Week Two in Banta

Life in Banta doesn't ever seem to slow down. There is so much work that is being done here that there is always something that we are doing. Each and every day is full of ministry and fun. I want to share some of the highlights of this past week.

Sunday: Kristen and I had a deworming party. Every three months, we have to take deworming medicine to kill all the worms that are living inside us. Its pretty gross, but we decided to make it into a party by celebrating with eating chocolate pudding and gummy worms!

Monday: Kristen and I were really hot and decided that if it rained we were going to play outside. Well, there was a really heavy rain, and we were outside dancing in the rain with two of the children, David and Sudi. I don't think that they had have ever gone out to play in the rain before. We splashed in puddles, and we were dumping water on each other. It was so fun to hear them laughing and singing in the rain. It's one of those moments I'll remember for all my life.

Tuesday: I was a substitute teacher for class one. It was fun to teach again and to teach them new songs. I like teaching them the letter sounds because they haven't ever heard them before. They think that it is the funniest thing.

Wednesday: We went with the pastor here to a neighboring village to do evangelism. I went with Aunty Christiana who was my translator and is an amazing woman of God. We went and talked to the town chief who was a Muslim. We talked to him for about an hour, explaining the person of Jesus and that He died for our sins. The man said that he believed in Jesus. I asked him questions to see if he really did understand, and he could answer all my questions. So PRAISE THE LORD! This man has made the first step in accepting Jesus. We connected him with the nearest church. I know that the Lord is the One who judges hearts, but it's so hard for me to believe that he accepted Christ. I know that it is because of my white skin that he was willing to listen, but I just pray that he will not remember that a white person came to visit but that he will remember the story of Jesus and what He did for us. I need to remember that my words had nothing to do with this man accpeting Jesus, but that it is the Lord who softened his heart. I guess that I need to trust the Lord and remember that it is my job to be faithful to do what He asks. But then I need to trust that He is in control.

Thursday: Pastor Surrie has started a discipleship group with some of the teenagers in the village. He asked me to share my testimony with them. It was really hard thinking of things in my life that they would be able to relate to, but I tried to focus on the Lord's faithfulness in various situations in my life. It was a good experience to let these children see that the Lord is at work in everyone's life and to have a chance to share what He has done for me.

Friday: We went down in the village to greet people. As we were walking home we had a following of children. We were walking down this path in the middle of the African bush jumping over lines of biting ants and dodging the millipedes. While we were walking, the children started singing and dancing, so here we were dancing and praising Jesus in the beauty of His creation. (This picture is staged . . . I still have not yet learned how to carry things on my head!)


Saturday: Currently, as I write this, I am sitting in an air-conditioned room, using high-speed Internet, and I was able to wash my hands with warm water that came out of faucet and use a toliet that flushed. You may wonder how I found this in the middle of the bush of Africa. Close to our home there is an Irish company that is mining for bauxite. They have been extremly generous to us and allow us to use their facilities and provide us with a little bit of luxury.