I promised myself along time ago that I would never ever sing into a microphone! It’s nobody’s fault, however, I broke that promise today, and I’m OK with it. Alright, enough about me.
Yesterday was a travel day, which means it was a long day. Theresa, Becky and myself are the advance party of a total of twelve. We met at Theresa’s house at 10:00 Tuesday night to car pool to the airport. We were either on the move or in an airport for the next 16 plus hours. On the other hand, our travel went well, and we were all able to bond and fellowship during the trip. As always, the best part of a trip was arriving at our destination.
When we pulled into the compound parking area we noticed a couple of people trimming a tree. To our surprise and delight, they weren’t trimming it, they were harvesting fruit from it. Do you have any idea how good fresh picked, tree ripened mango tastes? That was the treat we had waiting for us as a snack to hold us over until dinner was ready.
As I write this, we just completed our first of three days of teacher training. Forty-five participants, ranging in age from mid-teens to 60ish, joined us. Some of them had to travel by bus from area Batay’s as much as 3 hours away. Needless to say, it was humbling. Today's activities were the foundation for what's to follow over the next two days with topics ranging from the importance of children in the eyes of Jesus, through prayer, preparation, practice, and presentation of children's ministry topics.
We shared fellowship, worship, and laughter with the group. It is amazing how people from different cultures and languages can come together, understand each other, and laugh as one because of the presence of Jesus.
So, about that promise I broke. I had just finished talking about Mark 10:14, where Jesus tells his disciples not to stop the children from coming to him and I couldn't resist a bit of worship. I wasn't me, however, the song I was lead to sing was Jesus Loves Me. I had no more than gotten those three words out when the smiles started. By the time I said "this I know" the entire group had joined in. Seems like in any language that song is a classic and a common ground for us to worship Jesus!
Thank you all for you prayers, and please, continue to do so. We can feel their presence and impact on the teaching.