prosperity, children and class updates..

So far, Hilliary and I have been asked to marry someone 3 times and two young boys have tripped because they were staring so hard at us! We’ve had more and more good laughs lately. The other funny line from hilliary after she almost got run over as she tried to cross the traffic congested street—“A dead muzungu (white person) is even more rare than an alive one!”

Since the last blog, after praying God gave me great amounts of boldness to ask Pastor Beatrice about the theology questions that I had from the church service on Sunday, as it really made me upset. I realized after talking with her that it was really weighing me down and almost keeping me from fully entering into service and working alongside of this ministry.. so I’m so grateful for the courage to ask her my questions even though I was so unsure of the cultural appropriateness of doing so. I think through our conversation about the “prosperity gospel” here in Africa, faith, miracles and not losing sight of loving God, that I’m more convinced than ever that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. It really surprised me though that a kind of “prosperity doctrine” theology runs so rampantly here in Eastern Africa, just as it does in Seattle and in the United States. The pastors who spoke at the church on Sunday were guests from Kenya who spoke for nearly 3.5 hours about how if we only have enough faith in God, we will never get sick, we will have jobs and money and our every prayer will be answered by God. While, yes, I do believe that miracles happen, these pastors completely missed the point that intimacy with God, loving Him, and obeying Him are primary. God seemed more like a big Santa Clause up in heaven who we turn to when we need something, rather than having a relationship with another Being.

It’s also been so encouraging to see that God is the same, even across such vast cultural boundaries and differences. He speaks the same message to people here—and this is only more proof to me of His existence.

Class has also been going well.. their smiles keep me going. We played bingo today and they loved it! They practice English everywhere they go.. when we leave the classroom, you can hear them walking down the road pointing to things and saying their colors etc. It’s so great.

We also had the opportunity to visit former prostitutes and their mothers yesterday in their homes. I’m not quite sure I can adequately describe the slum.. it was filled with the sound of crying babies, everything was made of mud and tin, there were huge holes in the walls of the houses, trash and human feces were in the cramped walkways between the houses.. and this is where hundreds of thousands if not millions of Rwandans live. The first house we visited was the home of a young mother who was a former prostitute who has two beautiful twin baby girls. When we walked in, the babies were simply lying on a chair, one of them crying. It took over an hour before the milk was ready for the hungry babies and one of them drank it so fast that she puked it up all over the woman who was holding her. (She also then proceeded to poop and pee on Hilliary J.) It broke my heart to see this little family. The HIV positive mother was so young, had no way of making money other than selling small crafts, had two malnourished babies to look after… all the while, trying to maintain her faith and live a life free from the easy way of making money through prostitution.

After this visit to Odette and her babies, we went to another home of a young HIV positive mother who used to work in prostitution. It was really great because I brought some extra money through a very nice friend who donated some, and with that we are going to be buying these women groceries and the materials they need to the most to take care of their vulnerable children.

It has been so neat to learn from the women of Patmos Healing Ministries and to see the mutli-faceted work God has called them to. All day yesterday, I couldn’t stop thinking about what it might look like if the churches of America, if my church, associated themselves with the poor the way that the women of this church do. The majority of these women don’t have jobs, so they use what little resources they have to bless women who are even more vulnerable and needy than themselves. They visit prostitutes, take care of the neediest of children, visit the sick, use their resources fully for taking care of those around them, encourage youth… it’s amazing and I wonder what transformations would take place in our own communities if we lived this way as well.

I’d also like to say a big thank you to those of you who donated items (clothes, crayons, coloring books, money). The children, youth and adults who have been receiving these items have been so grateful and excited. Some of the soccer jerseys and youth clothing was given away today and all the boys put on their new clothes right away, sporting them proudly the rest of the time we were there. It has been a great encouragement to the people here and I wish you could see their smiling faces.

It’s time to go, but you can also read Hilliary’s blog at www.hillsblog.com

Until next time,

Megan