I received an email from a friend at my church asking how they can be praying for me and His Body Ministries in the next 6 months to a year. I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of what to say. There are prayer requests and then there are prayer requests.
It took me a while to answer. The last few weeks of my life have been surreal. I have come from a place of grief, mourning, and facing some of my deepest fears all while trying to pour the love of Christ out to others. My purse was stolen with a substantial amount of money in it, the following day I dropped a boiling pot of water and ended up with second degree burns on my face and upper body. Afterward, I had one week of literally lying in my bed crying, screaming, praying and then having some sweet worship. (so thankful my roomies love me and God, poor things, they suffered for a little while.) Do I share these things or keep them to myself?
On the day we buried Elliott there were 6 or 7 teenage orphan girls that I had been teaching Bible Study, Life Skills and some practical ways for them to earn money after leaving the orphanage. I hadn't seen them in several months since Elliott and I had been in the hospital in Yaounde for more than 3 months. After hugging me a zillion times and expressing their grief over the loss of our sweet boy, they asked repeatedly when I was coming back to teach them. I told them to give me a bit of time but I would be back.
A few weeks ago, I met with the Administration of the orphanage to discuss plans about starting to teach again. They were overjoyed. We made plans to begin again the following week. The staff also wanted to know when I would expand the classes to more adult women. They wanted to invite people from neighboring villages to come and learn to be able to help assist with the work in the future. In the meantime, my phone has been ringing non-stop with people from 4 different cities as far as 7 hours away asking for the same teaching, classes and if I am available to provide counseling sessions for Young Adult girls.
My heart was overjoyed and overwhelmed at the same time. I am ONE person and not able to fulfill every request. While my brain understands this, my heart bleeds with the thought of leaving any hurting people out there. I shared my heart with my roomie and after she left I spent some serious time with God asking what to do. He had burdened my heart with the young women of Cameroon years ago and I was struggling to stay above water to be able to help them. What gives? Where is the help? Who can come? Who is already here who has a heart for you and a heart for the people as well? Where are the resources we need? The list of questions was endless. The only answer I heard was a simple, Trust ME. Over and over that's what I heard.
A few days later, I went for a meeting and was introduced to a young lady who had been sharing her heart with my roomie and the dreams that she had in her heart were almost identical to what was in my heart. We started talking about how we could work together. Both of us were there with tears in our eyes. She had recently been crying out to the Lord for what to do to help the young women of Cameroon discover who they were in Christ and not throw their lives away.
This weekend we will have a retreat at my house with 10 young women who are orphans. We will share some Biblical Truths, they are going to teach me how to make a Cameroonian meal, I will teach them how to make something (haven't decided what yet) and we will begin to help them understand what their identity in Christ looks like. After all that we will have a bit of fun and go to church together the following day. I'm so excited.
I have been dreaming about how to streamline all of what I do and how to maximize the number of requests with my availability. I believe God has given me a plan. We need a building. A Training Center of sorts. Young people will be able to come to be Discipled, taught the Word of God, and all of the practical life skills and vocational skills that I have been teaching all over Buea. In addition to Biblical Truths and HIV/AIDS, and God's plan for purity, I am currently teaching how to make soap from wood ashes, cake baking, food preservation etc. If we have a building we can reach more people in a more organized way and have a place where the girls can sell their wares to help earn a living. We would also recruit other vocational teachers both here and from the US to help teach other things. One practical thing we are thinking of is since we are teaching so much about cooking, we should have a restaurant on site to further be able to employ people and let the girls increase their skills (how to run a business, budget, etc) Proceeds from the restaurant would also be used to fund ministry projects, i.e. future baby Elliott's, the medical clinic we so desperately need, school fees for orphans, etc.
We are in the process of looking at costs of renting a building, equipment etc. There is another young lady who used to run a restaurant but has a huge heart for orphans who is willing to help, train and do whatever is necessary to make the vision come to pass. I am also seeking counsel from my mentors and others to be sure that I'm hearing from God correctly.
In order for this dream to become a reality, we need you. Right now all I would like you to do is pray and give me feedback on what you think about this dream. Then, I want you to pray about how you can be a part of it. Do you give? Do you come teach? Do you provide resources? Do you continue to pray and champion our cause in your sphere of influence? Please join me in praying for this dream.
In the following weeks I will continue research and prayers of my own. Building or not, the work will continue but I am certain that where God provides a vision, He provides Provision. He has begun with showing us the need and giving more workers to help. We will go where He leads us and do what He says to do.
Thanks again for all of your love, support and encouragement. You are invaluable to me and the ministry that God has blessed me to be a part of.
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