It's Just the Way We Like It!!

As I mentioned in Jordan and Natalie’s blog, we had a team of 37 ladies arrive from the Midwest area who were here for 10 days. I don’t think there is an all male team who could have done any more than these ladies did. They accomplished an unbelievable amount in their short stay. I’m exhausted! Now to be honest, when I got an email asking the color of the tablecloths at the cooks luncheon, I was worried that we were going to have a bus load of high maintance women! I could not have been further off the mark!! The team had a story that ended with the line "It's just the way we like it!" and they were to use it any time things did not go the way they would have prefered it to go. It worked! If I've learned anything in my time here, things do not go the way you plan or prefer quite a bit of the time. I did not hear one person on the team ever complain -- never -- the whole trip!! Not when luggage got lost, wallpaper border wouldn't stick, had to ride in non A/C buses or when it was super hot 100 degrees and the Maphiveni CarePoint!! They were inspiring!
I rode a charter bus with Ben to pick them up at the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa a week ago Sat. We couldn’t remember which airline they were coming in on and of course there were 2 flights coming in through 2 different terminals at the same time so we each stationed ourselves at one. When the Delta flight from Atlanta started coming through I asked a gentleman getting off if he had noticed a group of 37 women on the flight, he just laughed and said yes, they are all wearing blue! Okay finding them turned out to be easy but keeping up their pace from then on was definitely a challenge.
Jacci was the missionary who handled the overall team and I was blessed to work with a fourth of the group at the Zombodze CarePoint for the first half of the week. They were fantastic!!The other ladies worked at Logoba, Madonsa or Makholweni. They did crafts with the classroom children, painted and put up borders in the classrooms and outside, went to visit homes in the communities around each CarePoint, had a time with the teachers from all of Children’s Cup’s CarePoints and then had the most amazing brunch for the cooks from all the CarePoints!! They treated these ladies who work for free cooking at the CarePoints like royalty. The lunch was filling, the team gave testimonies of how the Lord had brought them through some difficult situations and they presented each cook with a Polaroid of themselves along with a china teapot with cup and saucer!! During the lunch they gave tribute to a cook who had died last year. Ben felt led to give an invitation. We had all talked about her being in heaven but the Lord spoke through Ben on a level the cooks were able to comprehend that just because we die doesn’t mean we will go to heaven. That is where God wants us to go but there is also a place of pain and suffering after death. Heaven is only open to those who have personally come to know Christ and who accept His sacrifice, His love and His free gift of eternal life in heaven. So simple yet how many people will not spend eternity in heaven? Well, 22 cooks went forward and accepted Christ!!!!! Praise God!! So many go through the motions and seem to be “Christians” but have never made a decision to accept Christ and who we have failed to even ask them to!! Do you personally know Christ? Not in your head but in your heart. If not, I’m asking you to make that choice. The particular words aren’t crucial, just the attitude of your heart. “Jesus, I want you. I know I’ve made mistakes and am not worthy on my own. I accept that You gave Your life so I could spend eternity with God. Take my life and mold it after You. I thank you that You are now with me.” If you prayed this CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Email me if you feel led but regardless, contact a local church or pastor to guide you as you grow in your relationship with God. You should be feeling a peace beyond want you can describe, kind of like a weight being lifted. That is the peace of God or the Holy Spirit. Relax, enjoy and continue to just talk to God. Don’t worry, I doubt you will start hearing voices but you will start knowing in your spirit His direction, assurance and love. Praise God!!