A Dog Named Jimmy

 Something unusual happened yesterday in a village. I have been in charge of a summer volunteer and have been taking her out into the villages every day to get used to things. We ran across this one family who quickly invited us into their home

The longer we sat, the more people gathered around us. Before I knew it...someone had put a newborn puppy in my lap. He was so cute and fluffy and playful. I said 'what is his name' and they said JIMMY. It turns out, Jimmy is a miracle puppy. The lady standing behind us in the bright pink had to do a c section on Jimmy's mom to get him out. He was the only survivor of the litter. They were so proud of Jimmy and kept showing me to him. He would wander off from time and time and the villagers would ask me "where did JIMMY go'?? He would just turn back up suddenly, having gotten lost underneath a blanket, or a goat or one of the old village grandmas.

They asked me "please take Jimmy home". And in my heart, I wanted to. I was drawn to this little guy who was such a fighter. In a world where the underdog often gets ignored or outright abused, I was touched that they loved Jimmy so much. I knew he would have a rough life if I left him in the village but there would be no way I could take care of him properly. So I told them I would take a picture with him at least. So, here is us and Jimmy.

Moving Day

 This is an friend who came to help me move out my apartment. We sat on this cardboard box all afternoon and watch men pack my stuff up

 tired but happy to be almost done

 the workmen who came to pack and move

loading the truck...goodbye stuff...

God Keeps Showing Up

 Back in January, I went to the west part of the country to train some ladies in how to share their faith through stories. This group of women have been faithfully sharing in their communities since January and the harvest has been bountiful! Beyond anything I could even ask or imagine. The Lord shows up in a way where we can't even take any of the credit.

 The ladies wrote about 7-10 original songs based on the stories they were learning.  In one particular song about creation they say "where can we go from your Spirit? You were there, you were always there. You were there in the garden when Satan tricked us. You are there when the Snake still tries to get us. Where can we go from your Spirit? You are always here"

 a joyous time

 of course we had to take a nap in the middle.of the day..its exhausting... they thought I was SO funny that I rested too. I said..."what so funny? White people get tired too...." Notice they have absolutely no personal space. :)

 singing some songs and praising the Lord

training our national partners so that they don't need us anymore.

Women's Retreat

 These are the pictures from the women's conference I went to last week. I thought this was a beautiful representation of women coming from all over the country to share reports about what He is doing in their communities.

 singing some praise songs

 One of the art forms here is called "mehindi" (or henna)  Henna is a paste that women apply to their hands for special occasions like weddings, holidays or sometimes 'just because'. They make beautiful designs with the henna paste and can really be quite artistic. Someone has created designs that correspond to stories His Word. This is a picture of the women learning the design for the Bleeding Woman story

My poor friend was feeling nervous with all those women looking on!

 The completed story. This drawing tells the story of the bleeding woman being healed by JC

 hanging out with the ladies during a break

 Two Slaps....this women in red gave a testimony about how one time she was telling the Demon Possessed Man story to a lady. It turned out that the lady was demon possessed herself and started saying abusive things about God. The women in red finished the story and then gave her two slaps. "WHY did you give me two slaps", the demon possessed woman asked. The women in red said "one slap  is for the demon and one slap for abusing my Lord". I am not an advocate for slapping people...but I was amazed at this women's courage.

 They also create original songs and dances for the stories they are learning. They enjoy using all different forms of art to express His Word. This is a small snippet of a dance they made to go along with a story.

 In the afternoon, we had break out sessions. The women met in  groups to learn about different skills they can take back with them to their communities. This women was talking about the basics of health care...of course I listened in....:)

 This group was learning about literacy and ways they could teach people to read and write

 This group practiced their henna drawings.

 SWEET FAITHFUL servant of the Lord who has helped craft stories in the D dialect. She was the one who told me "don't stop doing what you are doing sister".

leaving on the train...we were exhausted but happily praising the Lord. These are my "I have been balling my eyes out" eyes.

The Lord Showed Up

I wanted to tell you about a really amazing experience I had this past week. About a year ago if you remember, we had a very big storying workshop in my city with about 50 people coming. I asked specifically for your prayers in this endeavor. Well, the workshop came and went and I have gone on with life. It was a lot of work and I did see some good that came from it. But overall, I have been wondering if it did any good at all.

