Hello friends and family! Sorry, it’s been a while…. In this last month of the race, I’ve been thinking about home and taking some time to prepare myself! So just a little run through on whats going on here in Africa! Every Monday and Friday we have been painting murals and every Tuesday and Thursday we spend our days at the refugee camp teaching and loving on our kids.
The days at the refugee camp have been amazing. Before we started going to the refugee camp we were told that we are not allowed to mention God at the camp or pray for people. Being a group of missionaries this was hard because we wanted to tell them about God so badly. So instead we pray for the people at the camp before we arrive and after. We try to teach them about Jesus through the love we show them. We prayed for Jesus to show us how to love like him and be like him to these people at the camp. So far we have done this loving the poor and the rich equally and loving the kids as if they are our own.
So let me get to the point here. last Tuesday we went to the camp ready to teach and love on our kids but upon arriving at the camp things felt different. I’ve never felt unsafe at the camp or uneasy but something about this day was different. I got the feeling that we weren’t wanted there. When we went into the classrooms the kids told us to go home… we were so confused on why they were treating us like this? Did we do something wrong? The kids we were used to running up to us every day were now holding back from us like they were scared of getting in trouble. within 10 minutes at the camp, our ministry host told us we needed to leave. I didn’t feel unsafe at the camp but I just felt like we weren’t wanted there at that time.
Later our ministry host explained that the religious leader at the camp told the refugees that they shouldn’t be learning from us because we are Christian and muslims are suppose to be separate from Christians. This broke my heart… We never once tried to teach these kids about Jesus. We have been at the camp for 2 months now and from what I can tell the kids and even the parents love us yet they are told one thing and they all stray away from us. I was devastated because my love for those kids was so great that I was scared we wouldn’t be able to return to the camp again. We spent the rest of the day praying over the camp. While I was praying I was asking God that if these people loved us so much then why did they turn from us? He then reminded me that in the beginning we prayed to be like him to the kids and he did that. He showed us how to love these kids unconditionally, the way he loves us. He then reminded me how great his love for us is and how sometimes one little thing happens in our lives and we run away from him. This is how the camp is to me. Even though I felt like I wasn’t wanted at the camp my love for these people is unbreakable and honestly, I was sadder that I wouldn’t be able to go back then the way they acted towards me. That’s how he feels when we turn his back on him. He loves us so greatly that he doesn’t care what you are doing or what sin your getting wrapped up in he just wants you to come home to him.
The next day our ministry host went to talk to the religious leaders at the camp. Right, when he got there the kids we excited to see him and told him everything that was going on. They wanted their furengies ( white people) back. They lead them to the leader and long story short the number of people that wanted us there out waged the people who didn’t.
Thursday morning we were welcomed back with open arms and the kids apologized like nonother. It was good to be with my kids again! Don’t you worry friends and family I feel as safe as I could ever be and yes we are cautious when we are at the camp! This has also taught me that even though we can’t talk about Jesus in the camp that something is stirring in them. That God definitely Has his hand over them because things like this wouldn’t be happening if God wasn’t moving!
