Overflow......

"For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks..". If you all could "hear" my heart right now, you would hear two main things: joy and love!!!

Not sure how to capture the last two days in a single blog- so many wonderful things have occured since i've blogged last (sorry I couldn't blog yesterday. The internet was down. I asked yesterday morning when they thought it would be back up and they said "maybe tonight". Well not so much, so I asked last night if they had any further ideas of when it would be fixed. They said "maybe morning". But alas, this morning, no internet. So I just stopped asking. And now, here we are again, Monday afternoon here and it's working!).

Yesterday started with a very lively worship service at one of the local churches. It was PACKED and it was loud and it was awesome! We worshipped together for about 2 hrs and it sure didn't feel that long! I could barely hear myself singing and the whole congregation was singing and clapping with such uninhibited joy! My kind of worship for sure!
After church we had some lunch together and then had about an 1 hour and a half "siesta" before heading out to one of the IDP (refugee camps). During the siesta, I had a hard time relaxing due to excitement. I was going to get to meet "my" little girl Sarah, who I sponsor through the Village of Hope!
Arriving at the camp, we were greeted by many of the children and Rose pointed out Sarah to me. She seemed a bit shy, so I waited until she approached us. It took a while but in the meantime, our group was treated to a lively session of singing and dancing by the children at the camp. It was just as wonderful as I had remembered it from last year and the whole team LOVED it as well! During that time, my beautiful Sarah came and talked with Rose and Rose told her who I was. She was again pretty shy, but I was able to share with her the letter I wrote for her and the pictures I brought for her of me and my family. It was great. She then went to sit back down somewhere else, but ended up coming back and sat beside me for quite a while. We were able to communicate a bit with her broken english and we definitely developed a connection. She told me she wanted me to come and see her "home" where she currently lives (which is quite a ways from the camp) and my heart broke as I had to tell her no. I prayed for her and the cough she was currently experiencing and again, there was just an unspoken connection that was created as she promised to be praying for me too. |I don't know what God has in store, but it would warm my heart like nothing else if I were to get to see her again on this side of eternity!

Before we left the camp, I asked Rose and Asunta (our translator) if they danced too, and Rose said yes, she was waiting for a particular song. She said "and you too." Me? Yes, me. Well, I wasn't going to do this on my own, so Nic and I joined the circle of dancers. Man, I don't think I've ever felt so white in my life...cuz this white girl can't dance (God forgot to give my rhythm when He created me!), but rest assured, the children thought Nic and I were hilarious and they loved it! Bill captured the dancing on film and even videoed some of it. I'll leave you in suspense as to what that actually looked like!

We were so full of emotion on the way home as we had gotten to pray for and encourage the children via our translator. I kept reminded them of how precious they are to Jesus and how much He loves them! I pray they remember just how amazing they really are!

After a good night's sleep, we awoke to a gentle breeze and light rain. Our team plus Ashley, a missionary from the group Alarm whom we met two days ago, shared a wonderful worship time together. I finally was able to play my guitar and we sang and worshipped, and shared and reflected and prayed. It was really a very neat time! It is a new experience for me this year to be a part of a whole team and I really enjoy the closeness and sharing immensely!

This afternoon, we went to a place where women are making crafts- fabrics, bead jewelry, woven material, etc- as a way to earn a living. Some of them are child mothers, some are crippled or otherwise in need. They are AMAZINGLY talented! We were able to purchase some of their things (some of you may be the recipients of such things!!!) and loved being able to support them.

Oh, I never did explain the pictures above- but I guess they are pretty self explanatory. Top left to right and down:
- The two "Molly's" (we learned close to our departure from the camp last night that this beautiful lady is also named Molly!)
- Bill showing off what he does best! ( man, are we going to have some amazing photos this time! I'm almost embarrassed by mine!)
- Johanna trying to fit in with the locals---she lasted about a half a second but she gets many points for trying
- Me with my beautful Sarah! Love it!

Tonight we are heading to another camp and we are very excited!
God has shown up in so many cool ways already and I can't wait to see how He continues to lead!
A couple of cool things so far (in addition to the rest of what I've already written):
Nic has been suffering from dry eyes for over a year since eye surgery and as of right now after praying for her eyes a few times, they are a bit better. Her left eye is still the worst, but she's had improvement! yay Jesus~
I was able to pray for a lady I saw hobbling down the street today. Felt compelled to go to her, so I did and asked her what was wrong. She said her left knee hurt and it was indeed swollen. Through broken english, i learned she was a Christian. She told me her knee had been hit with a gun- I don't know the details. I asked if I could pray for her knee and she said yes. Afterword, she smiled and said "it is bit better". I wanted to pray for her more, but she said no. If you would, join me in praying that her knee is completely healed!!!

Ok, I think that's all for now. This only briefly touches the surface of all we've seen, experienced, learned, felt......but I hope it encourages you!
Thank you so much for your continued prayers on our behalf~

Hope to catch up again soon as the internet access allows!

Blessings,
Tanya and team