Then last weakend came. I was able to go to a women's retreat in a neighboring state.  About 50 women came from all over the country to report about how God was using stories in their villages. They had these books with them and I looked closer. And it was our training books that had been translated in their own language. Women from five different language groups were represented. The women had prepared stories, songs and skits based on the stories they were learning. One morning, they had a time of testimony. 

 

One young girl from the D language group stood up and said "a man had gone to a workshop in M Town (the town I live in) to learn how to share the Truth through the use of stories.   After the workshop, he came to my village to share and me and my entire family believed because we heard stories in our own heart language.".  

 

None of the testimonies were in English so I thought I misunderstood. Did she say M Town??? I asked my neighbors. They all confirmed, yes she had said it! 

 

After the time of testimonies, I found the women in charge of the D language group for the retreat. She had come to the M Town workshop with her husband last May and so I recognized her. I was in tears as I asked her "can you tell me what happened this past year" And basically, all those folks last year really took to heart what had been taught in the crafting workshop. They have been sharing and crafting stories in their own dialects this entire past year. At least for the D group, 21 stories have been crafted and are already being distributed on cassette tapes. But this sister said that the other groups have been working hard too so there is really no way to determine the impact.

 

She said 20 people so far have gotten dunked but even more people than that have believed. Its hard to really tell the exact numbers.  All I know is that God has worked.  She said "we will never forget what we learned sister. A big work happened there in M Town. Please don't stop what you are doing.".  This sister almost seemed hurt that I would assume God wasn't using stories to bring people to Himself.  

 

Anyway, I know that you will be encouraged by this news. Its not very often that the Lord reveals what He is doing in such a dramatic way. The workshop was a lot of work and for this entire year, I didn't really see the benefit. But the Lord showed up and surprised me.

 

Thank you to all who took part. We have a bigger family now to God be the glory!

 

You Just Never Know

The majority of my time here has been spent working with sweet ladies. They come from all backgrounds and all walks of life. My most cherished friendships have come from the women who are overlooked. The women who are looked down upon. The women who have very little voice in their worlds. These are the women who have gone out into the trenches and fields to share His Story. They don't have education or credentials. They just have a story to tell.

This past week I took part in a workshop of a different variety. Its not a situation that I was fully comfortable with. But my leadership thought it would be good if I did this and so I did. A bunch of pastors brought their men to record some stories. I knew something was up when I learned I had to refer to them separately as "pastors" and "believers" I asked the guy in charge...what is this-- a caste system??

The men were nice enough. They smiled and listened. And then totally didn't follow instructions.  They had a lot of excuses. So, I went toe to toe with this one pastor. He was disruptive, argumentative and disrespectful. Miraculously, I was as calm as a cucumber. I showed no emotion. I just stood firm in our Father's Word. I looked over...and my colleague who was in charge had tears in his eyes. He looked so discouraged.

The argument escalated and I think I almost had a mutiny on my hands. I called for a break. Let em cool down. I walked outside to find my colleague. I made some dumb joke about the Cold War (this guy is from Russia) and he just looked at me with sad eyes. I think he realized that his pastors that he called for this workshop were not the best men for the job. And that's got to be discouraging.

If it had been up to me, I would just have cancelled the rest of the training. It was wasting my time. And I had no emotional involvement, I didn't know these pastors from Adam. I was just doing a job I was asked to do. But then...I had the sad Russian dude...I wanted him to be encouraged...Russians are not suppose to be sad. So...I continued on.

After the break, I walked up to the pastor. And I basically just said the equivalent of 'no hard feelings' in Hindi. And he said..sister, I am the one who should be apologizing to you. WHAT?? That's a twist...as they say in the storytelling circles. For the rest of the day, he was my helper. He volunteered when nobody else would. I don't know what happened during that break but something did. This morning, as I go back for the last day of the training, I admit, I don't want to go. I just want to throw in the towel and go back to my ladies without all the hang ups. But, I just have to sit back and watch and see what HE will do...cause I just never know how things will turn out.