika, Jordan, and Justine laid hands on her and started praying earnestly. The lady was receiving her prayers. As soon as they got one praying she started talking away again. Before our translator told us what she said, both Jordan and Brad got a feeling that there was something very wrong with her bones and told our translator to tell her that. Our translator was then taken back when he said that she just told him that the problem was in her bones. Jordan said she wanted to pray for her again and speak specifically to her bones, so she did. After we asked her how she felt, she stood up and started walking. I told her to claim that she was healed and she did! She thanked us profusely and we told her to give the glory to God. She said she had no more pain! To God be the Glory!
As we left the village we noticed plenty of kids walking to school and ended up picking some up along the way. We asked them how long it takes to walk to school each day, since their school was destroyed and no longer has a roof. They said it takes 2 hours each way to walk to school. That is four hours a day going to and from school. The number blew my mind. The drive to the school alone was over 30 minutes. Again my heart went out to them! So after we dropped the kids off we decided we would go to the government tomorrow to see what we could do to re-roof the school so the kids could actually be kids! Pray that our meeting goes well tomorrow.
