the souvenir that can never be lost.

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My team mates and I are currently putting on a week long VBS for the kids since school is on break. We are exactly at the middle and it seems to be going ok. It's very hard for us to plan since a lot of our stories and the materials that we brought don't really translate. We have been spending time sharing our testimonies and doing sermons along with playing games and doing worship. On Sunday, the kids will be singing for a local church.

The night before the VBS, I woke up terrified and found tons of cockroaches all over my mosquito net. I was very very scared and curled into a ball and covered my head with a sheet. One of them kept flying around the room and I covered my ears with the blanket because the sound intensified my fears. I prayed over and over that the Lord would take my fear and put me into a deep sleep. The next day I was very very tired and felt sick to my stomach. I told the director about the cockroaches and how I felt and he said it sounded like I had malaria. He said that the cockroaches don't fly and swears I was having visions. So he took me to the dispensary and they took some blood. They told us to come back in 30 minutes for the results. I swore over and over in my head that I didn't have malaria and no way were the cockroaches a vision. It was to real to be just visions. 30 minutes later, we went back and found out I did in fact have malaria. So I am taking some medication, trying to rest and drink plenty of water. The first night of medication was the toughest due to a sore throat, a headache, muscle cramps and I had no energy to move. I have a mild case and all it feels like is a really bad flu with very very low energy.

I am starting to feel better but my energy is still very low. I was told that I should feel back to normal tomorrow and then everything will be just fine. One major factor of malaria is that I will never be able to donate blood nor donate my organs when I die, something I really was looking forward to doing. Not anymore.

My team mates and I have had our fair share of demon possession and still are confused on this. During my first week or two here, I woke up at 1 am to very very loud prayer, hushed prayer and crying. I laid in my bed in confusion, amusement, worry and wanting to know what was going on. The prayers continued to get louder and every once and a while it would stop and I would hear, “sema Yesu, sema Yesu” (say Jesus) and then the prayers would begin. After a while of praying and “sema Yesu,” the crying turned into screaming and then it ended and I heard a very low and weak, “Yesu.” After everyone had went to bed, I sent my team mates a text message that said, “I think there was an exorcism in the room next to me.” The next day, Baba told me that Joyce (the oldest girl of our house) was sick the night before and had a demon. I wasn’t sure what to say so I said, “sawa, sawa, pole.” (ok, ok, sorry)

Last Sunday we attended a church with one our co-workers and it was amazing. Renee, Stacy and I joined in on the dancing and followed the line of dancers around the church. We love African dancing. In churches here, they bring up the visitors and introduce them. So of course, we were brought up and introduced to the church but this introduction was different than the others. In this church, they took your name and sang you a song (the whole congregation). The words were, “Sabrina, Sabrina, welcome our sister in Christ” It was beautiful and made me cry. After the sermon, they had an altar call, if you wanted to get prayer, give your life to Christ, etc. During the altar call, some of the women began crying, speaking like they were men and one even began to fight. It last about 30 minutes and the whole time my team mates and I watched in wonder. We were actually watching, with our own eyes, demon possessed women.

Later that day, my team mates and I had our time alone (we try to spend Sunday afternoons together) and we talked a lot about the demon possession here (it’s talked about and seen about as often as people have malaria…a lot) and why we it’s not as prevalent in America. We discussed if maybe we down play it in America, if Satan uses different tactics in America and if the heavy tribal witch craft is why demon possession is more here. It’s something we all are still discussing and praying over. One thing I do know that it is something we should be praying over as a church for the churches here in Africa.

I have been spending a lot of time praying over where the Lord is leading me and my life. I have been feeling a very strong pull towards missions and wonder if in fact the Lord is preparing me to give my life to being the hands and feet of Jesus. Please keep this in your prayers and ask that the Lord will give me direct wisdom in this area. I have been praying a lot over my time here and know that the Lord is not keeping me here at this time and will be bringing me home on time. Thank you for your prayers and your questions over this time in Africa.

I love you and miss you terribly! I want you all to know that your love and support has not gone un missed and I am blessed to have such amazing friends and family!!!!!

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Comments

[Louisa]

wow.
crazy stuff going on there. probably easy to feel overwhelmed. keep your eyes on Jesus. I know, easier said than done... praying for you, for your time there and your future steps!