What a Week

     I don’t even know what to say about this week; all I know is that it’s been one of the best yet. I have never felt so alive or so engaged in the ministry than I did this week.

     Wednesday I went to the orphanage and when the kids came out of class for break several ran up to me calling me by my name and calling me teacher. They remembered me from the previous week when I got to teach their class. Then they started telling me new stuff they had learned. While they were all just sitting around me the word mzungu (white person) started coming out. They get a kick out of it when I tell them they are the mzungu and I am Africa. After much convincing on their part I finally agreed that yes, I was mzungu and they were right. But then one girl started pointing to all my freckles calling them Africa. It was the cutest thing. Later that night they invited us to dinner and a going away party for an English woman who had been there the past week. The girls I was with were so excited I was back and kept asking if I was sleeping with them tonight. They didn’t try to hide their disappointment when I said no, but a little dancing put the smiles back on their face.
   
 The kids at the deaf school on Thursday were so fun and I so much enjoyed loving on them and playing with them and trying my best to sign a couple words. The joy they find in the simple things is just incredible. I have never seen a group of kids so happy to just color with us or toss a football. And I love it when they sign “I Love You” to us as we leave. That hand sign has never meant so much to me as it does when they hold it up.

     Friday God completely blew me away. I did door-to-door ministry and I was nervous. This is where we go to random houses and tell them about Jesus. The first place I got to go through the whole story of what Jesus did to a group of kids and they looked so intrigued. At one of the next houses we came across a 19 year old, unmarried mother who is HIV aids positive. She got aids and pregnant by one of her friends in Nairobi but came back to Busia before she knew. She is also the main provider for her family because her mother and step father have some problems. She cried the whole time she talked to us but we got to tell her about the love that Jesus and her heavenly Father have for her and what they have done and she accepted Jesus. We talked and poured into her more and prayed for her and when we left, although she was still crying, she kept thanking us for coming and talking to her. After we left her house we stopped by another where we got to pray for and encourage a woman who hasn’t been able to have children yet and she was so appreciative. It was just an awesome day. God is SO awesome.
     God has spoken to me these past few days so much! Everyday someone shares their testimony and at the end we pray for the person and speak encouragement or words from God to them. I went this week and my team spoke exactly what I needed to hear. And last night we kind of did the same thing. We split up into groups of 4 and one by one we were the person getting spoken into. We all said what God was telling us to and when it was my turn to be ‘it,’ God again told me exactly what I needed to hear. He gave me peace about things I was questioning and stressing out about. He is just so awesome!
Tomorrow is our last day of ministry here in Busia and it’s really sad. It’s starting to dawn on us that this trip isn’t gonna last forever and we only have a short time left. I knew when I applied for the summer trip instead of the fall or spring that it was gonna be too short, but I have to remember that God only wanted me here for 2 months. Thankfully we still have almost 2 weeks before we leave Africa!  

     Pray for us to make the most of our time left and for the health of our team. No new malaria cases this week, but several of us, including me, have been feeling a little under the weather.