What a day! With full bellies and full hearts, the team just finished debriefing under the stars, sitting up on the roof of our dorm. It started with a team bible study this morning - we knew we would be doing home visits today and felt the strong need to be grounded in the word as we headed out into the community. Each morning, were reading a chapter in Proverbs and New Testament plus a Psalm. We headed out into the cool morning and the clouds overhead remained most of the day, giving us fantastic weather for hiking through the villages. Pastor James introduced us to Joseph, a wise man in his 60s who has suffered a stroke and now serves as the Chairman of a registered community organization serving the disabled. The group finds crafts (beading, yogurt making, sewing) that the members can still do despite their disabilities and helps them sell in the market. They all contribute toward the labor and then the profits go into a single pot that is used by the group. Joseph chose 20 of the neediest in the group for us to visit personally in their homes and deliver food staples. BTW, Cheryl W. has taken to calling Joseph Yoda in honor of both his wisdom and stooped, cane-toting posture. Pastor James is now happily calling him Yoda, too -- they have never seen Star Wars so he doesnt even understand why its funny. (Its not mean-spirited, and Joseph seems to enjoy his new nickname.) Youll see some of these people in the photos -- we saw their physical suffering ranging from stroke-related paralysis to elephantiasis (something I never thought Id see) to mental illness. One man in particular struck our team -- he is a 77 year old man named Jagona, who up until two years ago was active and herding cattle. He stepped on a large thorn and apparently developed gangrene and had his leg amputated. After that, thieves stole his cattle. Hes now confined to a wheelchair, which can barely navigate more than a few feet of the rock-strewn landscape in front of his home. Its difficult to imagine him losing everything - independence, the ability to earn an income, his cattle, even his dignity - from something that would be so simply treated in the U.S. We visited them in their homes, learned their stories, prayed for them. As we walked through the villages to their homes, kids swarmed us (many of whom were fascinated - or scared - by these Mzungu -- often the first white people theyve ever seen). Its a blast and always one of our favorite experiences. Later, some of the more ambulatory members of this 64-person organization for the disabled came up to the church to visit us and display some of their products -- beaded purses and clutches. We bought the farm! Later, in a prayer session in the church where we gave them food baskets, they praised us for reviving their business. Very humbling that a few (very inexpensive) items could provide that kind of boost. OK, time for some comic relief. We think weve come up with the official 2014 trip motto.... But first, some background. Chelsea and Carson are both deathly afraid of chickens (well, specifically their beaks.) They both have hilarious stories as to why. Anyway, everywhere we go, there are a bunch of chickens underfoot, so they are a bit on edge. Pastor James finds this hysterical. Which the rest of us find hilarious. At one home we visited, a rooster was on the tin roof and we joked that the chickens were in attack formation, waiting to fly down on our heads. Pastor asked if we wanted them to get down (the girls yelled no!!) and he swept his arm up over the edge of the roof, sending chickens flying. Then he burst out into the hugest belly laugh. Loved it!! Anyway, hes always telling the girls dont fear the chicken. So, official trip motto is now DONT FEAR THE CHICKEN. We spent the late afternoon with the kids at the orphan home. Tons of fun! Eric spent a lot of time playing soccer - revealing some mad skills that hes been keeping a secret. Like - for real, he got R E S P E C T from the native kids (who humor us but act as if weve never even seen a ball.) He kicked it around for awhile with DAVID (!!!!) who we were all so excited to see. Hes an amazing kid from the hood who bonded with Jordan Geist over several years and whose education is now being sponsored by Jordans family. The girls all went native. Tracy got braided up and Theresa (Pastor James wife) taught us how to wrap our head in scarves. Youll see it all in the pics we posted. Then, back to the dorms for dinner, and the rooftop debrief under the stars. A very full, very satisfying day. Tomorrow -- more comfort zone stretching as we take to street evangelism. Desiring your prayers!
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 20:02:17 +0000
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