Day 2 - Hand in Hand Visits, Dinner with Missionaries...

I don’t have much time to type this…

 

But today was amazing.  My heart was full… thrilled with the chance to finally meet our friends at SAKPA church and school today.  It was fun, thrilling, emotional, rewarding, and beautiful.

 

As we drove up the rocky, red, dusty road on this sunny and 90s humid day, I saw kids and adults of all ages waiting for us.  Cheering for us.  Smiling at us.  Thrilled to meet us. 

 

I recognized Pastor Tizokoe and Teacher Hortence immediately, and jumped out to greet them, shake their hands, talk with them for a few minutes… it is an amazing church with a true heart to reach and serve the poor and orphans in their community. 

 

I got to meet all the kids, shake their hands, talk, play Frisbee… our entire team was there (all the short-term team, and several missionaries) as a part of this 90 minute visit to Sakpa.  First of three visits.  Church on Sunday is coming.  Next Wednesday we visit for the whole morning and will give out gifts to all the kids. 

 

So thankful to sit in the classroom and talk with Pastor Tizokoe for a while.  Dude has 8 kids.  Unreal!  All of their deacons were there, helping put up the walls and cement the outer layers of the pastor’s office there and the extra room.  Deaconnesses were there, preparing lunch for all the kids…

 

Before we left, the ladies of the church presented our team with lots of HUGE FRUIT.  Bananas, papayas, and a bunch of other things.  I actually got to belt out the phrase, “MAN, THESE BANANAS ARE GOOD!”

 

Hortence has been teaching our kids for five weeks, and on all accounts she is doing a great job.  They do a lot of interaction with the teacher.  She asks questions, and they all answer in unison.  They sing the alphabet song.  They sing praise songs together.  They shout out their multiplication and addition charts.  They take turns sharing verses or texts that they are memorizing and then share with the class.  The students are learning how to write on their own little chalkboards – learning their printing and their cursive.  The Hand in Hand directors here were VERY impressed with the teacher and the students, and how much progress has been made in just five weeks. 

 

It is an unspeakable thrill to see the body of Christ in action.  Many of their church family (adult volunteers and leaders too) were here today to celebrate the school, eat together, and meet our team.  Just thinking about these moments and these opportunities makes me cry.  For one, I am tired.  For two, I am humbled, honored, and growing more passionate about actually BEING the church – in Delaware, Africa, and anywhere else… but just BE THE CHURCH.

 

Get off the sidelines and into the game.  Stop saying “one day, I’ll do something big for God.”   Just start doing it.  Start really praying.  Really giving.  Really going.  Really allowing God’s heart for the WORLD to become your heart for the WORLD.  This trip is part of a process God has been doing in my life – it is not just a ten-day thrill ride that is quite a privilege… it is connected to a past, present, and future of how God wants me to embrace HIS burden and passion for people.  These people are precious to Him.

 

Delaware Grace?  I love you guys.  I am so incredibly proud of God’s work in you and through you… you have given far beyond what we initially hoped for… I’ve only visited ONE school for barely over ONE hour.  And every prayer, every thought, every dollar, every conversation, every moment of this… is part of God’s Spirit carrying on a GREAT WORK..  Please don’t close your heart.  Please don’t embrace comfort or hope someone else will do it. 

 

WE are the body of Christ… WE includes Delaware Grace, it includes all of my/our brothers and sisters in Christ in Ohio, in the US, in Africa… and to the very ends of the earth. 

 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  (Matthew 5:6). 

 

This was indeed a righteous day.  A first meeting for our church and theirs (Sakpa), and just a taste of God’s kind of filling – his kind of progress and blessing – in our lives together.  Whatever it takes, I hope God keeps me hungry for more of this…

 

And man, those bananas are good.  Thank you, Pastor Tizokoe, Hortence, deacons,deaconesses, and our kids in the Sakpa village.  You guys rock! 

 

Thanks for reading.  If we had Facebook out here, I’d be posting pics and videos like nobody’s business. 

 

With love in Christ,

Gary U