Church Improvements

 

“What good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace and be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?  So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James 2:14-17

For years the benches at the Mukamba Church have been falling apart and it seems no one cares enough to come in and fix them.  For years there has been a Sunday school class and one lousy, termite infested plank passed around from brick to brick for the children to share (anywhere from 8-40 kids at one time.)  God put it on our hearts to ask the Sunday School class if they cared enough to do something about it…

 

To our surprise they were more enthusiastic at the idea of fixing the benches in the church and then building a nice area for them to worship on Sunday mornings.  So we all gathered for our service project on Saturday bringing axes, saws, nails, hammers, shovels, tape measure, and anything else we thought we would need to make this happen.

 

First the older boys took the initiative to drive 5 inch nails into the benches inside the church building to secure all the benches falling off, and they even found old planks they could attach to the poles that had no bench seat. 

 

 

 

As they were fixing the benches, the rest of us went outside to start working no the Sunday school area.  Travis and the older girls grabbed some axes and headed off into the bush to start cutting polls as legs for the benches.  Olivia and the younger girls decided where we wanted to put the benches, marked off where to dig holes, and then measured the length of each plank. 

Some started digging holes, while others measured and cut the planks to size.  When the older boys had finished the church, they came out to help cut the planks and to flatted to top of the legs so the bench seat would fit on nicely.  The boys and girls did an excellent job making sure the benches were level, securely putting two nails on each side so the benches won’t break and will hopefully last a long time. 

As the project went on, we had more and more children come to help.  Many of the small ones jumped in with digging holes and then filling them back in to pack the dirt around the legs to keep them firm in the ground.  Others enjoyed the new benches while watching their older siblings work or they played games in the shade!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a beautiful time we all had working together serving one another and bettering the learning environment for the young children who are coming to church.  We hope and pray that God will use this effort and act of love, to bring more children and adults to the church Sunday mornings to hear about His love and desire to have a relationship them.

 

“His Master said to him, ‘Well done good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your Master’.”

Matthew 25:21 

Only by the GRACE of God…

Being out here in the bush these past two years has exposed me to a lot of wonderful blessings, as well as, many deep heartaches.  We come in contact with so many babies and children who are in poor health and need, so many of those children are abandoned, left to starve, left unnoticed…even with the help of an orphanage, we can’t save them all.  So many babies have died lately from sickness, lack of nutrition, lack of knowledge, lack of care, and lack of value.  We can see God working to bring people out into the villages to give them basic healthcare knowledge to help lessen these situations, but it will still take time.  Just a couple weeks ago we got the privilege to witness God’s sovereignty and mercy at work. 

About a month ago, a grandmother came and told the story of her daughter who is mentally ill, unable to care for children, yet pregnant again.  The grandmother is very sick and is already caring for 4 other children.  Her husband has taken a new wife and no longer pays her any attention nor his daughter who is mentally ill.  The grandmother is on her own and cared enough to look for a place for her granddaughter.  Unfortunately at MOL, we have reached our max capacity and cannot take in any more babies…but God already knew that and has been making a plan for this little one for at least two years now.

 

Beverly, a missionary in Livingstone and good friend of mine, has been pressed to adopt a baby girl for the last two years, when God first placed the desire in her heart.  She has been waiting for things to fall into place so that she can adopt a baby in need.  God has been providing one thing at a time including a house for Beverly and a baby.  She finally went to Social Welfare to see if there were any babies needing to be adopted…well just after this she heard about this mother who is mentally ill and expecting a baby any time.  She prayed and prayed wondering if this was the baby God had for her…well sure enough, when the baby was born, it was a girl and just days before birth, the mother tested HIV negative.  Of all the options, the grandparents really wanted their granddaughter to be adopted and exposed to the opportunities of living in town.  Everything was now in place for Beverly to adopt this little girl…we just needed social welfare to confirm.  Social welfare made a trip out to the grandparents village this past weekend and confirmed everything, Beverly is officially fostering this little girl and Lord willing in the next 6 months will have full custody of baby 

Adyson GRACE.

