Saturday morning started with breakfast and devotions at the hotel. We were scheduled to be at the child care center by 9:00, but they moved it back to 9:30. When we finally left, we were all prepared for our “presentation” – planning to sing “Hail Jesus You’re My King”, “River of Life” and “Joy”, give testimonies, and I would share a little from the word.
When we arrived, the kids were anxiously awaiting our arrival, and were excited to see us. Our team went in and talked with the children, and then the children’s presentation began. They sang songs, shared testimony, and welcomed our team to Igamba. The team sang 2 songs, and then I shared a word from 1 Sam 17 where David conquers Goliath. I took Fahad (a little boy) and set him across from Dennis (a much bigger boy) and told them that they were to wrestle. I asked the children who they thought would win. Of course they shouted, “Dennis”. As I asked them why they thought he would win, they told me that Dennis was older, smarter, bigger, stronger… and I asked them if they thought there was any way that Fahad could win. While I was asking these questions, I had 3 bigger men come into the room and stand behind Fahad. It was amazing how quickly the group changed their minds about who was going to win the battle.
I used this illustration to remind them that although David was a younger man (not necessarily a small boy as many would have us believe – evidence – Saul allows David to put on his armor, and David’s response isn’t “it doesn’t fit”, but rather, “I haven’t tried them”. Saul was a rather large man – head and shoulders above every other man, so his armor would have been rather large as well) he was not fighting the giant in his own power, or for his own purpose. God almighty gave him that victory. He knew it. And we also can have victory over the enemy when God is in the battle.
After the session, we broke into 7 groups and met with the children. We asked questions of application to see if they understood. We had a wonderful time talking with the kids about Jesus and His Word.
We went from there to games – soccer, net ball, football, tag games, etc. The team and the children had a lot of fun interacting, laughing and playing together. This is a great team.
After lunch, we watched the ladies play a game of net ball against the local women – you will just have to ask about this one – too much to write. Anyway, after they finished almost 30 minutes straight of playing, we went on home visits.
One of the hardest parts of going to the poorest of the poor is seeing where they live and what they call home. Add to that the recognition that they have no food and no money, makes these visits even harder. Many of the team members broke into tears as we visited 4 homes and heard the heartbreaking stories of the people at those homes. Orphans, children living alone, a mother of two just recently abandoned by her husband having no rent money and no food, the stories are hard to understand, and even harder to reconcile with a loving Father that cares for them.
However, this I know is true – God loves them and the physical world is only temporary. We helped the ones we could help, but these 4 homes represent thousands of homes here. We rest in the fact that AMG is doing what they can for the ones we can help. Thank God for the ministry of AMG International.
We ate dinner, hung out playing “I never…” and then went back to the hotel. Tomorrow is church.
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