Waking up this morning the woman’s Bible study was on my mind. Come to find out they were on a 10 day fast all 300+ praying for their country and peace in the world. And most importantly for more to come to know Jesus. I had no idea the little area where they were meeting was going to be packed so full. We had taken 192 Bibles. That wasn’t enough, he made a second trip and increased the total amount to 336. It was a wonderful time of lively worship and incredible presence of the Holy Spirit. I wish that I could share the sensations that I experienced at these events. My words don’t even come close to doing it justice. The presence of the Holy Spirit brings me to tears, every time I’m in one of these gatherings. Rarely do I ever feel this in the states. It breaks my heart that we are so distracted and off-track that we don’t experience the true presence of the Lord. Most of the real movement of the Holy Spirit is replaced with fancy stage show lights and entertainment. Come here to Africa and feel the real deal. You will have difficulty leaving.
This land is crying out for God’s word. For leadership, for the opportunity to walk closer with the Lord. We will be quickly preparing the rental house so we can start receiving other missionaries and small youth groups of 12 or less. I believe we will have no problem being ready for June, July and August mission trips. Then our youth will go back to America and start to change it. They will experience the power of the Lord in such a magnified way, their faith will grow exponentially. The anticipation that I wake with each morning is delightful and deeply heartfelt. It has nothing to do with stuff, but everything to do with love.
The welcome I received from the women was fantastic. They were far more generous in their characterization of me than I deserve. When I spoke I tried to deflect as much of that as possible to our Savior Jesus. I’ve traveled many places in the world and oftentimes see University of Michigan swag. Even in the ladies group was a woman wearing a Michigan hat. There’s a wide variety of clothing that is worn, most of it donated. I was so charged up from their enthusiastic worship that it stayed with me several hours after I left. The day that my family and friends can come here and experiences this, it will be a glorious one - period. After making our second trip to deliver Bibles we were on the way to purchase 520 shoes and 200 blankets.
The process of acquiring these items was fairly involved. Then the cramming into the minivan was also a bit time consuming. If they were sardines one more would have made the can explode. Fortunately, we signed the lease for the house today, Now we will have some space for some of these items. They agreed upon the unbelievable price of 400,000 kwacha a month, which translates to USD of $550 a month. A similar place in the states would probably be $2,000-$3,000 a month. God continues to bless us each day. The fact that we were able to give out almost twice as many Bibles, to an eager crowd of godly women was wonderful.
The agreement that I had with the previous van owner expired yesterday. And I miss Bonface’s presence already. However, I am now using Rhoda’s van that is comparable. It is capable of carrying 14 people in extremely tight quarters. Economy class airplane seats would seem like a home recliner compared to these. These are great little vans for maneuvering in tight quarters. They have quite a sharp turning radius. I understand you can purchase them from Japan off of expired lease agreements quite economically. Most likely we will keep our eyes open over the next few months and try to purchase one. I believe God will make the provision so that we have adequate transportation for the mission trips. I drove Rhoda and Marvelous home. When the torrential rains come most of the side streets become flowing rivers of churning mud. Most of these passageways wouldn’t even begin to qualify as a street. The jagged outcroppings and buried boulders make it a treacherous journey when it’s dry, and downright dangerous when it’s down pouring. I couldn’t believe all the cracks, crevices, alleyways and passages between buildings that became makeshift spillways. Make sure you check out some of the videos I took you’ll see what I mean.
Joel the guy with the truck for sale has been wonderful to work with. He put four new tires on the truck, had a complete maintenance done front to back and left us with the truck for the night so we could move bicycles. Actually, he went with me to the vehicle registration department, then he helped me load the first batch of bicycles. No payment for the vehicle or anything signed. On top of that he took our registration paperwork home because he looked at it and noticed it was lacking in a few areas. I offered to pay him for everything he had assisted me with, he refused. He was a minister and went out and preached at different churches and worked at a nonprofit. I asked him if he still felt the call on his heart to preach. He said he did. From a human perspective it is mind-boggling. Just think all of these situations working hand-in-hand with each other. Each piece of the puzzle seems to be supernaturally crafted to fit with another. If someone was telling me the story I probably wouldn’t believe it.
A similar situation happened with the house tonight. No payment, no papers signed but we were granted access. In fact, the owner helped us unload the bicycles, shoes, and blankets then place them in the house. The night was hot and sticky so the physical exertion just added to the perspiration. Everyone was laughing and joking and having a great time. Finding God’s will took decades. Staying in his will is a minute by minute experience. Had there been a hint of what I was missing out on, I would’ve ferociously tried to clean my act up much, much sooner. The wonderful thing about God is he can redeem the time. That’s the only explanation I can give and it is all to his glory.
We have a lot to do tomorrow and very little time to accomplish it. Am I concerned? Not one bit. Because whatever we do achieve will be for God’s glory. We will smile, we will laugh and we will ask people if they know Jesus. That’s all that any of us need to be full of joy unspeakable.
