Oct 10th- Another day in Heaven

Wednesday October 10^th

Tomecio, Stacy, and I stayed up late chatting about the adoption process and how crazy our society is. There are so many children that need good homes, yet the system makes it impossible almost to provide this for children. We had a great time laughing and discussing what the Lord is doing in all of our hearts.

Devotion—

Psalm 37:3-6 “Trust in the Lord, and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord, Trust him, and he will help you.

Phil 4:4-13

Do not worry or be anxious about anything, but pray and be thankful. Jesus is showing our team that we have SO MUCH to be thankful for. Thankfulness is the language of faithfulness. Thankfulness also unleashes God's resources. We must be proactive. Stay thankful-- the peace of God will guard our hearts and rescue our hearts. Friends, fix your eyes on what is beautiful, right, and true. The kids we are working with are said to be ugly, dirty, and not beautiful because of their status level in this world. They are beautiful though, they are perfect in every way because God created them. Jesus tells us to practice being thankful. To practice we must do. We must get our mind right. Start rejoicing and praising God for the things He has given us. Everything we have is from God. We didn't earn it by our hard works. God blessed us with everything we have. Through this experience, I am learning to be content in every situation. I can make it through anything with the Lord holding my hand.

As Christians we are told that if we give our life to Christ we will have an easier life; all our problems will be solved. I believe that statement is false. You must lose your life. Allot of the time we pray for things to end that God wants us to go through. God takes us through things so we can slowly lose our life. Do you understand what I mean by you must lose your life? Being born in America is a blessing in itself that most of us take for granted. The life that we live in America is something that very few have been given. Losing my life requires me to step out of my comfort zone and into hard, tough, heartbreaking situations, like the one my team and I are experiencing here in Africa. It doesn't mean I have to kill myself and fret about how wrong I have been and how inconsiderate I have been with the blessings I have been given and the life I have been living. I just have to let go of my life; the life I have been seeking out. The life that is centered on what Meghann Raub wants and desires, to the life that God wants me to live. I must let go. Let God do what he wants with my life, which is His life anyway.

Romans 12:1-2 says that we must adopt the attitude of offering ourselves daily. Don't conform to this world; renew your mind by fixing your gaze on God and asking Him to give you eyes to see the things that break His heart every day.

5:30pm

What another amazing day! J It was payday in Ramaroka today. This happens once a month. All the older people receive a pension from the government. We drove to the work site and the area around the City hall was completely transformed. The dirt road out from was lined with venders selling food and goods. Hundreds of people stood in line and the City hall gates were heavily guarded with men holding guns. The people were waiting in line to get their checks inside the gates. Most of us decided we wanted to take a look at the market and talk with the people. Most of us bought scarfs and a few bracelets. The best part was interacting with the people. We told them that we were building a church. We invited them to come once it was done. Most of them were eager to see and learn about what we were doing. The market travels, because it knows most people do not have cars. They come on payday, because they know people will need to buy food and goods. Most of the people in this village have no idea how to write, so in order to get their checks they identify themselves with a thumb print.

The team got a great start on the brick making today. We made cement bricks by hand. We had a few forms and we made many bricks today. I think we made about 500, and the church needs roughly 4000 to be built. The program with the kids today was about prayer—teaching the kids how to pray to God. Doug called me up in the beginning of the program to talk to the children about my gymnastics training and had me tell them that it took a lot of training to be a good gymnast just like it takes a lot of training to be a faithful child of God.

The team had an amazing time dancing and singing with the kids to begin the program. I even enjoyed coloring with the older kids, our coaches. We played more relays today. We still stretched and the kids were so well behaved today. They were just as eager to participate, and they understood better today what was going on. One race we did today required the children to hold a soccer ball between their legs and jump to us and turn around and go back. It was so funny. All the children were laughing and cheering along. The thing that I really noticed was that the kids weren’t concerned about winning or beating the other teams out. They all just wanted to have a turn and had fun in doing so. They cheered everybody on, not just their own team members. I thought that was really interesting to see. In America, we are all so competitive and we almost miss the point of playing games all together.

 

Our team is really bonding too. The team is really something else. We all complement each other. Doug and Johnnie even said “Bye” today. J Johnnie even taught us how to say bye in Africans. We are on our way back to Ave Maria now. I am excited to work another day tomorrow for the Lord and His children, with my amazing new family and friends.