stories of changed lives, a warm fire, and worship music

During the third week of May, I had the chance to go back up to the deep forest to visit one of my groups there. Hard to believe, but it had actually been six months since my last trip to this area. I have groups I meet with weekly in Tulear, and because of the rainy season and other events on my schedule, I wasn’t able to go any earlier. I was able to take a lot of new people with me: some other workers with our organization from mainland Africa, as well as Hannah, my housemate. Noelle, a leader in one of the churches we work with here in Tulear, also went with us, and we met Pastor Jonoro, who first introduced me to the deep forest, up there.

The deep forest is a special place. I don’t really know how to describe it, except to say that I am deeply moved each time I visit. Problems are very real there, and can be overwhelming at times. But what is even more noticeable, tangible even, is the active, life-changing Presence of Christ. The believers in the forest have truly encountered Jesus, and He has changed everything. Their problems have become testimonies, their marriages have been healed, their minds have been set free from demonic influences, their children have become Biblical storytellers, their church has become a new family, and the crushing weight of physical scarcity has become an abundance of hope.

This trip especially, I had the opportunity to see these transformations more clearly than before. One of the girls who went with us is a writer for our organization, and through her interviews I was able to hear testimony after testimony of God’s faithfulness in the lives of believers—I learned much I didn’t know before about the story of the village and the journeys of individuals and families.

Hearing everyone’s stories gave me a deeper sense of closeness with them than I’ve had before, though I did feel very much at home in this village the very first time I visited. Also, with the colder weather (low 80’s :), the family who hosted us (in the picture above) built a fire each night, and we shared the warmth of the fire and fellowship. One night, one of the believers came with his guitar. He is a gifted musician, and now uses his talent for worshipping God. He and Noelle played song after song, some of which they even wrote themselves. Worshipping with them and our host family around the fire was a precious, precious memory.

As always, I’m thankful for and looking forward to the next trip (hopefully sooner than six months!) And next time, I should be able to take my sister with me! I can’t wait for her to meet everyone and them to meet her!