January 1, 2012: "Livin' on a Prayer Baby!"

I was invited to visit the village of one of my friends. It is about 10K from my house and I really wanted to go see and encourage the people there. So I thought “Eh, 10K isn’t that far, no worries! Plus, I know that Marsha has been out here before- so if she can ride there on a bike, I can too.”

Well…. This was no paved, relatively straight 10K journey....and as we began I noticed that my handlebars were acting funny - they were getting looser by the minute. We were riding up and down big hills, carrying our bikes overs streams, crossing on little logs and stones. We were crossing through brush on extremely narrow paths where there was grass taller than my head; and all the while the handlebars were still loose and shaky. Keep praying!

Well we finally arrived (in one piece Praise the Lord!) to my friend’s compound. Upon arriving my friend looked at me and said “So Leah, you are ready to preach this morning??” Now, naturally, nothing had been mentioned about this before. Nobody asked me to come visit their church AND to preach. However, you will be happy to know that I came prepared :)  **Always come with a sermon or speech in your pocket while visiting because it is inevitable that you will be asked to speak. It has never failed.** So I answered graciously “Ah, I am very happy to preach.” Keep praying.....

I was then invited into a hut for breakfast. They presented me with a huge plate of food: asiida, and something else that I couldn't identify. **I don’t ask because I have learned it is better to eat in ignorance than to allow the knowledge of what I am eating to gag me!** Now, church was supposed to begin at 10:30am but when we arrived not a soul was there- people were all drunk from the night before. SO, I was taken into another hut where I was fed another meal. Yes, 30 minutes after the huge breakfast I couldn’t finish I was required to eat more :)  About an hour later everyone had been rounded up from the community and there was a full church. The service went well and I shared my sermon “When God speaks in New Ways” and it was amazing to see the people listening. With over 75 adults 100 children in the room there was not a peep while I spoke.

After service I greeted everyone and their dog (or goat in this case) and was guided back to the hut where I sat with the elders and was fed another meal.Goodness gracious!! Soon after that I went outside to speak with the women and children. They are so lovely....and broken. I am beginning to learn that the common question is “When will you come back here?? When will you come visit us again??” Keep praying....

After about 5 men tried to fix my bike (no one was successful by the way), we returned back to my friend’s compound. We were chatting and as I was holding a baby it peed all over me (remember: no diapers here)! I was discreet and I don’t think anyone noticed. **Why be discreet you ask?? Because they probably would’ve made me bathe there and then use their clothes if they would’ve noticed (no thank you!).** Then they took me into the hut and guess what they gave me?? ANOTHER huge meal!! What??? 

 

As dusk was approaching, it was time to journey back (note: I learned that Marsha did travel here, but it was on a motorcycle, not a bike- joke’s on me ;)

Whew! And at last I made it home…. After having my skirt ripped off (did I forget to mention that??), traveling over 20K, jumping through rivers, preaching the Word, getting peed on….. After eating 4 huge meals in 6 hours,                    encouraging the people, playing with the children, and getting covered in dust – my heart was beyond happy. This is what I was made to do and I loved every minute of it. These people are in desperate need of encouragement and truth. And when they see the effort that I go through, I promise you- they listen. Even though I know that the effort I made was small compared to the effort they made in welcoming me….Even though I know my trials are nothing compared to theirs….the Lord gives me a voice that is strong. Keep Praying.....

Oh merciful God, hear the cries of your people! Let my life be a part of your answer. Let my life be a part of their song of reconciliation with You. Let my spirit draw people towards Yours. Let people see that you have remembered them and as a result praise your name. What a humbling and amazing task awaits all of us.

United Christmas of America!

So, this isn’t the first time I have found myself in a foreign country away from family at Christmas time. Let me tell you a Christmas tale of an American in North Africa....

So something inside of me compelled me to start inviting the UN men to the Christmas service, as there was a 9am English service and all of them speak English. I started off with the 2 that were in my compound. I thought it would also be nice to cook something for them. So I was planning maybe a small little lunch with them. Well, then I started to invite the other people to the service as well: Muslims, Hinuds, Atheists, and Christians alike. It turned out to be quite the popular idea. Most were happy to join me for the service. None of them had been in a church while in the UN, and some had never even been in a church. 

Well, that then brought up the issue of dinner: I couldn't very well invite all of these people to a Christian Holiday Service and then only feed 2 of them. Soooo, I ended up inviting the whole lot of them for dinner at 7pm in my compound. I was prepared to cook 2 chickens, fried potatoes, rice, papaya salad and cole slaw. The British ladies were in charge of drinks and dessert.  But as the number kept increasing, I thought that I better request that some of them bring a dish as well because I didn’t have enough food….

We all went to the church service; there were about 8 of them who went. I have to admit, it was nothing like the ones in America, and it was less than fabulous in my opinion. However, all of them at least pretended like they enjoyed it :) So after that service I biked it on over to the MK (my people group) church service which began at 11. I made it right on time. This service was lovely, and it lasted from 11 until 3:30. Whew!  It was a looong service! There was also lunch with the locals afterwards, so I had to rush and finish eating in order to make it home in time to cook everything.

Long story short, it was a miracle. Every single dish turned out great. There were 12 people there from 9 different countries. Now, believe me, I thought it was a nice night and I enjoyed it. But I was unprepared for the response I got from everyone. Everyone kept saying how great of a night it was, and how they were so, so happy that I organized everything and cooked. Person after person, time and time again. It was so good for me to see that these people understood that I was welcoming them and wanted them to celebrate a Christian Holiday with them. God’s love definitely showed through. Praise the Lord!

But it doesn’t end there- the people enjoyed themselves so much that they wanted to do something similar on New Year’s Eve at our compound, knowing full well there would be no alcohol. There was a group of about 9 of us and we all shared our testimonies, or our thoughts about God. And at the end of it one of the men said “You know, we need to have something like this every week. We need so much encouragement and it is so difficult to do things by ourselves. Can we please set something up?”

So now we have a weekly Bible Study for the UN; anyone who is interested can join. And you know what the great thing is: it was their idea. It wasn’t the white people trying to convince the UN that they needed to study the Bible and know God, but rather they saw that we were there to share with them and encourage them, regardless of their faith, and wanted more of it.

God is good!