God's Assurance

I am so amazed by God's timing and how He uses things and people to reassure. I have definitely been reassured so many times as the summer goes on. I am very thankful for this and it has definitely helped me while being here.

Today we had a really neat day. On the schedule for our team it said "Church cleaning at Manchauve Church." We had no clue what was in store and what exactly we would be doing. The drive was really pretty because it was on the outskirts of the city. This was the first time I have experienced this while being in the city. We we arrived at the "church" we pulled up to a bunch of trees and ladies welcoming us. This was there church. They had the service under a big tree and about 150-200 people attended every Sunday. This just really amazed me. These people are so dedicated and truly work to attend church. Our tasks was to rake a bunch of the leaves and dirt around the different trees so that it could be a fertilizer. It was a good thing that Dave thought to bring rakes! It amazed me how hard working they were. There was a lady that was probably in her 70's raking and a old man that was at least 80 "mowing" the weeds in suit pants and a sweater. I was burning up and he was working harder than me!! One lady had a baby on her back and was raking away without stopping. The ladies would sing while they worked and it was so great just to hear how joyful they were. After we were finished they treated us to crackers and soda. (They always drink soda because the water is too bad to drink from in most areas.) We sat a table that they brought for us with a table cloth and these nice chairs while they sat on these benches. This is something we have encountered a lot in this short period of time. They always set spoil us and set us above them, even though we didn't really do all that much. After we were done we sang some songs with them and these ladies would make these crazy African noises with their mouths. We would laugh and then mimic what they were doing and they loved it!! It is crazy how you can connect even with language barriers. Before we left, the pastor of the church expressed her gratitude and they also asked that we pray for them as they try to raise enough money to build their own church. (We hope to have extra site funds at the end to donate to their church.) We really enjoyed our time with them, and I really learned a lot.

Then last night at dinner Rhoda asked one of us to share our testimonies each night. So I shared mine with the group and we talked about our families. It was great to get to know each other on a different level. We have began to build really good relationships with both Dave and Rhoda and I am so glad.

Also on another note, our on-site coordinator that we have barely seen has now changed because his wife just had their baby. They actually had to do a c-section and they sent her home the day after which is really scary because the baby is only 4 pounds. Tomas is still going to be helping us but now we are mainly with a man named Adimi. He is really great! We are so thankful!! He kinda knows a little bit more about how to relate to us and to make sure we are feeling okay about everything. We met with him this morning and he told us that we are his responsibility and we do not need to worry about transportation while the Restricks are gone or anything because Tomas and him are going to take turns. He said that if we ever need anything he wants us to not hesitate to come tell him. This was such a comfort and such a huge reassurance that God's hand is in it all. Thank you Lord!!

If you would like to see some pictures of the trip here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010660&id=1438620082&l=b2aed80716
if you copy and paste it, it should take you to my facebook album. Hopefully it works!

Anyways thank you for praying about that! I miss you all and I appreciate you.