At one of the schools, we ran into a lady who was cleaning fish on one of the benches. I've spared you the grosser details of what was on the other side of the basin.
On the day I took this picture, Neni washed clothes and left well after dinner when they were all cleaned and hung on the lines. I saw the places on her hands where the skin had been rubbed raw and the bulging, swollen muscles in her forearms. At that moment, I knew that I didn’t have a clue what hard work really is. I would have quit long before I had any marks in my body to show for my labor.
Update: Neni is no longer just the “laundry lady”. She received Christ at one of the evening services, so she’s also now my sister. Somewhere in between all of that laundry, she made a lovely table cover for me before I left.
Not one, not two, but three languages were being taught in both directions between Charles and Jonathan.
In the morning, I got left behind with the boxes while the rest of the team took them to the classes. It wasn't long before I was surrounded by about 30 kids all curious about the white lady and the boxes. As soon as I told them the boxes were full of Bibles, they all wanted one. It about killed me that I couldn't just crack open a box and start passing them out right there. The hunger in some of their eyes was obvious. I had a good time laughing and cutting up with the kids. One guy told me he was Elvis Presley. Eventually, they all ended up with tracts and began to break up into groups of four or five and sit down to read them.
One boy in particular seemed especially interested in having a Bible. He was in 12th grade and told me his name was Patrick. I quickly asked God to get that kid a Bible somehow along with the group of girls who had sat down right next to the boxes. Later, I did see that Patrick had gotten a Bible and was grateful for that. A bit later he came back and gave me the tract that had just been given to him not too long before with his name and address on the back and a check mark in the box indicating that he had received Christ.
Patrick is one of about 40 or so kids who returned their tracts to one of us while we were still there. Pray that these kids will grow in their faith and pray that they will follow Jesus all the way into eternity.
Update: Someone (not me) actually got a picture of Patrick. That’s him on the end of the bench reading a tract.