This sweet smile belongs to the most precious little girl named Joyce. She was one of my most favorite parts about being in Togo. She loves to laugh, show off every little bit of attitude when she dances and she sits on the front row during church. Joyce was a reminder that just like every other month, the Lord shows me joy in the most unique ways.
I met Joyce on the first Sunday that we went to church in Togo. We had split our group of 20 people up into twos to go to as many churches and preach as possible. I was in the only group of three that was supposed to consist of a Sunday school speaker, a service preacher and a children’s leader. By the luck of the draw I got to be the children’s leader. When we showed up to church, there were only about 3 children, including Joyce, and for a long time no one said anything about the children’s program for the service. As the Sunday school lesson Josiah gave continued, the children just kept coming. I took them around to the side of the church to our own little spot and was even blessed with a translator, the mom of one of the girls. We were up to about 25 or 30 kids at this point. We danced and we sang and we told a Bible story. After Sunday school, worship started and I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an African church, but no kid can hear a Bible story when that’s happening. So the mom and I agreed that it would be best to stop for worship and take the kids inside. This is where it all started with Joyce. She was standing beside me, just kind of swaying but I could tell she wanted to DANCE. So I grabbed her hand and just started twirling her around. She spun and spun, but even when she couldn’t spin anymore, she didn’t let go of my hand. I do not typically dance, but I loved dancing with Joyce. She was fearless and completely comfortable in expressing herself in a way that was completely her own.
When we returned to the kids section outside, the pastor ducked out right after worship to find out what we had done in the first session. When the other ladies told him I had taught the kids a song he said, “Great! Practice again and the children can do it for the church!” Of course, this is not what I had expected. But the church loved it! The kids followed me and sang in English and were so proud to have something to perform. I explained how the song relates to Abraham being a father to a great nation. Little did I know, we would be going back to that church three more times and the Lord had me speak on Abraham or his promise each time I preached.
The next Sunday, it was my turn to preach the service, but I walked outside before, to speak to one of the ladies from last week. Joyce, who never left my side followed, which meant the other kids that were there followed. When I turned around they were all sitting in our spot from last week ready for a lesson. I was told, “the children are ready for you.” I told her I couldn’t lead the children this week because I had to preach. As soon as I said that, I felt such a peace. It occurred to me that last week, the Lord used the place where I was comfortable, with the kids, to prepare me for delivering just a different kind of message the next week. I no longer see preaching as this unaccomplishable task. The Lord revealed that if you simply give Him your yes, He may even let you begin where you’re comfortable before He calls you into what appears to be more difficult. He takes areas that even we view as weak or incapable and works through them to bring Himself glory. (I’m sure there will be more on strength and weakness in the future. It’s just bits and pieces right now.)
I will always think of Joyce and her smile when I remember Togo. I will think of the church that displayed generosity like I had never seen before. I will think of the times that I actively saw the Holy Spirit at work and speak. Togo was just supposed to be the country in West Africa that was the stepping stone to get to Asia, but for Rapha, it was the place we saw the Lord show up.
