Sooo… I lied. Well, ok, I guess I didn’t exactly lie… I just
kind of kept you in the dark. Let me explain. It started the day I posted my
last blog about ATL Ministry; about thirty minutes after I posted that blog,
our plans changed.
Drastically.
We (Team Jubilee) never actually went out to the orphanage.
We stayed in Lome, and we’re still here. It was decided that it wasn’t really a
good idea to send three teams out to the orphanage, so our team stayed behind.
We still had a faint glimmer of hope for working with the Mercy Ship docked
here in Lome, and a couple other ministry options. The next few days were kind
of a whirlwind of uncertainty, excitement, despair, hope, and crushed hope.
Good stuff huh?
Finally, after a week or so, we have a ministry! DJ was
somehow able to seemingly pull a ministry contact out of thin air, and he is a
teacher at a local seminary here in the city. After talking with him and the
director of the school, we have been able to start work there doing general
upkeep of the property. Our first assignment has been painting, which is a job
I am notoriously messy at. It has been a cool job so far – basically, I get the
keys from them in the morning and then they leave us alone (scary, isn’t it?).
We bring along some speakers and an iPod, jam out to some good music, and
dominate the walls we are painting. Also, since DJ worked quite a bit with his
dad who has a painting business, DJ is our resident paint-professional and
bossman, with such nuggets of wisdom as “You see Matthew, painting this cracked
and dirty wall is like when women put on make-up.” If he’s not careful, I’m
just going to give him the leadership reins of the whole team and go on
vacation.
All in all, this month has been good for us – not good in a “Did you have a good day at
work, honey?” sort of way, but good
in more of a “God is Good” sort of way. We are learning a lot about faith and
trusting God that he is in control. Togo has been a prime application of my
personal motto for the WR: “God is a big boy and can take care of himself…and
me.”
