Thank you all for your prayers. Every day I’ve been filled with energy, joy and peace. Week two of teaching went a whole lot smoother, and I’ve been able to see the students improve. It helps that they are so excited about learning and are full of questions (one of the boys the other day told me, “I want to learn math so I wont get cheated”)
One of my favorites at the boy’s center is Kefas, he always has a question for everything, and they range from: “What does it mean to offer your body as a living sacrifice to Why are there white people and black people?” Working daily with the boys has given me a refreshing look at a lot of faith and life questions.
Every week there are high points and low points.
This Tuesday was particularly exhausting. The boys just did not want to work in the afternoon, the little orphans seemed ornery and pouty, and Brian and I were physically and emotionally exhausted. I had been getting to know the boys more, and that day I had the chance to hear about some of their backgrounds. It was disheartening to hear about some of their past abuse or troubled family life and shocking to hear that some of them live over 2 hours away.
That night was a good reminder to be continually relying on God for our strength, and that we don’t have to just wait until our strength gives out for God’s strength to kick in.
I’ve been continually drawing upon two of my favorite verses for encouragement:
Isaiah 40: 29-31
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak…those whose hope is in the Lord will renew their strength…
2 Cor 12:9
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
And then the next day was the best one so far. Brian and I seemed to have so much enthusiasm and energy. One of new our favorite sayings that the boys got us started on is “no problem” – every is always “no problem” to them. During afternoon construction work which is honestly not my favorite time of the day, I felt God telling me to start singing. So I started singing the first thing that came to my mind, this song I learned at summer camp last summer, King Jesus is All. Don’t know why it was that one, but the boys just ate it up, everyone wanted to learn it. So for the last few days of the week, we were all singing during work, which obviously made mixing concrete, carrying wheelbarrows full of sand and rock, and building a wall much go much smoother.
And now just when I’m getting into the swing of things, there is a two week break, and Rafiki has a clinic open to the community for the next eight days, and there is a team of doctors coming in this weekend. I am definitely learning to be flexible and smile. I have no idea what I’ll be doing this next week, but I’ll be sure to let you know in my next update.
Working with the little orphans has had it’s ups and downs as well. One minute they’re all smiles and polite, and the next they’re climbing all over you and yelling that you don’t love them if you don’t give them attention. Overall, they’re somewhat lacking in discipline and it’s been a challenge to find a balance between showing them much needed love, but not rewarding their conditioned whiny responses to receive it.
I try to make Mark 10:14 my prayer every time I walk by their houses and I know that I will be mobbed shortly by a chorus of uncle luke this or uncle luke that, that I would have Jesus’ attitude of “Let the little children come to me” after he had been exhausted from a long day of work as well. Little kids are great though. They make me laugh. The other day we were teaching them how to garden and one of them was emphatically muttering, “Thank you Adam,” every time he chopped another weed. Thanks to them, I am continually reminded about what it means to “receive the kingdom of God like a little child” Mark 10: 15.
I have also been so blessed being surrounded by God’s awesome creation: this week we got to climb the rock boulder hill/”mountain” behind our center that I had been dying to climb since day one, and last night Brian and I witnessed the most amazing thunderstorm ever – the massive clouds covering the sky were continually being lit up by distant lighting, yet there was no thunder and we never saw any of the lightning bolts themselves, it was like our own private fireworks show.
This week I started and finished The Heavenly Man, about the life, persecution, and witness of the Chinese house church leader Brother Yun. Amazing. If you haven’t read it or heard of it, I would highly recommend getting a copy. It’s my new favorite book. So many good questions raised, like am I willing to suffer for my faith, how can I be less tied down by my possessions, or why am I so afraid to share my faith with others? The power of prayer and the significance of scripture memorization were weighed upon me.
Well that about sums up some of my week. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for keeping me and those here in your prayers. email me about how God is working in your life and how I can be praying for you as well.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Rafiki Sunday
This is a picture of some of the kids here and volunteers before we went to church last Sunday. Behind us is part of the Rafiki center and the beautiful scenery beyond
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Friends in Lagos
I arrived in Lagos, Nigeria last week. Wow is it ever a big city, kind of reminded me of Bangkok but bigger and with big gates and fences around all of the houses. The best part was that I got to stay with my friend Dubem at his house for four days and experience life from more of an African perspective. It was neat to be a part of a house with grandparents and cousins living there as well as the nuclear family. I loved all of the Nigerian food, which Dubem's mother piled onto my plate every meal. The highlight was attending their church service which lasted for about four hours! The worship alone must have gone on for about two hours. I loved how everyone was dancing around and singing loudly and joyfully. Without time constraints like we have in most of our american churches, we could just worship and enjoy being in a community of believers together. Definitely left me with a lot of challenging thoughts about what worship is. This whole trip as a whole has definitely left me with a lot to ponder, and I'm excited to talk to some of you when I get back.
