Thursday and Friday June 21st and 22nd

Thursday

We are on a mission trip so the fact that plans change is a fact of life. We moved this morning from the Methodist Guest House to the Rusam Villas on the opposite side of this huge city. The drive from the west side to the east side was almost painful due to the smog and road conditions. We were finding it to be the hardest part of this trip for many of us. We got all move in and went to our new location of ministry with Pastor Simon and Terry. Calvary Temple World Missions had partnered with them in 2006 to build a group home for kids. WOW. It is really a nice facility in comparison to the surrownding area. It is a fairly large block building with five rooms that sleeps 20 kids plus two classrooms for the school of 40 that they run out of the center.. They share bunk beds in two bedrooms with a central living area, a kitchen and a bathroom. The house is livable but not completed. The outside court area needs work and the bathroom is not really functional yet so they use an outhouse. The children are blessed to be here and be provided for. I spoke with a 14 year old boy named Peterson. He said to me, " I used to be a dirt boy. I lived in the dust of the ground and I came here and Pastor Simon gave me a home. I am so glad I have a home now and people who care about me." The children are so precious. To look into their faces makes us know that they are worth it all. Later in the day, we had our first outreach to this new community. Our team was so flat. We were drained and feeling sad about leaving Mary and Joseph's ministry after 5 days with them. That night we had to pray through as a team. We were amazed at how we had grown so accustomed to the Mukuru Slums (Village). We flashed back to our first walk on Sunday into the guts of the slums and the shock we all felt. Then compared that with how we settled in and developed so many relationships there. The children in the Cana group home at Mary and Joseph's ministry cried when we left. We cried too. Finally, we couldnt take it anymore so we started dancing together in the streets to the music that was playing in the background. We laughed and danced and got in the van and drove away and cried again.

Friday June 22

We were determined to start the day together with praise and prayer. We could sense the battle that we had won last night in prayer and were determined to keep it. Emotions can drain you and can drain a team as well. Joy and the Presence of Jesus can restore and rekindle. We left for a day fo Childrens ministry and afternoon Crusade. The kids ministry was fantastic. We had seen from the day before that the kids in the village where Simon and Terry minister have a "I want what you have" mentality. So the kids ministry was centered upon the power of sharing and giving to one another. We wanted to teach them how much better it is to love than to take. We saw the light start to come on. Poverty causes fear and fear causes people to think only about survival today so they can grab what is before them without much care for the one standing beside them. Our message was radically different from that. The outreach that night centered more on taking the believers in the crowd to a deeper level. To choose a greater freedom and a greater love and a greater destiny because the Father of heaven lived in us by His Spirit. We sense if we can move the church to a deeper place in these day, the church will move the community.