Powerful Moments

Every day has been fun, but I would have to say that Wednesday was the most exciting and emotional for me so far. The first house we couldn’t stay at because the lady was leaving. We went on and found a group of people outside of their houses to warm up in the sun. After introducing ourselves and chatting a bit they soon learned that we came from the World Fellowship Church and had a children’s program there every afternoon. The lady we talked with said she would send her daughter there, but also wondered if she could go there to get prayer. Kaitlyn told her we could pray for her right now. She then had a conversation with Rabel in Sesotho. After a few short minutes we found ourselves following her to pray over a sick friend of hers. We arrived and discovered more people sitting out in the sun. They called out the sick lady and we prayed over her. As soon as we finished praying another jumped into our circle and wanted prayer for healing too! One after another they told us where their bodies hurt and we prayed for healing. Even a little girl wanted prayer so that she would do well in school. Although praying for people to receive healing was powerful, the touching moment for me was our conversation with a drunk man. He asked for prayer but we knew his problems resulted from his drinking. While we listened to the drunk man, I felt it was my job to bring up the spiritual battle going on in him. My heart hurt for him and when we walked away, I had a smile on my face but tears behind my sunglasses. We told him we would continue to pray for him and he said he would pray for us. He said we are doing a good thing and he will pray the Holy Spirit will give us more and more power. I told him he can have the Holy Spirit’s power. He told us he did and he preaches at a church but he has a hard time trying to quit drinking. He promised us he will quit someday, but kept drinking while we talked. We invited him to church and hope to see him again Sunday.
I feel like being a leader in my group has brought me to a new level in building relationships. Until now I looked to others to understand; now they are looking to me. Last week I couldn’t imagine myself in this position, and the thought of it made me nervous. I didn’t realize how much I have learned about this culture until I have been placed in a position to show it. I’m not struggling for words to say when conversation dies anymore. I know my team should have the chance to ask questions and I ask because I want to, not because I feel like I should.
After lunch we spent the rest of the day with Nelson and his friends. They taught us one of their games that they play. We call it Tic-Tac-Toe Extreme!