This is a picture of me and another friend from Taylor, Olamide that Dubem and I went to visit on his birthday
This is a picture of me and another friend from Taylor, Olamide that Dubem and I went to visit on his birthday
Rafiki Center - reflections from the first few days
Your love oh Lord reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
- Psalm 36:2
I was reading this in my devotions my first morning here yesterday as I looked out my window to the sweet mountains streched all around me (I'll have to post a picture shortly, as soon as I can get my camera to work again). It really is beautiful here in Jos, Nigeria, where I have the privelage to be until the end of July working at the Rafiki children's Village.
After two very full days now - wow am I ever exhausted!
And I'm sure learning to be flexible and to draw upon the Lord for my strength daily.
Thankfully I did not come with any major expectations, because things were quite different from what I had thought. Instead of working with the orphans during the day, I am helping out at the Girls and Boys centers, which are vocational training schools attached to the children's village. It is another ministry Rafiki has here for local Christian high school aged children who cannot attend school, either because of finances or low scores. It just so happens that over half of the staff happens to be gone for the next month so both myself and another short time college age volunteer, Brian, are taking over most of the responsibility at the Boys Center.
my day start at 6:30 and after breakfast I teach music and then math to the high school aged kids at their Girls Center and Boys Center. After lunch with the guys, I do construction work with them until 4, which is when my "students" become my teachers with my ever so extensive knowledge of building and mixing concrete.
The highlights of my days so far is the little orphans I get to run around and play with after I'm done with work. They seem starved for attention, especially from older male role models (they each have a house mother but there are very few males working here)
There smiles bring joy and energy to my exhausted body and they can usually get a soccer game or two out of me. There's nothing quite like 40 little boys in wonder of how high you can kick a soccer ball and how fast you can run to boost your self esteem. I heard one remark, "uncle luke runs faster than a cheetah."
But what impresses me most is there Bible knowledge.
I was telling Bible stories to about 60 of them the other night, and they were quoting sections of verses from every story I could think to tell them...and most of these kids are only about 6!
Things to pray for
Pray that I'd have creativity patience, excitement and wisdom in teaching. I think what scares me most is for one of the first times in my life being totally in charge of something with adult responsibility, though I still feel like a kid, and the unknown of what is expected of me. I already feel a peace about things after the initial shock of the first day and this is a praise.
Pray for an extra supply of energy.
I really enjoy hanging out with the orphans, singing, storytelling and playing soccer, but I'm always so exhausted by the end of the afternoon.
Praise
I'm so thankful for my new best friend for the summer and co-worker, Brian, who's a college student from Kentucky. He's a great guy and has really been an encouragement to me so far.
I'll try to keep you posted and hopefully will be putting some pictures up of the Rafiki Center and the kids here.
- Psalm 36:2
I was reading this in my devotions my first morning here yesterday as I looked out my window to the sweet mountains streched all around me (I'll have to post a picture shortly, as soon as I can get my camera to work again). It really is beautiful here in Jos, Nigeria, where I have the privelage to be until the end of July working at the Rafiki children's Village.
After two very full days now - wow am I ever exhausted!
And I'm sure learning to be flexible and to draw upon the Lord for my strength daily.
Thankfully I did not come with any major expectations, because things were quite different from what I had thought. Instead of working with the orphans during the day, I am helping out at the Girls and Boys centers, which are vocational training schools attached to the children's village. It is another ministry Rafiki has here for local Christian high school aged children who cannot attend school, either because of finances or low scores. It just so happens that over half of the staff happens to be gone for the next month so both myself and another short time college age volunteer, Brian, are taking over most of the responsibility at the Boys Center.
my day start at 6:30 and after breakfast I teach music and then math to the high school aged kids at their Girls Center and Boys Center. After lunch with the guys, I do construction work with them until 4, which is when my "students" become my teachers with my ever so extensive knowledge of building and mixing concrete.
The highlights of my days so far is the little orphans I get to run around and play with after I'm done with work. They seem starved for attention, especially from older male role models (they each have a house mother but there are very few males working here)
There smiles bring joy and energy to my exhausted body and they can usually get a soccer game or two out of me. There's nothing quite like 40 little boys in wonder of how high you can kick a soccer ball and how fast you can run to boost your self esteem. I heard one remark, "uncle luke runs faster than a cheetah."
But what impresses me most is there Bible knowledge.
I was telling Bible stories to about 60 of them the other night, and they were quoting sections of verses from every story I could think to tell them...and most of these kids are only about 6!
Things to pray for
Pray that I'd have creativity patience, excitement and wisdom in teaching. I think what scares me most is for one of the first times in my life being totally in charge of something with adult responsibility, though I still feel like a kid, and the unknown of what is expected of me. I already feel a peace about things after the initial shock of the first day and this is a praise.
Pray for an extra supply of energy.
I really enjoy hanging out with the orphans, singing, storytelling and playing soccer, but I'm always so exhausted by the end of the afternoon.
