Reconcilliation of our boys

The last two days have been wonderful, we packed five boys yesterday and three today to take them and all their stuff to go back and live with their families. We all piled into a minibus and having said goodbye to their friends and home ( some for the last five years ! ) we set off along the very wet and soggy and extremely muddy Gyero road.

slip sliding along we travelled yesterday in and around Jos and today to some more remote villages. It is such a priviledge to take these boys home , they were so excited, parents were dancing with joy as their child came home. One of the boys mum's said she was the happiest woman alive as her Son is a new boy and she is so thankful to God that he is back reunited with her :)

Look at the huge smiles on Emma's parents face...all of these families welcomed us really well and served us with minerals and it was a joy to be the Lord's servant and recieve the thanks on his behalf.

Today we were able to take Fidelis home to his village and nine brothers and sisters. He has been with the ministry for five years on account of his life being at risk due to occultic involvement. His family live in the middle of nowhere, so far that most are uneducated and rely on farming for their income. There are children everywhere and local materials are used for house, despite the obvious poverty these are very happy and welcoming people. Due to the remote locality it would take him 2 hours to walk to secondary school and so we bought him a bike , he was so delighted to own such a thing.

As we left each child we prayed for them and promised to return three times a year to check on their progress. Pray along with us as they adjust to living back in their communities and for all their friends left behind , and thank God for the ministry which really is making a difference in so many children's lives. Thank you too for your continued support without which we could not do this work.

Check out the size of the maize in the village !!!!

Camp reflections.......

As I write we have just finished camp for this year within our ministry. We had two seperate camps one for junior boys and one for senior, which meant a total of 175 boys attended.....For the first time I was helping to lead Senior camp for 70 boys here in Jos and we had a team come from Moody church in Chicago to help with the teaching and discipling of our boys.

The theme above was unpacked each day, and the boys were encouraged to walk daily with courage, endurance, self sacrifice, vision , compasion and discipline in their lives. Please pray that the lessons learnt will stick with them as they live out their faith.

One of the highlights of the day for me was the morning devotions, the worship was great as the uncles lead us in song the boys love to dance as they worship , totally uninhibited, unlike us Brits...

Then every afternoon we did various activities and i as one of the few people who could swim was assigned as lifeguard. This is fine until you consider we are in the height of the rainy season and that the pool was far from clean !!! as you can see from the following pics it was quite an experience...one of those moments when you just pray and dive in....

I loved spending time with the kitchen ladies they had a hard job to do but are such servants, always cheerful despite being exhausted. They are so resourceful and produced a lot of great meals. Take a look at their facilities....

See even i tried to help but it was so difficult these ladies are so strong and don't seem to get affected by the smoke...my eyes were streaming... Imagine cooking for a hundred people three times a day on an open fire .....

I liked being able to help organise but also constantly had to keep my attitude in check as i was generally enabling others to have a good time, and therefore was not personally doing a lot of hands on with our boys as others were. It is difficult being the behind the scenes person and i learnt a lot about myself and some of the lessons God is trying to teach me . I realise I need to check my motivation and don't think of myself more highly than i ought , which in this culture can be difficult as we as white people are generally put up on pedestals and i need to follow the example of my Saviour who was a perfect example of a servant . He got down on his knees and washed people's feet and didn't moan and so I need to humbly follow his example.

Following Jesus example....

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him. . . . After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and asked, 'Do you understand what I was doing? You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because it is true. And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them. You know these things-now down them! That is the path of blessing."
- John 13:3-5; 12-17

Today in Gyero this is what happened. A team from USA brought many pairs of trainers and socks and they washed all of our boys and girls feet and put on clean socks and gave each a new pair of trainers. Whilst washing they talked individually with each child and prayed with them and celerated this new gift together. It was awesome to see the delight on each of our children's faces, especially the new girls ( i dont think they have experienced anything quite like this before !) they were all smiling and dancing in their new shoes. See the following images to give you a glimse of our day....

The team washed each child's feet ( which were very dirty in the we season in the village it is difficult to have clean feet in flip flops !! ) and dryed them and fitted them with brand new shoes...

I was filled with conflicting emotions....it was really humbling to see this team young and old alike washing each child's feet so tenderly, our children glowed with the love showed to them, it was also very hard to have to turn children away from the village who would have liked to have a new pair of shoes as well. There is so much need here it is difficult when you can't help everyone and you are the one to be hard and turn them away...sometimes I don't like being a leader !!!

To stop myself getting too stressed supervising I joined in and washed some of our senior boys feet, it was an amazing experience...to begin with all sorts of things were going through my head, I haven't done this before, their feet will be really dirty and smelly etc....but I knew Jesus was challenging me to humble myself and get involved. So I did and it was very special as individual boys special to me found their way to my bowl. They loved it and so did I :)

This was an amazing way to be used by the Lord, and so practical to show His love to our children who He has brought to us. So sad too that a pair of shoes back home everyone takes for granted that they should have, whereas here it is a real treat to be given a new pair of shoes.