One of our many ministries this month is going to the slums and sharing the love of Jesus with all who live there. The first day, we went to one of the slums and played with all of the children in the area. We are here in the midst of a Hindu festival so all the kids are on Holiday. During the festival, huge swings made out of bamboo and ropes erupt everywhere. One of them happened to be in the middle of the slum. This drew a lot of children to the area. All of us had an absolute blast playing with and loving on the kids.
The next day, a smaller group of eight of us plus two ministry host went to a different slum. Upon entering the area, I noticed that there were far less children running around. The thought, “Where are all the children?” ran through my mind. We kept walking until we got to the school that the children around attend. This school was about the size of an average bedroom in America. The walls of stone were windowless and painted with what use to be bright colored paint. There was a hand painted elephant in one corner with a large crack stretching from roof to ground displaying remnants of the damaging earthquake. On the adjacent wall, Galatians 5:22 was written below a scrawled out alphabet. Along the opposite wall across the room, red handprints with the words Abba, Jesus, and God were covering the bottom of the wall. Overall, the school was extremely modest.
After all of us entered the small room, we decided to simply pray over the building. Pray for all the hands and feet that cross the threshold, the teacher, and all the things (a popular saying used by worldracers). A couple minutes pass and one of the host decides to have a worship session right there in the dimly lit school. One of the girls turned on the music and we began to pray and worship the Lord right there in that moment. The Holy Spirit was with out a doubt in our midst. How He Loves started to play and something happened to me personally. I let go. I pulled an Elsa and I simply let it go. I let go of all my fear, anxieties and other things that had been building inside of me that I had not realized. No one else was in the room but Jesus and I. Every word I sang was being poured out to Jesus. The song How He Loves has a way of doing that to me. A tremendous amount of Joy developed within my soul.
When we were done worshipping we prayed once more for the school and then for the Holy Spirit to lead us through the slums and point us in the right direction. We began walking through the slum and noticed that there were not many people around. Walking a little further, we stumbled upon a small group of six or seven children. The Holy Spirit began tugging on our heartstrings and we brought the children back to the school to play some games. We played Duck Duck Goose, soccer (futbol), and acted out the story of David and Goliath. We also did some dances that we learned in Ghana for a concert, for the children. Everyone had a ton of fun loving on the precious children. Although we could not understand each other, those kids could look into our eyes and know that we truly cared and loved them. For some of them, the interaction and attention that we poured out on them was all they may have received that day. We blessed those children but in return they also blessed us. Just seeing their little faces light up when you looked into their eyes, smiled, and gave them a big hug was enough to fill my heart to the brim with happiness. When the Holy Spirit shows up, you know what He has planned will always be good.
I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has graciously given towards my trip. Without you, I would not be experiencing all of the wonderful things God is showing me. I am still trying to reach my fully funded goal! Thank you again!
