Beautiful People

Each day we went to a different village to do Bible Clubs. We went to Bole, Tinga, Bala, and Guniyiri. While each village had similarities, they also each had their own personalities.

Bole- We went to Methodist Junior Secondary School (JSS) and were overwhelmed with the number of kids. Things did not really go as planned. We had to be flexible because of the number of kids. We had them make name tags, sing songs, teach us songs, act out the story of Zacchaeus, and color. We were told after we left that most of the children were Muslim. Many of the Muslim elders came to the Methodist pastor and asked "why would white people come all this way to spend time with our kids." The pastor told them that it was out of our Father's love for us. They could not wrap their minds around this type of love. The pastor really feels like God is preparing many of the young people to turn to God from their Muslim beliefs . We are praying that they would be given the strength to step out--which is really hard when being Muslim influences so much of their culture.

Lesson learned from day one: We must remember that God is the one leading this team. We must not rely on ourselves but on Him.

Guniyiri- As a team, we had prayed that God would lead us. The day before we relied on ourselves more than God. This day, we let Him lead us. INCREDIBLE. Most could not speak English but it is amazing how you can build relationships even when you can't speak the same language. We went out into homes and spent time with the people of this village. This village does not have a school so The Orchard is really praying about how we can help in this matter.

Tinga- We were greeted by the chief of Tinga. What an experience! So many rituals and formalities. He was very welcoming. We then went and spent time with the people of the village. I noticed here how the kids are ready to learn- spiritually and academically. We really want our partnerships with these villages to be relational and not based on money.

Bala- The people were so inviting! They had prepared many songs and dances for us. We spent much of the day singing, dancing and praising. Many times during the day we would close our eyes and just listen to them raising up their bodies and voices to God. Beautiful people!