Praise
I'm so thankful for my new best friend for the summer and co-worker, Brian, who's a college student from Kentucky. He's a great guy and has really been an encouragement to me so far.
I'll try to keep you posted and hopefully will be putting some pictures up of the Rafiki Center and the kids here.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
These last few weeks have flown by. My time here in Senegal is almost done as I am leaving for Nigeria tomorrow. As some of you noticed, I did not have a lot of opportunities for internet access until now, so I will attempt to give a summary of some of the ministries we were able to visit and some things I'd appreciate prayer for:
-travel
pray that all of the little details and connecting flights get worked out. It has been neat to see all of the little details fall into place so far. Right now I am staying at a Taylor friend Justin Nevious' house and am looking forward to meeting up with some other Taylor friends, Dubem and Olamide, in Nigeria before I head to the orphanage in northern Nigeria, where I will be until August
-personal growth and reflection
It has been a crazy last few weeks going non-stop and visiting a lot of different ministries. Pray that I will be able to process what I've expereienced and not get burnt out as I still have around two months left to go. Pray that this summer would be an amazing time of spiritual growth and maturity.
- pray for the Talibe Center
pray for Jane who operates a shelter for the Talibe boys who have been sent away from their families at an early age to memorize the Koran at school, and live and beg on the streets for the rest of the day. She has a unique ministry, giving first aid, breakfast, and showing attention to these boys who are often neglected by society. As a result of her commitment over many years she has recently been able to show many of them, and even their Koranic teacher, the Jesus film in their dialect. Interestingly, not only did the Koranic teacher like the movie, but he asked to borrow it, and when Jane went to get it back, he didn't have it because he had lent it out to some of his fellow teachers. Although no one has expressed a desire to come to know Christ yet, the seed has been sown, and as God promises, his word does not return void.
- pray for the national ministers who are working in the villages.
We were able to meet with one, Geli, who runs kid's clubs which both muslim and christian children attend. It was neat to see how excited the kids were to sing the songs about Jesus and how passionate the young Christian leaders were about sharing their faith. We were able to visit some of these villages and interact with the kids there, as well as attend Geli's church.
Although Christians there experience a fair ammount of tolerance, it is hard to win converts in a land that is 95% muslim.
- Christian orphanage
be praying for the orphans and leaders that we visited there. It is the largest Christian run orphanage in the region and their main goal is to train future Christian leaders. They are also in the process of building the first ever missions training center for the Senegalese people.
- Pray for the Senegalese people
Senegal is a country renowned for its friendly people and you would not expect it at first glance, but it is also country plagued by fear. Islam here is mixed with local superstitions and the occult. Practically everyone consults their local maribu, or witch doctor, and sacrifices to spirits is common place.
Pray that the Christians here would be a light in a place of spiritual darkness.
-travel
pray that all of the little details and connecting flights get worked out. It has been neat to see all of the little details fall into place so far. Right now I am staying at a Taylor friend Justin Nevious' house and am looking forward to meeting up with some other Taylor friends, Dubem and Olamide, in Nigeria before I head to the orphanage in northern Nigeria, where I will be until August
-personal growth and reflection
It has been a crazy last few weeks going non-stop and visiting a lot of different ministries. Pray that I will be able to process what I've expereienced and not get burnt out as I still have around two months left to go. Pray that this summer would be an amazing time of spiritual growth and maturity.
- pray for the Talibe Center
pray for Jane who operates a shelter for the Talibe boys who have been sent away from their families at an early age to memorize the Koran at school, and live and beg on the streets for the rest of the day. She has a unique ministry, giving first aid, breakfast, and showing attention to these boys who are often neglected by society. As a result of her commitment over many years she has recently been able to show many of them, and even their Koranic teacher, the Jesus film in their dialect. Interestingly, not only did the Koranic teacher like the movie, but he asked to borrow it, and when Jane went to get it back, he didn't have it because he had lent it out to some of his fellow teachers. Although no one has expressed a desire to come to know Christ yet, the seed has been sown, and as God promises, his word does not return void.
- pray for the national ministers who are working in the villages.
We were able to meet with one, Geli, who runs kid's clubs which both muslim and christian children attend. It was neat to see how excited the kids were to sing the songs about Jesus and how passionate the young Christian leaders were about sharing their faith. We were able to visit some of these villages and interact with the kids there, as well as attend Geli's church.
Although Christians there experience a fair ammount of tolerance, it is hard to win converts in a land that is 95% muslim.
- Christian orphanage
be praying for the orphans and leaders that we visited there. It is the largest Christian run orphanage in the region and their main goal is to train future Christian leaders. They are also in the process of building the first ever missions training center for the Senegalese people.
- Pray for the Senegalese people
Senegal is a country renowned for its friendly people and you would not expect it at first glance, but it is also country plagued by fear. Islam here is mixed with local superstitions and the occult. Practically everyone consults their local maribu, or witch doctor, and sacrifices to spirits is common place.
Pray that the Christians here would be a light in a place of spiritual darkness.
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