Because I got high…

Today I walked around the Ghetto…

     I woke up today feeling tired. Today I woke not wanting to do anything. I didn’t want to go pray for the police officers or teach kids a bible story. It was just one of those days that I wanted to lay in my bed and watch countless episodes of ‘I Love Lucy’ or ‘Law and Order’.

     At around 7:20 am I went with the Pastor and one other teammate to the Police station. I watched and listened as the Pastor gave a word to those who came, they were mostly FBI and undercover officers. Then we went to the car to leave and the pastor hesitated. He thought for a second then said we should go find this man and see if he is in. So we did and the man was there. Pastor just wanted to say hello and introduce us. I prayed for him as well. Then we loaded up and headed towards the school where hundreds of kids were waiting.

On the car ride I saw Pumba from the Lion King…IN REAL LIFE!

I chuckled in my reality check, “dude I’m in Africa”.

     It was in that moment I knew today would be different. I knew in that moment I had a choice to make. I had to decide whether today would be a good day or not. I decided today would be different. I decided I wouldn’t waste my day in Africa. This is what happened today…

     At the school this morning we shared about Abraham and Isaac and how God is the provider even in the last minute. We had question and answer time for the white people or ‘mazungoos’ as we are more commonly known. Kids here are very smart. We goofed around a bit and taught them a song. Then we went into the slum to invite people for tea. We did our inviting and ended up walking around for a couple of hours. As we walked my tiredness began to take over again. I began to sink into not wanting to do this again. ‘where is my bed?’, ‘I want to be alone!” or ‘this is lame…’ I looked up and watched my teammates walk ahead. We were right in front of this shady tree and God said to come ask me for what to do right now. I was hesitant but then got over it. Why? I chose to get over myself because I’m in Africa. God has something to do today. He has people he wanted us to talk to and encourage or just befriend. One of my teammates got the color red. So we prayed for almost every person wearing red. As I walked the road my eye saw a road filled with people wearing red. Crazy.

      I came home and had lunch with my team and took a nap. I laid there frustrated. I still wanted more. We have prayer everyday at the church for an hour so off we went. I sat there listening. Listening to the Pastor, who always has something powerful to say, listening to prayer requests, and to the Lord. God asked me to look out the window. I did, then he asked me what I saw. I said a tin roofed shack, red dirt, pieces of rock, kids running by, a woman carrying water, and bright blue sky. He said look again. I did. He said now what do you see. I didn’t know what to say; I was silent. God said, ‘Nikki, that’s my kingdom. Those are my people whom I love desperately.” I replied, ok what do you want from me then? God said they need to be healed. They need to know I am living and active. I want you to go be my hands and feet. I said ok lets go.
 (some kids we play with!)

     Before this prayer meeting happened I encountered a girl who had fallen at school. Her arm was obviously broken. As tears rolled down her face, I asked God what we should do. We had to leave her at that moment though. We told her we’d come back for her. Now prayer meeting is over and I’m pumped to find Maurine! I am on a mission to find her. Gina, Tiffany, Amiee, Tricia, and myself walked through the allies of the slum looking for her. I knew God wanted to do something. We got the area we first met Maurine but we didn’t find her. We started to walk away when I turn around to see her running into the legs of Tricia. I saw her arm and we began to pray. About fifteen children are also gathered around us only longing to touch the white person but we prayed anyways. We prayed about three times. Maurine kept inching away because the other kids kept knocking her arm. We decided to stop and come back at a later time. We started walking out of the slum with our parade of children walking behind us. It was a funny sight for sure! Maurine followed as well. We crossed the road to go home and saw a church member. We chatted with him and told him about Maurine. Maurine came running over to us. He asked her how her arm felt. To our surprise she said it was better. I asked her to move it. I looked at my teammates in shock. She moved it! I asked her to do it many times. I couldn’t believe it. Only about two minutes ago she couldn’t even lift it and now she is flexing it a bit. Praise the Lord!

Until next time…