Again, thank you all so much for keeping up with this blog, I’m so very grateful for all of you!
And speaking of amazing people, I just felt the need to make a post about the wonderful people I’ve been working with for the past three weeks. From the staff (pastors, teachers, cooks, counselors, house moms/aunties, etc) to the students (both secondary and vocational school), this place is absolutely full of amazing people who are dedicating their life’s work to the Lord.
Most of you don’t see this work happening. Even here, I’m only seeing a fraction of what actually goes on. There are hundreds of people living in this compound, and you can bet that every single one is encountering God in a different way each day. The part of this that I do see, though, is a blessing to watch.
I see nurse Kevin dedicating her whole day to these kids and their health, only to use part of her little free time to meet me for computer training classes so that she can become more technologically proficient. I see Pastor Charles giving up part of his freedom and using the library as a temporary office so that the library can stay open and the kids can enjoy the books they love so much. I see the counselor Jacob earnestly teaching these kids about stress management, making sure that they stay emotionally and mentally healthy during this busy time in their lives. I see Luke and Scovia somehow manage 30 small children, teaching them for hours every day even though they scream and fight and play nonstop. That’s true dedication right there. That’s only five staff members out of about fifty.
I see Lucy writing lyric after lyric in her notebook, singing the same song over and over and over until she knows it by heart, increasing her knowledge of worship songs so that she can lift them up to God. I see Flavia leading the children in worship and prayer with a fiery passion, I hear her beautiful words and feel the atmosphere in the room change as she invites the other kids to enter into the same kind of worship. I see Jacob, the head boy who can smoothly organize and lead a crazy trip to athletic competition with 60 kids to a city an hour away, so that these kids can feel true accomplishment and connection with the world around them. Again, only three students out of about 200. Three students that may change the world someday.
These people are truly amazing. I love to watch them do their thing, because they all have it down so perfectly and it really makes life so much better for everyone else. Culturally, society here is very community-based, and so everyone relies on each other to get through daily life. There is such a wonderful system they have going on, and it continues to work because each and every person is being led by the Lord. On Sundays, it’s so obvious that their life revolves around the Spirit’s guidance. Life is so different here, but, like I’ve said before, so good. When a group of people allow themselves to be led by God, awesome things can happen.
{Haley}