I was so excited this morning! I woke up AFTER the sun!!! I was ready to kill that rooster last night, though! It chose to crow right next to my tent at whatever hour of the morning. NOT COOL.
I did get the privilege of making breakfast this morning, but I didn’t make omelettes. I was in a cooking mood after that whole chapatti thing yesterday, so I made French toast for breakfast! It came out pretty good, the only thing that was missing was a small splash of vanilla. Vanilla would have made it much better, but no such luck for us. It was the first time I’ve had French toast with “honey syrup” instead of maple syrup. I felt a little bad because I forgot to put nutmeg on one person’s French toast, but they told me later that it was good French toast so I didn’t mention the uh…. Lack of spice.
Fast Forward>>>>>
The Lord really blessed me today! I worked with Brad in the childrens ministry department while everone else did a teacher’s meeting. Brad set up a makeshift goal, and let the kids kick a ball (made up of tightly wound plastic bags and some twine… these kids are ingenious!) at him while he played goalie. After the kids finished with Brad, they came to me and I set up a few different Frisbee things for them to do. It was cute teaching the kids how to throw a Frisbee! After that, Brad made up a balloon game (well, made up a few balloon games- he kept having to change the rules until the game fit the group of kids we had.) and I was the balloon blow up girl. We were using cheap balloons that popped easily, especially with how hot the sun was. So, I had to make sure I had a few balloons constantly on reserve so that popped ones could be replaced right away. I was glad I wasn’t working directly with the kids at this time because my mind went way south with the whole “plastic blow up objects” thing. It was good that my lips were busy blowing up the balloons because I had many things to say that really didn’t need to be said! When I wasn’t focusing on the balloons, I was the water girl. Brad was running around with the kids, and didn’t get a break. I was quite sure that if he didn’t drink water every once in a while that he would pass out or something. I was glad that he was doing that, though, because I got to play with the other kids! There were kids that were hanging around underneath a tree; some were waiting for their turn to play the balloon game, and others weren’t interested in the game at all so they opted not to play. I loved getting to play with them! I would tickle them, talk to them, repeat what they said (they loved that) and was generally just silly. I had a lot of fun!
After playing with the kids, the team got together for lunch. We had some kind of tuna-pasta creation with veggeis on the side. I did the dishes and put them away while listening to some songs on my music. After that I did my life journaling, and found a great lesson in 1 Timothy 6:1. After life journaling, I was inspired to actually write down my testimony. I went to the rock, but Brad was already up there. I guess great minds think alike… instead, I went downhill from the rock and found a quiet, hidden place where I could be just myself, by myself, and be able to spend some great quality time with the Lord. He really broke me down to tears today…
Within minutes of my emotional breakdown of tears, Sharon was at my side asking what was wrong. Honestly, I already didn’t like that I was crying, and I was really uncomfortable with Sharon seeing me cry. I questioned if I should trust Sharon or not, because my reason for crying was quite personal. I decided that I could talk to her, but before I could tell her the reason for my tears, she was pulled away and informed that the Women’s conference was starting and that we needed to be there for it. Sharon advised that this was perfect timing for me to have a breakdown, because now I’ll really be able to connect with the women at the conference. Honestly, I would have been perfectly okay with skipping the conference. Mark is a very intuitive gentleman, because I slithered my way (I thought unnoticed) into my tent to clear my face and calm my breathing, and mark came in with a small thing of tissues. That was really a defining moment between Mark and I; his action really astounded me. I don’t know if Sharon tipped him off to my tears, but I do know that most people I’m around on any normal basis wouldn’t be able to tell if I’d just got done crying. Even less of those people would be so kind as to get me tissues if they DID see me crying. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s nice to know that there are a few people in the world (outside my own family) that care, even if it’s just a little. Maybe I’m being too dramatic with this….
Fast forward about 3 minutes…. >>>>>
We started the women’s conference, and Sharon decided that God must have done something incredible with me, so I was the first to share my testimony. I briefly went over how my heart has been torn and broken, and how certain holes have got there. I told them about how the Love of the Lord is the reason I am able to spiritually grow, and how God is the reason I’m able to see beauty in this life. Tears started up again, but this time it wasn’t just with me. When the women shared their testimonies, they were far deeper than my own. They have gone through so much more than I have; abuse, neglect, sicknesses, and other things- yet their love of God is so deeply rooted in them! It was such a humbling, beautiful experience to hear these women speak! Even as I write this, it sends chills down my body. That’s the kind of Love that I need to have for my God. After one woman spoke, she offered me “words of encouragement”. She blessed me so much by telling me that God was there for me, that he was doing beautiful things with my life. Honestly? I was so humbled- I clung to every word she said. I don’t’ know what it was about today, but I left that women’s conference with such an admiration for the beautiful ladies of Kenya! I left that meeting craving to be closer to God, begging him to do whatever it took to get me where he wants me. That small bit of encouragement’s helped me to push forward a little harder.
After the women’s meeting, everyone just chilled out. I wonder if Mark told the other guys that I was crying, because they all got pretty quiet when I walked up. I realized then that I really didn’t care; there wasn’t much they could do to help me anyways. That meeting- it meant more to me than I think my teammates realized. This was my hope for change, and I really felt like God was finally starting to reveal a little more of His plans for me. I spent a little more time on the rock today, just talking with my Jesus.
We leave for a cruisade tomorrow, so I’m praying that things go well for that. It’s the witchcraft town that we’re going to, I think. Had some dinner….. hotdogs and chili. Crappy hot dogs, I should say.
In other news: There is a pink canteen waterbottle type thing that the team keeps saying I should keep. (if you don’t already know, I’m passionately against pink.) I threw the thing in their tent, and they threw it back in mine. I threw it back in there tent. It was my mistake for thinking this was the end of the story, because I just walked into our tent and it’s HANGING FROM THE ROOF. That was ingenious and incredibly funny, but WRONG…………….
I bid you goodnight :)
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