Day 8

Day 8
Today we went to Tseve, the hometown of Jean Marie who has visited Heart of Life several times. We learned of some very sad news last night. The sister of Jean Marie passed away on Saturday unexpectedly. We went to visit Jean Maries' father and mother today. While it was a very sad occasion they were glad to see us and welcomed us to their home. We sat outside the front of their house and prayed for them and we would ask you to do the same. She was pregnant and while there may have been some complications with that, the father said she had heart problems.
We then went to Jean Marie's school and even though school has let out for the summer, we spent 10 minutes walking through the village and ended up with nearly 100 kids. Even without telephones, they can spread the word quickly! We taught several bible stories and played games with them for a several minutes. They always enjoy the soccer ball and the bubbles. I tried to keep some of the older boys together with the soccer ball so they don't run over the smaller kids. They are really good at soccer and about wore me out.
Speaking of soccer, everywhere we go everyone is talking about the World Cup. If it is an African country they are cheering for them. There are many homes in Lome with televisions, but they become more rare as you go into the villages. After dark, you can see a bunch of people gathered around a television that is set up out in the street. They really take their soccer seriously here.
Even though the day started off rather sad, we did have a really good day. On the way back this afternoon we stopped by Sagoon's, one of our translators, house. He has a little girl that is 12 months old that is incredibly cute. Getting to hold a small African child always makes me smile!
I am putting up a picture up tonight of Valentine, a small boy we have grown attached to over the last few years. I spoke of him in an earlier blog so I thought you might like to see him.
I am also putting up another picture of a man that I just cannot get off of my mind. The man in the make-shift wheel chair is a member of the Keve Baptist Church. We literally ran into him rounding a corner between two huts. We started to share Christ with him and he said "I must admit I am a member of the Baptist church". At first we didn't understand why this was something he "must admit" until we asked further. He had not been coming for the last couple of months. We asked why, and he said he had been drinking a lot lately. We invited him to meet us at the church in about a hour so we prayed with him and went on our way. I had mixed emotions about leaving him at that point because I felt sure he would never come to the church. By the time we walked through the village some more and made our way back to the church, he was already waiting on us. With a situation like this I knew I needed to let someone who spoke the language to
counsel this poor man. I then got to see pastor Daniel do the most amazing thing with this man. Daniel is the man in the jean shirt and Innocent(Koffi calls him guilty) was in the white shirt translating to me as Daniel was talking with him. He had started drinking a few months ago when his wife left him. She told him that she was going to visit a family member and never came back. He feels that she left him because they have been married for five years and they have no children. He was so down on himself and his condition. It struck me as I was sitting there listening that the issues facing people are problems of the heart and have no regard for locale. Here this man is in a rural village in West Africa facing the same heart problems faced in Missouri and around the world. He obviously didn't have an effective way to make a living, his wife left him, and he had no resources to find her, even if she did want to come back. I cannot tell you
what that did to me as I sat under that tree listening to Daniel tell him that alcohol was not the answer to his problems and that they would only make them worse. Daniel handled it so gracefully but yet forcefully. He is a very Godly man with great wisdom and I had the opportunity to witness it first-hand. I am becoming more and more impressed with him every day.
I took this picture not for us to have pity on him, but as a promise that I would ask our church in America to pray for him. Please pray for him to stop drinking, to have peace in his heart, and for him to have the companionship he needs.
Sorry for the long post. Tomorrow we are headed to another church in Bagbe, or possibly Badja, we are confused on that issue. Oh well, wherever they take us we will share Christ with whoever will listen!