Lessons learned.

This week has been chalk full of lessons, all of which will effect the way I live the rest of my life! It would be near impossible to write about everything I’ve learned but here are a couple highlights!

Shalom School: This week several of us ventured to a school/living facility for ten disabled children and young adults. In Africa people with disabilities are not only thought of as weird, but shunned from society. This explains why one boy’s parents dropped him off in the woods to die. Another boy, David, we found lying in his own urine because he is unable to walk so he crawls everywhere, dragging his legs behind him. Regina, a little girl who is unable to speak or walk was laying on a mat in her room with flies all over her face, yet she had the most enormous smile I’ve seen in a while! What we saw was something you hear about on tv, but we were given the privilege of seeing it first hand.

Seeing those kids made me think of my own sister who has Down Syndrome, and I began to think about the fact that if she just happen to be born in Africa she would be thought of as a disgrace and would be shunned. Thinking about my life without her it nearly impossible. She is one of the biggest blessings my family has ever received. These people have no idea what they’re missing out on. These precious children have so many unspoken lessons that they are dying to teach, but their parents refuse to look past the disfigurations and inabilities. My heart breaks for these children because they have no future here. They will be in a facility the rest of their lives relying on people who don’t love them like their own. If the thought of that doesn’t break your heart I don’t know what will?! It really put things in perspective and humbled me real quick, what did I do to deserve the life I’ve been given? Absolutely nothing.

The Muslims: Well, the Lord slapped me in the face this week with a much needed realization. In Mpeketoni there are a large number of Muslims. I’ve had the opportunity of talking with several and our team was part of the transformation of one man. He converted from Islam to Christianity, which in this culture is not something that is accepted. He bears the weight of persecution but by the look on his face every time we see him, he has considered it pure joy. In town there is a mosque that is normally buzzing with people all day long. We learned from several Muslims that they have set times for prayer five times a day and aren’t allowed to eat many different things. They also fast for a solid month during the year so they can learn to depend on Ala for all their needs and to strengthen their faith. In addition the men wear skirts and the women wear long dresses and head wraps, wven in the extreme heat.  So, what happens when you are a missionary, spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ but the followers of Ala are ten times more radical in their faith? What about that makes them want to be a follower of God? What about my life looks the slightest bit radical in comparison to their lives? If my passion for the One true God doesn’t come close to their passion for a god who doesn’t have any power, what about that is convincing? Why is the term Radical Islam more well known than Radical Christianity? OUCH. I’ve got a lot of work to do.

In addition to these lessons I’ve learned this week we’ve also had some time to play! Today we went with two locals/our translators to the lake to see hippos and look for zebras. We left home (my definition of home for these two months is: where the majority of your clothes are.) around 7:30 am and began our walk to the lake. We got there and saw the hippos along with some sweet birds and baboons. Then the locals decided to take us into the bush. We marched through some rough terrain and took a beating from some trees and bushes for hours! I’m not kidding when I say we went on a safari by foot. I realized this when we found a dead hippo. I felt like I should have been with Steve Irwin. We pulled the teeth out of the hippo’s head (we had to have a souvenier) then found a baboon, zebra and buffalo skull. We found fresh elephant poop and were trying to find them but unfortunately never did.  We saw gazelles running into a giant field and the local looked at us and said “ahh they’re being chased by a lion!” HAH ok sweet, no big deal we’re just WALKING THROUGH THE BUSH AND COULD GET EATIN AT ANY POINT IN TIME. It ended up just being baboons chasing them but it was one of the coolest/most terrifying experiences I’ve ever had!

Keep those prayers coming, only three more weeks here and there’s a lot more to do in this town! Love and miss you all.