So much to say about this day...this will probably be a long post...
The day started off bright and early. We went to the church in the village and it was an awesome thing to be apart of! These people love Jesus with all their hearts and they express the love through dancing and singing! And let me tell you...these people can really DANCE and SING. They make us white folk that are trying to dance look like crazies.
One thing that hit me while in Africa is that us in America might have lots of "stuff"...which lead us astray and don't allow us to focus on God. But with these people...all they have is God! And that is enough for them! How cool is that? We could all take some lessons from these beautiful people.
It was a beautiful service...we sang lots of African songs, but also some English songs. Songs like "These Are The Days of Elijah". The moment that I am pretty sure left us all breathless was whenever Tony played on the trumpet "I Surrender All". It was beautiful.
After the singing was over Pastor Dwight preached a powerful message to the people. Then after he was done he had our group come up to the front, then he told the people that if they wanted prayer to come up and we would pray for them. Me and a few other girls said that we would pray with the kids. Lots of kids came to the front and the translator would tell us what each child wanted prayer for. At first I was completely overwhelmed and wondered how we were going to be able to pray for all of these children individually! Everything worked out and each child was prayed over. Many of the children asked for prayer for headaches, and stomach aches. A few shocked me when they asked for prayer for "wisdom and understanding". It was amazing to see them asking for this at such a young age!
After church the children all wanted pictures taken of them! They were jumping all around us just wanting a little bit of attention and the chance to be in the picture. So I got lots of pictures of the beautiful faces!
Like this one...
And these beautiful girls...
These two little ones were decked out in their Sunday best! The little girl had something in her eye and big brother was helping out...so sweet.
This sweet little girl sat on my lap during church...
We brought candy and wow was that a hit!
Beautiful faces...
Once we were finally able to pull away from all of the children it was back to the hotel to change into something more comfortable...and then we were on our way to the crusade!
The crusade was in the slums area...we were told not to bring our cameras because it was not safe. So sadly I do not have any pictures of the crusade...although, I might know where I can swipe them from a friend :)
We got to the slums and the excitement was everywhere! A band lead the way up and down the streets and people came out of their home to see what was going on. It was like a parade! Once there was a good group of people following us we went to a big open area where the crusade began. There were many children there...all of them wanted to hold the "Mzungus" (white peoples) hands. So we each had at least 10 kids or so all holding our hands and then many many more surrounding and trying to get a place to hold our hands too. Then they wanted us to dance and jump up and down with them. That was a work out I tell ya. :) It cracked me up when one of the little kids rubbed his hands on my skin and then smelt it and then motioned for all of the other kids to smell my arm too! Haha! I guess that a lot of bug spray and sunscreen smells good? Then another time when I was clapping and looked down and they were all not only clapping because I was clapping but also clapping the exact same way as I. So sweet.
As the night went on and more people came to know the Lord it was evident that Satan was not happy about this. We experienced some serious spiritual warfare. I have never experienced something quite like this and it surely opened my eyes I taught my something.
One incident involved a "Bodaboda" which is a motorcycle. By now it was pretty dark outside and we were trying to keep all the "Mzungus" close together for protection. But with dozens of little kids surrounding each person it was nearly impossible to stay close together. A Bodaboda kept riding back and forth along the sidelines of the area that we were in. Back and forth, back and forth. It was evident that people were getting annoyed because they were trying to listen to Pastor Dwight's sermon. A lady from our group (side note: love this lady so much! she was so much fun and I was blessed enough to sit next to her on my first flight with the group. It was a blessing to have somebody from the group next to me! I'll call her "M". ) grabbed the guy on the Bodaboda's shoulder and told him firmly to STOP. M then walked away from the guy. The guy who was very high and drunk threw his Bodaboda down and went after her. I looked back just as a bunch of guys were all holding the guy down and keeping him away from M. The guy was obviously looking for a fight to start. It probably only lasted for a few minutes but it felt like forever. I grabbed all the kids around me and ran to the closest guy from our group I saw. Right as all of this was happening the lights went out and the speakers started going out as well. It seemed to get pretty chaotic for a while. Another side note: Now, we prayed before the Crusade began...and I remember specifically Pastor Dwight telling us not to let fear get a hold of us. I tried to remember that but my human nature got in the way and I was COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT. I looked back out into the crowed ...and I saw the most powerful thing. Everybody from my group had their arms stretched out over to the scene where the "Bodaboda incident" was happening. Everybody was praying. I looked at the guy next to me with huge tears in my eyes and he asked me if I was ok. We then both joined the rest of the Mzungus with arms outstretched praying that God would come to the scene and that Satan would be removed from this place.
And sure enough! God came big! The lights came back on, the loud speakers began to work again and the "bodaboda incident" subsided! And the biggest praise was that about 60 people came to know the LORD that night!! What an amazing experience! I learned so much that night. I learned what the power of prayer can do...and about putting my fear aside! Here are two picture I was able to find from friends...
The band that lead the way to the crusade!
Lots of little kids everywhere!
