back to the forest

I was blessed to spend last weekend in the forest! It had been over two months since I was there, and I was so thankful to see everyone again!

Life in the village is so seasonal—it seemed that much had changed even in the last two months. The days are too hot and the nights too windy for outdoor fires now, so each night we would gather around the house where Nina was cooking and talk with their family. I have been so thankful over the last few visits for the opportunity to get to know Nina, the pastor’s wife in the village, better. She is a very wise woman. She was a believer before her husband, and when he shared his testimony with us, he told us how she used to “preach” the sermons she would hear at church to him on Sunday afternoons. It was through her words that God first began to call Kandre to salvation.

The first full day we were there, the story-crafting group wasn’t able to meet. Instead, we helped Tete, the schoolteacher, register the children in the village for the new school year. This way, we were able to see many families in the village we might not have seen otherwise.

I had a friend with me visiting from another African country. She’s doing a similar project there, crafting stories for shepherds, and it was such a blessing to share ideas with someone working on something similar.

On Sunday morning, we went to church in the village. As always, this was a precious time of worshipping with the believers there. The storying group met on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. I was a little nervous at these meetings. Several of the strongest members of the group weren’t there, and there were some new people as well. I wasn’t sure how the dynamics of the group would work. I know in reality that how the times goes, even if it goes, what we get accomplished, the quality of the discussion, the group dynamics—none of those things are dependent on me, but rather on the Holy Spirit. I often forget this, though, and feel unnecessary pressure. I was praying as we progressed, asking the Lord to take this pressure away, and just to do whatever He wanted—He was free to disregard my goals and agendas, and I’d love it if He’d help me disregard them as well, and fix my eyes on Him!

The time went great! I loved watching the new people catch on to the storying process, and hearing the lessons everyone was learning from the discussion. I am always amazed with the growth of the group members, and I think having some people missing during this sessions caused others to step forward who hadn’t yet taken leadership roles.

We were working on the story where God chooses David to be king, and in the story is that famous line: “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Maybe it’s a stretch, but I think this proved true even about this trip. I was looking at the outward realities: some key people couldn’t meet, we didn’t have as much meeting time as I had hoped, I was nervous and uncertain. In the meantime, the Lord was looking at the hearts of the group, and was ready to bless them with life-changing lessons from His Word! Praise Him that He did this!