It is Monday, which means that it is our team's day of rest from ministry where we do much-needed laundry, adventures in the town, team building, dwelling in the Lord's presence, and updating you all back home.
I feel as though I have already experienced and learned so much that it is difficult to know where to start in sharing anything close to an adequate testimony of these last few days. The land and people here are absolutely beautiful, and yet at the same time my heart breaks for the poverty and darkness that is here as well. I know that the Lord has huge plans for this trip as He has already begun to give us a glimpse of what we are capable of with the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us.
Something that keeps coming up consistantly is that God longs to fill me with all of Him. My prayer lately has been a yearning of, "God, I want more of You. More of You in Lira, and more of You in myself." I am discovering that, when we ask this of Him, He is overjoyed and even eager to reveal more of Himself to us – in fact, the Lord is just waiting for us to desire more of Him.
In this place, I am finding that God's presence is inescapable. I see it in the people who have so many struggles to overcome (such as the immense poverty and the darkness), yet still have a certain joy about them. I have seen this most clearly in the children. I love having the kids just hanging on my arms, holding my hands, and smiling the widest smiles. I love when they call out "Misungu! Misungu!" (White person! White person!) and then hearing their giggles when we actually look over to wave and smile at them. I love it when the street children are so enamored by my white skin and blonde hair that they spend long amounts of time just stroking my skin and running their sweaty and dirty fingers through my hair. They find joy in the most simple of things and it makes something within me come to life. The fact that our mere presence and loving attention gives them so much joy must be similar to the joy that the Lord feels when His children cry out for more of Him.
We have been working with Compassion International and this last Saturday I had the opportunity to teach 27 kids who were of the ages 3-5 years. The lesson for the day was "I can sew with my hands." Yes, I was to teach 3 year-old African children how to sew (all by myself too, because my translator left after the first 5 minutes). What an experience! Needless to say, the lesson was somewhat brief and we spent the remainder of the 45 minutes telling a Bible story, singing songs, dancing, and laughing at the fact that they could hardly understand my english. I absolutely loved teaching these children and can't wait to do it more!
The Lord has deeply broken my heart for this town–which I know He will use. I look forward to this coming week as He continues to wreck my life, change my plans, teach me about Himself, and give me an even greater passion for this ministry and these people.
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." -John 7:37-38
In Him,
Kayla
