So often in Africa, no..wait..all the time in Africa, nothing goes as planned. Each day is one hundred percent different than we expect, and a series of strange things happen instead. I absolutely love it, and feel quite comfortable in this unsure life. I am most certainly taking life seriously, BUT I truly cannot stop laughing about the situations we find ourselves in.
We have had multiple excursions to visit the Chief of Diablo [actually, he is a Chief of chiefs, isn’t that exciting] wherein it becomes a 10-15 minute wait under the bat/mango tree singing love songs to the wind in hopes it will reach the absent chief, until the messenger informs us he is actually out of town, or at a funeral, etc. The chief looks exactly like Randy Jackson and I am not confident that he is not. Has anyone seen Randy Jackson with their own eyes of late? Exactly. I certainly haven’t, well wait maybe I HAVE, right here in Diablo. He has taken up four wives and a bat/mango tree….he truly seems to be doing well.
Every morning, our ministry begins at nine and ends at twelve. Which means that every morning our ministry begins with us ready to wait at least an hour while diligently ready to go 🙂 until ten o’clock comes around and then maybe we can begin.
On our way to church this morning, we took a detour to visit the Chief. This time he really was home and church had begun. Pastor was with us, and Raina as well—our teammate who had a sermon ready to preach to the church congregation where we certainly were not present at in that moment—and we just sat in front of the chief of chiefs to exchange the “news” and watch a multitude of giant bats fly out of the tree over our heads, secretly praying that bat poop did not plop into our wide open eyes.
We did make it to church, late of course and in the middle of worship and prayer, and Raina did preach a magnificent sermon [I wanted to write “BA sermon” but my teammates implored me not to, though that’s really what I meant].
But ministry is awesome here. It has been uncertain and postponed, sometimes awkward and full of misunderstandings; all the same it has been wonderful and full to the brim of blessings. We have been blessed to talk to so many lovely souls about following the one and only awe-inspiring Jesus Christ, and have taught the little ones in the village—singing Jesus songs with them and playing games! We have put on skits in the streets to crowds of folk, realizing our acting dreams; have prepared messages for Sunday church; and have prayed with and for many many others; and we have met the most generous people! And there is so much joy in knowing every single moment is worth everything if even one person is encouraged to walk with God. The angels rejoice in heaven when one soul is saved.
Also let us recognize together this huge blessing that may seem silly and like a joke but it actually isn’t because it means everything: DRINKING CHOCOLATE MILK EVERY MEAL. Our host was given divine direction from God to stock up on chocolate milk daily. That’s suspiciously how it seems, anyway.
