WOW!

Today’s VBS was a blur...a whirlwind of faces some shy, others dominating all were beautiful.  Predictably the kids were waiting at the church and when they saw our bus heading their way they began running, yelling, smiling and followed right next us until we were parked.  The best way to describe it was to say that their response was a lot like what we would see fans of some superstar do.  It made me wonder if it was with that much excitement and joy that the children tried to get to Jesus when the disciples pushed them away.  Did he ever get the response he deserved when he was here on earth?  I don’t know that our fan club realizes how much we love Jesus or how much He loves them, but we are doing our best to show and tell them as best we can. 

 

It was nearly impossible to count them.  I know we gave out every last package of the craft packets and brought 750.  I’m sure some tucked them away in their pockets and then asked for another.  Its just impossible to be completely fair, but I don’t know that it really matters either.  Our youngest team member helped lead the music time with Olivia, the Captain and one from CBC Kakira named Faith.   One tiny one cried until we held him and it was obvious that he was sick with some chest issue.  Another young girl, maybe 9yrs old came with two younger siblings, one was an infant, probably about 3 months old.  It feels wrong to be 9 and have the responsibility of a mother when you are at a Children’s Rally so we scooped that little one up and rocked her for a short time, then laid her on a suitcase of game supplies while her older sister listened to the story and did her craft.

Jump roping and relay races took place today, more dodge ball and a necklace craft with beads was a hit.  Serving that many did not go as smoothly as yesterday and we had to make 3 trips to the “caterer” to pick up food.  Driving to avoid potholes and spill the huge pots of beans made each trip nearly 30 minutes and today we had so many older ones that seemed more rough around the edges...My mama bear threatened to show up a few times when I would see the little ones pushed aside.  It makes me wonder if Jesus ever had use physical strength to control crowds pushing in, pushing others and being unruly.  Did he let the disciples do crowd control or did he speak peace with a word?  I wonder what those moments were like for him.  We were passing out individual bags of cold water and you would have thought it was an Xbox or gold bar with the aggressive response.  Did people see one healing and press in and fight hard to be next? 

 

We talked this morning in our time together about the ones we saw that were so darling, innocent, obedient...the ones easy to love right off.  We also confessed that the really snotty noses, pee on the floor and the rough and tumble type are not nearly as easy to approach and embrace.  I’m so glad Jesus loves us when we were so unlovable and does the cleaning up after the fact and that it is not a prerequisite to access to him.  We are flawed.  As much as we try to see the world like he does...see the heart and not the outside...we still fail.  We prayed for mercy and grace, and thanked God for some healing of physical stuff that is much better.

 

Once VBS was over we tried again to figure out a better plan for serving so many, keeping track of who had been fed, gotten water etc… Tomorrow is our last day in Kakira and the day we will finished the gospel message.  Pray for us that it is real to them.  That they have some understanding and that seeds are planted deeply.  We’ll never know if any of them respond with sincerity, but its not for us to know anyway.  God sees the heart and pursues and never gives up.  We’re giving it our best, including about a gallon of perspiration each day...gladly doing what we were sent into the world to do.  He’s got the whole world in his hands, which includes Kakira, so we’ll leave confident in Him.

 

We headed to Cornerstone for lunch of chapatti (a thick tortilla sort of thing) and banana for lunch.  The split into two groups, one headed out as a prayer team the other going to visit the family we’ve shown you on FB.  A grandmother with 5 boys to raise after their father left and their mother died.  We shared the gospel and the oldest Peter prayed to receive Jesus.  We eyeballed their sizing and took some notes to prepare a package of clothing to send back to them.  This tiny toothless woman widow was so excited to have us as visitors, brought us out of the pouring rain to sit in the only seats, 12 of us all inside a 6 X 6 mud room with a tin roof.  She seemed so grateful, so sincere.  We made two more stops in these outer skirts of the village.  One old woman remembered us from a year ago and told us she was 102.  Its difficult to know for sure for either of us. 

 

The rain drenched dirt road made driving a little trickier and we arrived back at the hotel about 5:30 with very muddy shoes.  Its interesting to me that we can be physically exhausted and yet have hearts that are refreshed and satisfied.  Tomorrow we say goodbye to Kakira, and spend the next week concentrating on Chayah as the family swells to 34 for a week.  We’ve got much planned for them, the ratio will be a little better and we are praying that our time with them is personal relationship building and nurturing.  Names to go with faces and new skills to try together. 

 

Pray us through tomorrow if you can.  We’re expecting just as many kids, perhaps a little less frenzy and plenty of everything for everybody who shows up.  Until then...