Thursday at the Island Community

Armed with bags of food, beautiful quilts made by Joyce Musselman, hearts filled with God's love, and mouths filled with words of encouragement, our team trekked into a poor community on an island that had to be reached by ferry boat. We visited ten homes. In each one we greeted the woman of the household and one of us looked into the desperate eyes of a woman who needed to see the love of God and hear our encouragement. Tears streamed down our faces as we heard them ask for prayer for work, an alcoholic family member, a brother and a husband who were fighting, for health and strength, and so much more. One 16 year old girl told us that her mother was in the hospital with depression and sickness, so she had to take care of the household.

We walked through mud as we weaved our way down crooked paths into little shacks that served as homes for these women and their families. We gave stuffed animals to the little children, and we encouraged the young women to lift their eyes to a divine destiny that God had in store for anyone who embraced Jesus Christ as Lord.

Everywhere we went we prayed. One by one we handed out the colorful quilts, and after several hours we waved goodbye to the people of this little community. We had prayed, "Lord, every day you see a world filled with people we do not see. You hear prayers from desperate hearts. Open our eyes to see what you see. Help us to be courageous today as we serve the poor. May your love and grace shine through." We are asking the Lord to establish a Women's Bible Study group in this community; and we learned that three of the women are born again believers. We encouraged them to begin to pray together on a weekly basis for their neighbors so that they will have wisdom and clarity about how to begin a Bible study there. This experience was the highlight of our trip so far. Rachel Pena interpreted for us and was a wonderful team guide.

At the end of the day we went shopping for the items needed for our platform set for the conference, which will begin on Friday night. With much joy in our hearts, we go to bed tonight thanking the Lord for a wonderful opportunity to meet people whom He loves very much. -Marlyn