Highlight of the week

 

The highlight of our week took place Wednesday night.

On Monday afternoon the president one of the villages in which we did VBS invited our whole team to dinner on Wednesday night. To say it was an honor to receive the invitation does not express the significance of the moment. This is a village that had been unfriendly to Christians in the past, and the missionaries at Ninawachi had only recently been given approval by the village to send a team in to work with the kids. The invitation was a gesture of appreciation for what our students were doing in the village and a chance to strengthen the relationship with the people of the community.

While we were grateful for the invitation, our team was a little unsure about attending. There were many unknowns about what we were getting in to. What should we expect? Would they serve us something that wasn’t palatable? Would we get sick from the food? How do we conduct ourselves in this unfamiliar setting? Would we be a good representation of Christ when we were there?

After praying about the situation, each one of our team members felt that we could not miss this important opportunity. We felt that the Lord was leading us to go and if we were following His call to go and make disciples, He would take care of us. This was an opportunity for us to live out our faith; to live what we preach about trusting in God. We had the opportunity to further the kingdom of God by helping to create a great relationship between the missionaries at Ninawachi and the village, and we were honored to have the chance to take part of such a significant event.

And what an amazing night it wass. Many children attended the VBS in the village that day. The rest of the team arrived later on in the early evening after they finished their own VBS programs in the two other villages. There was so much joy on the faces of the children of the community as our students played games with them and shared the love of Christ with them. A few young ladies did a traditional dance for our team and even asked some of our guys to join in! For dinner they served us fish they caught from the river (this village is known for the excellent fish caught there) and yucca, with cola to drink. To end the night, the president of the village asked Ulysses, one of the missionaries at Ninawachi to come to his house next week to preach the gospel.

We had the privilege to take part in the work of the Lord and see Him opening doors first hand. Mr. Falkowski pointed out how the evening was very reminiscent of Paul visiting Athens in Acts 17. It was such a special moment that we got to experience. This was a night we will never forget!