Enlightening opportunity

We started of early yesterday morning for the refugee camp. After a long, long rough dirt road, we pulled into a former prision. The buildings were in disarray and everything was very dirty. There are 16,000 refugees in small makeshift mud brick homes. Many of them have been in the interim refugee camp for over ten years. All of us, students and our family were welcomed into a dilapidated church building. We had the opportunity to experience worship with people from seven different countries. One of the most amazing thing in our experience here is how grateful they are for us just showing up. This was a great example of that. One of the students gave a short talk on relying on God’s strength to live godly lives and then Chris spoke about meeting God in our pain and suffering. It seemed your prayers were answered as Chris’s talk seemed to encourage, bless and challenge the congregation. Chris was greeted by everyone in the congregation as a man of God. It was an honoring and encouraging experience for all of us. The students were then able to visit some homes in the community while the church leaders showed Chris and I the different aspects of their ministry. It is amazing to think that a refugee church has a church plant in a neighboring village and an orphan ministry. They are providing care for 50 orphans, giving out of what little they have. It reminded us of the church of Macedonia. It says in 2 Corinthians,” In the midst of severe trial , their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” One example of that is that they gave out of the 13 kilos of maize flour they receive from UN-Sierra they give 2 kilos to the orphans. Students were disheartened by the lack of opportunity for these people, yet encouraged by God’s work in them and in their midst. The plight of refugees in our world is a grave injustice. Would God help his people to do something about it. Thank you so much for your prayer. We head to a leaders retreat in a little bit. Pray for Chris and Craig as they teach this weekend.