Never Useless

August 6:  Freshly out of the shower, that is...a bathtub with a handheld hose for a shower-head with no curtain...I have a little time before dinner. Today was our first real day for ministry and God was there. Thank you for your prayers as they are turning in to fruit over here. This morning we split into two groups going to two different care points where we'll be for the week. We split into even smaller groups, each with a translator, and started walking around the village stopping at peoples homes and visiting with them.

My group had the opportunity to stop at two homes and prayed over both households. We were also able to put faith into action and help them around their homes. At one home we swept their yard with tree branches. At another we helped fetch water from the creek.

 Our afternoon was spent at the care point where we did a very short lesson/skit on Joseph and how God turned his bad day into a good day. We finished by playing with balloons and the kids fell in love with them. Many of them deflating them so they could keep them and bring them home.

 So, what did I learn today? As 1 Corinthians 15:58 says: "always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that whatever you do for the Lord is never useless". When some of us were anxious about the day and whether we might offend someone or do something wrong, it was comforting to know that if we're doing it for God, it will not be in vain and he can bring fruit out of it.

Tengetile during dinner time

I met a beautiful 12 year old girl, Tengetile, who had nearly perfect English. It was wonderful being able to talk to a child without the use of a translator. The neatest thing was how much this girl loved God and loved learning about God. I really wish the children I taught knew as much about God or could learn about God in school. The raw faith of these people is a beautiful thing and I really wish our western culture would learn from these people and how much they rely on God instead of science or medicine. I feel today that I am in Africa to learn more about the Christian faith that I can bring back with me to Canada rather than me being here spreading the word of God.

God was at work today, whether or not we saw it. To him be the glory in all that we do here.