 

I am so grateful that God allowed me to be part of this miracle, to know that this baby girl will not be abandoned or neglected, to know that God has amazing plans for her life and this was just the first step.  Please pray that Beverly adjusts to being a new mom as easily as Adyson Grace will adjust to her being her new mom.  This event reminds me of how powerful our God is and how much He cares about us…that He would make a way for Adyson Grace two years before she was even born…what a God of LOVE.

If He does this for a little girl out in the bush of Africa, you can be most certain He is doing to same for you…

PSALM 139

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

² You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

³ You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

⁴ You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

⁵ You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

I can never get away from your presence!

⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the grave, you are there.

⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

¹² but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

They cannot be numbered!

¹⁸ I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

¹⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

A Sheep Named “Biscuit”

 

For those of you who have been following along with some of the studies of the children, we have just finished our study on animals.  For the final project, the children had to collaborate on an animal that all four classes could build out of recyclable materials we have in the classroom.  Of all the animals the children have learned about, they decided they wanted to make a sheep (imbellele).  From that point we provided the children with many materials they could use to make this sheep, at first some of the children were skeptical that we could make such a big sheep (life size), but others were adamant that we could, so we pressed forward.

The two older classes too charge of creating the frame of the sheep, while the youngers ones started putting its wool on and the older ones finished Biscuit… 

 

After about a week and a half of building the sheep, the children thought about something that grows in their fields that looks like the “fur” of the sheep…”COTTON”.  Luckily for us, the transport trucks leave behind a lot of cotton in the trees when they are driving out of the bush with their loads.  The children gathered more cotton than we needed to get this sheep looking like he does.  They worked very hard and really enjoyed finding a name for their new friend.  I hope you enjoy Biscuit as much as we are…

MEET BISCUIT:

 

 

 

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.…My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

John 10:14-15, 27

 

“Dad’s Day” Scavenger Hunt

 

This week we had so much fun inviting the dad’s to school.  Last term when we had the Mom’s come, the Dad’s were very jealous and wanted to know when they would have a chance to come to school; here it is.  We had such a great turn out, over half the Dad’s showed up in every class and each Dad had anywhere from 2-3 children with him for the scavenger hunt we went on.  It worked out better than we had planned…love when that happens!!

Each Dad was given a clip board, a plastic bag, a list of items, and some children.  Their goal was to collect everything on the list and the teams who were able to find everything got a special prize (the Dad’s were very motivated).  At first the Dad’s were very skeptical in thinking they wouldn’t find half the items on the list…well it turns out they impressed themselves and had smiles from left to right when they, and the children, found things they never though they would.  The Dad’s also did a great job ignoring their cultural influence of “telling” the children where everything is and when they spotted something on the list, they asked the children if they saw any “cotton”, or “sweetie wrappers”, or a “square shaped stone” instead of just grabbing it and putting it in the bag, they let the children find it…what a beautiful thing for a teacher!!  These Dad’s are coming along nicely :o)

All the Dad’s enjoyed the activity, even the ones who came twice (once with their younger children and once wit their older children), and they had great attitudes at getting their children involved and striving toward the prize. 

 

I hope you enjoy reading some of the Dad’s and children's words below, along with their pictures of the hunt:

 

     “Here is a stone Dad.” - Faith

 

 

 

“Look this piece is bigger than my hand.” – Gift 

 

 

 

  

      “Jakob, let’s put the seeds in here.” – Sanford 

 

 

 

“Look, here is a fruit.” – Frederick  

 

 

 

 

   “We need three pieces of cotton, do you see any?” – Dad

 

 

 

“Dad, I found a sweetie wrapper.” – Factor     

 

 

 

 

    “Ovius, let’s look here for a beetle.” – Trinida

 

 

 

 

“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.”

Psalm 103:13