This is all real now. I walk outside every morning to an unfamiliar place. To the sounds and sights of soccer practice, goats, cattle and chickens. I am hearing languages I don’t understand. I see smiles of hope and joy all around me, but some of defeat and despair. I eat unfamiliar, but delicious foods each day. The thing is as real as this is, it doesn’t seem real yet.
I cannot seem to wrap my head around the intangible 11 months I have committed to. Excited, yes! Ready, I think so. The journey, the wisdom, the experiences I will share with my God. It all sort of seems like an incredible dream. I have been here for not even a week and my mind is full of questions and praise. We serve an incredible Father.
I am serving with my team*, One Pulse, and also team Ethereal Flames. We are serving Pastor Zacharie’s church and compound, Mission Ephrata. Pastor Zacharie’s birthday was the 10th, the day we arrived. And let me tell you about how incredible it has been to celebrate with him since we have arrived. Every year for his birthday he does some sort of event(s).
Thursday, the 11th of August, we helped serve 270+ widowed women, by worshipping with them and giving them food to take home for their families. Pastor Zacharie gave a powerful message to the women and probably around 200 or so chose to surrender their lives to Christ. He also prayed healing over the women, and women were healed. Women who could not walk or run were doing so, women with pain felt relief, miracle after miracle their faith grew, and so did mine. This was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. I just started weeping, I couldn’t stop the tears, I didn’t even know they were coming. I was just so overtaken by the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Lord.
After, the message we handed out the food and then most of the women left. However, some women and children stayed behind and began to dance in celebration. All of us joined in. The joy and laughter was one of the most beautiful sights and experiences I have been apart of. I even made a sweet friend, Emmanuella. She is the little girl, maybe 6 or 7. She has a heart of kindness and a beautiful smile that she rarely shows…unless I ask or am tickling her.
This evening moved me and changed me. I realized how much of a heart I have for widowed woman. In James1:27 it says, “Pure and genuine faith in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” It was so encouraging to see our host’s pure and genuine faith upon our arrival.
That same night there was a service and at the end Pastor Zacharie divided us into 3 groups to pray for different things. I prayed for the event the next day. This was new for me…we walked around the area of the event praying out loud for the Lord to be very present, to fill the place and many other things. It stretched me and was a good thing for me.
Friday, the birthday celebrations continued! The 12th at 9pm thru the 13th at 6am was an all night prayer service. WOW oh WOW, I felt all the things*. They had many guest speakers and singers to be a part of the event. It was great to watch God work and hear the speakers. Healing continues to occur here, as there is a powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.
In all honesty, the language barrier is very real. It is something I am struggling with and wishing/praying I would magically speak French. Worship in church is my jam! I love the moments when worship becomes a conga line or dance session. It brings it all to life for me when I can’t understand a single word. Although, I am starting to catch onto a few songs! We have had an incredible translator during messages though. Pastor Zacharie’s daughter, Victoire has translated sooooo much for us along with his son and a couple other members of the church. I am very thankful for their willingness to do it for us.
During the down time, which we have had quite a bit of (next weeks blog will be on this, be sure to subscribe!!!), I have spent many different ways. From growing in relationship with my team, hammock’ing with my bible, journal and a book, trying to leave the compound for bananas, playing with children or youth and praying, praying, praying.
I am reading Jefferson Bethke’s Jesus > Religion, and it is incredible!!!!!!!! I just finished it last night. It is a must read!!!
For our ministry, we have been working with the Youth (late high school- 35 year olds). Our main purpose will be to empower the youth into a life of missions. That they would feel that they can do missions right where they are. God has called each of us to share the Good News and further His Kingdom wherever we are. Each week we do 2-4 days of evangelizing in the surrounding communities. This has been such a great experience, and fun when we see the people we meet at church the following Sunday. In addition, we are helping to take inventory and organize the library/bookstore for the church. This has been a large, but fun task for our teams. We are at 24,579 books and counting.
Prayer Requests:
1. For the individuals we are sharing the Good News with to have open hearts and listening ears.
2. For Trey’s left eye to be healed and his vision restored.
3. To walk humbly and with grace, loving others well.
4. To not be discouraged by language barriers.
5. To be open myself to the work the Lord is wanting to do in my heart and life.
Prayers that were ANSWERED:
1. The Lord has given me so much grace to give to others and helped me to love well. Living with a lot of new people can be a bit of a challenge. So thank you for your prayers!
*all the things= WR culture lingo for everything, but really just some things but you don’t want to specify
*squad= all 50 people on K-squad, that I travel country to country with
*team= I am on team One Pulse. This is who I serve our ministry host with, live with and spend a majority of my time with.
