Yesterday I went with my church for famine relief. This was our second trip. (You can see the dryness caused by lack of rain by the picture to the right.) This trip seemed to have impacted me more than the last one. It's not so much that the churches seemed more desolate or needy but that my heart was different going on this trip. I've been discussing with a friend lately about the rich and the poor. I live simply here and yet I'm still rich compared to so many.
My classroom is a prime example of this even more than my home. The walls are practically covered with bright posters and charts and other fun decorations. The first church we visited had a Christian school. The classrooms in the school we visited were bare. This was the same school we visited the last famine relief trip. Last time the children were on holiday and therefore not at the school. When we went yesterday all the students were there. When I stepped into the Standard 5 (5th grade) classroom a huge smile spread across my face. Truthfully I wanted to cry because it was evident that they have so little and I have so much. The walls had flattened cardboard boxes across the back wall. There were no colorful posters or decorations like my classroom. I greeted the class and explained to them that I teach students their age in Karen. They were warm and welcoming and I wished I could have stayed there all day.
One church that really made an impact on me was the second church we visited. There were actually two churches that came together to greet us at one church building. There was a lady who greeted my friend Alice and I right away. She remembered us from the Leadership Conference back in March. Our group was welcomed into the pastor of the church's office and the same women was in the office with all of us, the pastor, and the pastor's wife. She spoke of how thankful she was to be able to go to the Leadership Conference and how she is teaching the ladies in the church from the material she was given in March. She spoke of how grateful she is that God has placed her where He has to minister to the ladies in the church. She conveyed to us her passion, as well as the other ladies' passion, to learn the Word of God. She said that they greatly desire biblical teaching for the ladies. I am praying that it will be possible for ladies in our church to go back and hold classes for these precious women. There was also a woman there who had triplets. The picture to the right is of the triplets. The mom is on the left.
The third church was just as warm and welcoming as the first two. What stuck out to me at this church was the rows of bricks in the back of the church. They have been building their church building and make their own bricks. We couldn't stay at this last church as long due to time constraints but I was still glad to be able to have gone in the first place.
We found out that the areas we visited yesterday are already rationing water. I am never without water in my apartment building. There have been several other teachers in my school that have been without water for days or weeks at a time in their homes. Back home I never thought about what I would do without water. I never kept large jugs of water in my home just in case of water shortage. I am so thoroughly blessed and I know I don't deserve it.
I can't help but always think about my students when reflecting on this trip. Whereas my students may have water and electricity and food to eat, these people we visited in many ways have so much more. They have a love that is evident and a hunger for God and His Word. Sometimes I can't help but cry out to the Lord for the precious souls He has entrusted to me. My students may have their physical needs met but when it comes to spiritual several of them are desolate. I know they are young but they are not too young to give their lives to the Lord.
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