Entry 13- 7/8/08

Yesterday was a truly amazing day. We spent the whole day ministering in a village called Magrimondi. There must have been over 100 children there. We split into small groups and went door to door to preach and invite people to come to a meeting. The first house we came to was a man and his family and they invited us into their home. It was one of the more spacious ones, but still the amount of poverty was indescribable. Mud huts with sparse furnishings and no windows. We talked with them, prayed, and went to the next house. The village was very spread and so we did a lot of walking. Before we knew it, there were swarms of children around us! They wanted us to hold them. At one point I was holding the hands of 5 or 6 children at once. They were pulling me laong the dirt paths, barefoot, covered in dust and sand and laughing and smiling, purely full of joy. At one house, we met an HIV positive woman suffering from pain. We prayed for her, Rachelle laid hands on her and she was healed. That happened a lot yesterday. It's amazing...these people I am traveling with have such a great faith. They believe with all their hearts that God will heal and does heal and then it happens! I even got a chance to pray for Kaley's ankle last night with Rachelle. I actually saw the swelling recede from her ankle.
At about 3pm in the village, we had the meeting and did three skits which were a big hit. Chelsea and Michaela preached and then Brian preached for a long time. He called people up who wanted prayer and I prayed with one woman. I prayed so hard that after, I just felt exhausted. There was one little girl that we had seen while doing village ministry. Her feet were severly deformed and she had great pain in her legs. She was an orphan in the care of her grandmother. She was so very sad and I think we were all heart broken over her. Simeon really ministered to me. We had met an orphan named Richard in the village. Again, he was filled with sadness. But Simeon and he somehow connected. They spent the entire day together and seeing the way Simeon cared for him and loved him was just incredible. By the end of the day, he looked happy and at peace. They stood together at the service, Simeon's arms draped around his shoulders and chest and Richard's holding onto Simeon's forearms.
After church and dinner, we had a fireside chat with Pastor Malala and his wifte and he spoke for a long time about Jesus and the Spirit and then he prophesyed to Charnay that she would prophesy to others and he also told me that I need to come and see where the orphans sleep. He said that my heart is there. Many more things happened that showed me how God is working, both here and in my life. I can't praise him enough nor can I begin to understand the extent to which he has affected my life. All I can say is that I am changed and I want to be so much more than I was. And I want to go home with this fire burning every second of every day!