As we pulled into the nearby village today for witnessing, kids were already gathering. Even though Brother Shadrach had told them we would be doing lessons only on Sundays, they still gathered when they saw us. After we told them we’d be having a lesson tomorrow, we started down the paths. House to house, they would yell their welcome to us, then scramble to find seats for their “guests of honor”. It is always humbling to sit on their few seats while they sit on the ground!
As we got ready to leave, I said, “Stay well!” (a common goodbye here.)…well, at least that’s what I THOUGHT I said. What I actually said was, “Sindili bwino!” instead of “Tsalani bwino!” So instead of “Stay well!”, what I actually said was, “I am not well.” I quickly caught and corrected myself.
We continued walking house to house. Some had buckets of water out with little ones washing dishes in them. Others were sitting on cane mats cutting and peeling food. But all welcomed us.
As we continued, our little group grew as kids continued to join our group. They walked with us and sat to listen at each house.
When we finished and just stood around waiting for the other groups, the kids gathered around us. One mischievous little girl scooted very close to me. I felt a little tug of my hair and glanced down. She had one little strand and was trying to pull it out! I nonchalantly pulled my braid to the front of me and continued talking. She glanced down at her pinched fingers, now without my hair between them, with disappointment.
Sunday after our services, we went back to the that village for the Bible study. We started under the big tree with the adults so Lydia could play guitar and Brother Shadrach could lead singing. He does a very good job leading singing. Then we led the kids to the tree in front of the chief’s for their lesson.
I tried using my flannel graph, but it was so windy that the flannel graph pieces flew off the board. After chasing them a few times, I just held each piece up while teaching. It was a little difficult, and a couple times my notebook with my lesson fell to the ground while I was teaching, but we made it through! We ended the day with ice cream.
We have been without water for a few days and we’re not sure when it will get fixed. They worked on it all day Friday, but were unable to figure out what was wrong.
Thankfully, the electricity has been working more so we were able to get water from the pump outside. Eric filled buckets and Rubbermaid containers with water and carried it to the house. That is usually the women’s work - to bring the buckets of water. I’m sure the ladies all watched in shock to see my husband doing it instead!
The girls got their first experience with hand washing. They started out all smiles, but we were all exhausted by the end. Because the electricity stopped working weren’t able to finish, but I think the kids were happy about that…and surprisingly still had plenty of energy to play. I, on the other hand, was about to drop. The man who works on it will come again on Thursday to try something else. If it doesn’t work, we may have to order parts from South Africa- which would mean a month before it could be fixed. We’ve been making it, but I’m praying that’s not the case!
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