We started this morning with praises to our Lord with Pastor Neal and the group singing. We sang several songs and then we had our devotion. As you can tell by the photos, we all sit in a circle. This is a very special time–just about everyone participates. After the devotion we had our breakfast of oatmeal, pop tarts or cereal.
After breakfast everyone was getting ready for their projects for the day–some for medical clinic, some for VBS, and the guys doing construction had many projects going on: putting in a kitchen sink, installing ceiling fans, sinks in the two unfinished bathrooms.
I went up to the church to check on the medical team, and Pastor Neal told me they were running low on several medicines. I told him I would call a friend of mine, Jeriah, who works at Christian Aid Ministries, to see if they had some they could help us out with. Pastor Neal talked to him when I got him on the phone—they were speaking in medical lingo–and when I spoke with Jeriah again he told me that if I had called 15 minutes later they would not have had what we needed. He was sending all he had to other places. I told him God’s timing is always perfect and he agreed. It is so great that they are right down at the bottom of the mountain, only a 25-minute ride. When I arrived he had two of the meds we needed, so I thought I would stop at Samaritan’s Purse, which was close by, and they gave us two boxes of meds. I also stopped at Global Outreach and Mission of Hope and, as you can guess, the Lord provided everything we needed. Our Lord told us just to ask and we would receive.
I got back in time for lunch. After lunch, we loaded up Gabriel with the team and the meds and all the VBS stuff, and headed to Daniel’s voodoo village. Clint drove Gabriel and did a great job. We could only go so far, then we had to walk about 20 minutes to the village. The medical team set up, and the VBS got started about 1:30. I had to leave for a while to see if I could drive up the mountain that goes to Jerusalem 4. We have never taken a medical team up there; they have about halfway built a road, so I was going to see how far it would go. It normally takes 2 hours to hike it. I was able to drive 90% of the way, so we will be going there tomorrow with the medical and VBS teams.
When I got back there was chaos going on–Daniel was putting his friends and family in front of other people in line, which caused a little disturbance, but when I got there it quickly ceased. Daniel knows I don’t put up with much of that sort of thing, but I took care of it gracefully. Daniel had had a few drinks, I believe. I explained to the team that there is not supposed to be order here–this is in the middle of the darkness. God is not the author of confusion, and Daniel doesn’t know God. We just keep showing the love of our Lord and pray that one day he will receive that amazing grace.
The children loved the VBS. They had such fun singing and playing with the youth of the church. The children love to watch the dramas and then do the crafts. We finished up about 4:30 and got back to the mission house about 5. As soon as we sat down, Pastor Do told me that we needed to go pick up the Jerusalem 2 church people who wanted to go to the service here. Karl and I jumped in Gabriel and went to Jerusalem 2—it’s about a 20-minute ride. There were over 50 people waiting on us. As we were coming back it was dark, and they were singing as loudly as they could, praising the Lord. Karl and I just laughed about how few people have experienced such a thing. Karl said this experience was worth the whole trip. It was like being on a hayride when you were a kid.
We arrived back at the mission house and they were still singing louder than ever. After they unloaded we met them up at the church and listened to them continue to sing. Our group sang too, and Tyler delivered the message.
It was a most wonderful day with the Lord with my brothers and sisters from Wisconsin, who have truly become part of the TEM family.