5. October 2008 by Amy.

THIS MORNING WAS AMAZING!! Pastor Yuseff had asked Amy and I to do a kids service at the compound this morning. His church is there… it is a new church plant really only a couple of month old. It is on the same grounds as the Festival and training.  He usually has about 15 or twenty people, not counting the children.  On Thursday at the Festival he invited the children back for church today.  We had no idea what to expect.  I had given Amy the full reins for the service… she planned and executed the entire thing.  We worked together on all the ideas and the props like always but I had told her on Thursday that it was her service and that i would just serve in whatever way she wanted me to.
WELL, WHEN WE PULLED UP AT 9:20 (church starting at 10) there were already dozens of children there!  It’s like a movie… you pull up and the children start rushing the van as you drive along all smiling and waving like crazy.  they follow the van along the drive waving the whole time.  It’s awesome.  After church I told Pastor Yuseff that i hoped he was a children’s pastor… because THERE WERE OVER 250 CHILDREN WHO SHOWED UP FOR CHURCH!!!  Yes, over 250… just kids and there were only maybe 15 adults there.  And these kids will be back.  All of them were at the festival too.  and the vast majority are not from churched homes… either Muslim or the black magic/animist religion.
AWESOME MOMENT TODAY:  One of the team members who came with us from Omaha, Lynette, is from Burkina Faso.  Lynette, who has never translated for anyone while they were speaking until Thursday at the Festival, interpreted for us and also taught the Bible verse.  We did John 14:6.  Lynette wrote it on the black board and then had the kids read it.  She would erase a word or two then have them say it again and kept doing that until the backboard was blank and they were doing it from memory.  She did a fantastic job first of all.  and the children were all totally into it, all very proud to have memorized it and shouting it out with joy!
So, there we stand while 250 children, most Muslim and animist, are declaring, in one accord:  “Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one can come to the Father except through Me”!  It was an electric, anointed moment in history!!  so powerful.  As Uncle Reece would say, “Good God Almighty!!”
Then Amy preached up a storm with object lessons and then I closed and a bunch of children (all of them actually) wanted to receive Jesus as their Savior!

We are leaving for the airport shorty and will get to Omaha in about 30 hours!  Love you all!

PK and Amy

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5. October 2008 by Amy.

Friday night was quite an experience.  We couldn’t get on the internet till now (Saturday night) it was out due to the storm.  please enjoy the post below and pray for our services on Sunday.

OKAY:
We were in the van outside our rooms waiting to leave for the crusade when this crazy strong wind blows up.  I’m talking monsoon style. And it is blowing their ed dusts everywhere, in big dust twisters.  Pastor Yuseff hops in the van and while we are driving we get into a total utter “red out”… you literally cannot see for two feet in front of the van.  Bizarre!  Femi was saying, “ah, Pastor… I think you should wait….” and Pastor Yuseff says, “No, it’s okay…we are good” and kept driving (of course you have to imagine this small but hilarious exchange in the accents… Femi’s Nigerian accent and Yuseff’s French accent).
So we kept moving.  The dust finally blows out of the way and the RAIN comes.  Not too hard at first.  Now, mind you we are heading to an outdoor crusade.  We get to the compound to discover about 30 people inside the big church building (tin roof, big windows that open, cement floor, huge stage, 1000+ chairs, cavernous).  Now, is when things get amazing.  We know the crusade is off because it begins really raining… I mean torrential.  The beauty of the sound on that roof is hard to describe. Thunderous and awesome.
There was a group of beautiful African women (of course they were African… what am I saying?) sitting in the metal chairs there.  They are a choir that performed at the crusade last night.  All dressed in the brightest colored dresses, gorgeous head wraps, the dark skin… breathtaking.  I went over and was greeting them all and they had this amazing drum.  Huge gourd like thing almost bigger around than me.  A few moments later I am living a scene from some crazy dream I could only imagine. I have the drum hanging around my neck and they are teaching me to play it and this stunning African woman is sitting across from me trying her best to get me some rhythm.  I am so white.   The other ladies are laughing and I am cracking up and Amy is loving it. She is playing her drum, I am playing mine and she starts singing.   But only for a minute because my bad drumming throws her off beat!!!  It was great and again, something out of a dream.
But the best part was watching Amy once I hand the drum off to her.  It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.  They had her going on that drum and the other drum was going and it is raining outside on the tin roof.  I have never seen Amy smile so much!  A big cheesey grin the whole time.  It was beautiful!  Sacred.  Especially when Amy starts singing this African song she knows and is singing all the time.  Well the whole choir knows it and joins in and now I have Amy singing and drumming and smiling and an entire choir of African women singing in about 6 part harmony while the rains falls outside and the wind is blowing in the open windows and I am asking god if this is really real or I am having a vision of heaven.  To watch my friend experiencing so much joy was wonderful.
There was more drumming and more singing and lots more grinning.
As soon as that got done Amy and I were standing in the open doorway both of us crying with joy. I said, “Did that really just happen?” and she kept saying, “I just made music with an African woman!”.  Which was hilarious and cool all at the same time so now I am laughing and crying both.
THEN THE LIGHTS ALL WENT OUT.  So cool. Pitch black in this building.  I loved it.
The next 20 minutes or so was quite possibly the most precious “church service” I have ever been in.  Pastor Yuseff said we needed to get home because it would rain some more and the roads are dangerous when it is muddy.  Well, we were going to have a quick song and prayer before we all dispersed.  That song turned into many songs and as I stood in the darkness with my brothers and sisters in Christ worshipping our Lord… the rain on the roof, the harmonies amazing, the tangible presence of God manifest… pure worship going forth… I was grateful there were no lights so I could let my tears fall freely without being self-conscious. It was indescribable.  “hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…”  I knew Amy was absolutely soaking it in as well.
We eventually loaded into the van and made our way home… I don’t think Amy stopped crying till we got back to the compound.  Then we came in our room and said, “can you believe that just happened?”.  We didn’t know what to say.  God LAVISHED an amazing gift on us tonight and we are beyond grateful.
THE CRUSADE IS NOW TOMORROW NIGHT!  More time for the Holy Spirit to prepare the hearts of the people!!  Hallelujah!!  Also, the rain is a MIRACLE!!!  Last year the last rain of the season was September 2nd (in a drought plagued nation, they keep track of such things) and here it is, October 3rd rainign like crazy!  The people were rejoicing in God’s goodness and we rejoiced with them.  It is hours later and STILL raining.  Glory to God, master of heaven and EARTH.

Love you, PK and Amy

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