so blessed

"I never knew what God was going to do next or whom He was going to bring into my life. I'd learned by now that sometimes people entered my life suddenly and that just as quickly as they entered, they left. I learned to accept them and adopt them into my heart no matter the circumstances. Some would become part of my world permanently and others only a short season. Some of those people whose lives interested briefly with mine made an impact that will live forever in my heart." -Katie Davis

This so perfectly illustrates how I feel right now. We just left a small village that we had been living in for the last two+ weeks and as we drove away I felt a piece of my heart left behind. I learned so much with those people. I learned a lot medically at the clinic (saw babies born, malaria diagnosed, and many wounds) but more importantly I learned to love people the way the Lord does.

The children that we loved on these past two weeks have never experienced running water. They barely have clothes to wear and just enough food to live on. Most of them have some kind of parasitic or fungal infection and none of them had ever used a real flushing toilet, so you can imagine the smells of some of them. But somehow, I didn't see any of that. The Lord allowed me to see each of them as individual and absolutely beautiful. I gave more hugs and piggy backs than I have in my whole life. I made sure to tell all of them that Jesus loves them and I prayed for as many as I could remember their names. I believe that is what God does for us. We are those kids, we are dirty and disgusting in our sinful state but God still looks on us with love. He sees each of us as a beautiful individual that His son died for. It is beautiful when You are able to show God's love in such a practical way.

We also were able to experience what it means to reach the truly unreached. We drove about an hour down an unpaved road and then about two hours through the african bush (we got stuck a few times and the darkness made a fun obstacle too)then we finally reached a tribe that had only seen white people a handful of times. None of them were educated at all so we had to share stories of the Bible because they had no way of reading or writing any kind of study of the Bible for themselves. I had no idea what it meant for people to be truly unreached. I am so thankful that the Lord opened my eyes to that reality. I'm so spoiled to have a Bible that I can read and studies and encouragement at my fingertips.

Please be in prayer for these people that they will be faithful in meeting together and that someone will rise up to teach them on a regular basis. Life here continues to be a challenge but one that the Lord has been so faithful in guiding me through.

 I can't wait to show pictures and share stories of my time here. Please continue to pray for us and the people here. That their hearts would be continually open to our words and that they will love the Lord more because of us being here. I love you all! -Mary