Today has been a pretty good day, albeit quite tiring. It started this morning when Tamara came in and said the cooks were sick, so they needed help preparing food for the feeding program that they do. Having quite a bit of experience helping in the kitchen (thanks to one Sandy Flenniken J ) I decided I’d go and give it a shot. Nothing like taking directions from someone when you don’t understand them that well, but it was a lot of fun. Jeff Long (the missionary who runs this place) told Tamara and me that we need to help every day with preparing food, and that because of our efforts people would eat today. What a statement. These people don’t get proper food, nor much of it. How simple would it be if everyone who could would step up and help out this way?
We then proceeded to go into a village and feed the people.
The kids were shy, and didn’t want to play like they did yesterday but they soon opened up and everyone loved/wanted to get their pictures taken (of course I didn’t have my camera). The joy on the people’s faces when they got their food and attention from us was great. It’s been by far the best thing I’ve done so far.
This afternoon we did the same thing, but in a different village. This village was more in the country and was very beautiful. While we were there it decided to downpour (which, although it is monsoon season it has hardly done-it’s been pretty sunny the week we have been here). We stood on the porch of a small store with some new found friends and tried to wait out the rain (several of our guys decided to chase the kids in the rain and enjoy it). Our friends sang some worship songs, we talked, and laughed (LOTS of laughing). Ryan asked if we could pray for them, and they said yes. They said they wanted a basketball court, so we prayed for that. It would be awesome if someone would build them a court-who knows, perhaps we will be able to do that for them.
It is the little things that we do that can make a profound difference. Scooping out a bowl of cous cous and smiling at the kids can leave an impact that we won’t necessarily know we are making. For a few moments they have people to laugh with and feel loved. I hope we can go back to this village next week for the feeding.
