Women's Day and Hungry Boys

This past Tuesday was International Women's Day. At the Center of Hope I helped to organize and run the celebration which included women from many different nations. My main job was to preach on John 4, the story of the woman at the well. As I was preparing my message for Tuesday I knew that I had a huge job before me. You see, most of the women who were attending the celebration were of other faiths. They come from countries and backgrounds that execute them if they convert. Many of these women are in my class and also come to the Wednesday night worship service that I lead, so I've gotten to know them a bit over the past two months and I love them! I wrestled with the idea of someone losing a life because of a message that they hear whether it be from me or anyone. So as I was praying on how to speak to these women, God gave me a peace and simply asked me to trust Him. He reminded me that it is great to die knowing Him than to live not knowing Him. It's still so difficult for me to think about because I've never been threatened with death because of my faith. I do know that there are thousands if not millions of people around the world living in places where it is illegal to speak the name Jesus Christ. Where they have to sneak around and only worship at night in hidden places in order to spare their lives. I'm blessed to have always lived in a place where I can worship the One true God freely, without hesitation.

To be honest with you, I don't remember the exact words that I said, but I do know that the Holy Spirit was present and stirring hearts. The words were not my own... something I prayed for and I know many of you prayed for as well. The celebration included women from 5 different countries. I've never been in the presence of such strong women in my entire life. One of the activities that we had them do was to break up into their countries and write out an example of a day in the life of a women from their culture. From the time they wake to the time they sleep, what does a day look like. I learned so much about each of the cultures and it was so amazing to hear the stories of strength and life from each of the women. It was very cool to see peoples faces as they somehow related to each other's struggles and triumphs. They understood what it was like because they themselves have similar stories. The discipline and the courage it takes to be a woman of their cultures is incredible. Maybe it sounds cheesy, but I've never been more inspired than I was this past Tuesday. I spent 5 or 6 hours with about 50 women who blew my mind.

It wasn't all about what women do though, it was a celebration... so we danced, ate traditional food, drank pop and Eritrean coffee roasted right in front of us, we had henna applied, and we had a fashion show. The laughter shared was refreshing. We had SO much fun.

So when it came time for me to preach, there was no need to be nervous even though all of these people were there risking their lives. God was in control of the whole situation. So I stood before them, told them I was a follower of Christ, and that I would be sharing from the bible which is the true Word of God. I read them the story of the woman at the well. I talked through the Samaritan woman's life, how Jesus knew the truth about her, pointed it out, went out of His way to meet her where she was. I talked about the fact that rabbis were not permitted to speak with women, even their own family in public. And the somehow, it all tied into the fact that we're all adopted into God's family and He is seeking us out. Again, I don't remember all of what I said because it wasn't me, but I do know that the women heard what was said and I'm trusting that seeds were planted in some hearts. Will you join me in praying for these women, for their souls, for their lives?

So aside from Women's Day I've been incredibly busy with lots of other stuff from teaching at the Center of Hope, to working on the Buvuma Island Orphan project, to hanging out with youth and students. It's been really nice to spend so much time with youth again, especially Lino and Angelo. As a "thank you" for sharing their stories with me I took some of the guys out for an all-you-can-eat Mongolian BBQ dinner at a country club here. It's a really nice place and if it were in the States it would easily be $35 per person, but I only paid about $15 per guy including two bottles of pop each (no free refills in Africa). In preparation for the ridiculous amount of food to be eaten, I kept my consumption for the day to a bottle of Coke and a little bit of bread. I wanted to challenge the guys to an eating contest. I knew I would loose, but I still wanted to try. By the time we went through the line and filled our first plates up, mine was only half as full as their's were so I had already lost. While we waited for our food to be cooked we laughed and had a good time. I love spending time with those guys, there's never a dull moment. In the end Lino and Hussein ate the most, nearly triple what I was able to eat. So beyond the large amounts of yummy food we ate, it was a good time of relaxing and just hanging out with some awesome guys. Would you join me in praying for their hearts and souls as well??

Round 1


Lino is still smiling before round 2


Taban and I after we were finished



Lino and I (how can he still smile?? yuck!)



Saudi and I