Dearest Friends,
She Hit Him!
Heather and I watched in shock as a teacher used her hand and hit a child twice in the face. Often, across Africa, I have seen teachers use sticks on children, but this was much worse. She really hit the little boy. Tears sprang to my eyes and Heather encouraged me to speak to her. Because I have white hair and most people think I’m seventy, we hoped the tradition of respecting age would help. I told her not to touch them.
I stopped her from hitting any more children, but she was clearly very unhappy with me. You will rejoice to know that I watched God change her angry face to a sweet smile as she heard the Gospel. God’s stories are powerful. All of the students stared at me in shock. Why would an adult try to rescue them? Children are not respected here and even Christian people struggle to see the value and importance of children.
I believe that because of what happened at the beginning of the show, the children had a tender heart for our words. Almost immediately, I felt that this show was very different from all the others we had done. Later, our Nigerian friends told me that they had the same feeling. There was a connection with the children that is difficult to describe.
More, as I gave the invitation, I knew the company of the great cloud of witnesses that Hebrew describes. I promise I heard their cheers as the children prayed. All of us talked about God’s great display of His power and His love as He rescued hundreds. Praise God!
God Can Do This
Again, we were at another over crowded, under staffed, very poor public school. The teachers’ carried big sticks and they were using them. One teacher in particular was very enthuiastic in her use of the stick. I tried talking with her, but she was not listening. In desperation, I asked her how she would feel if I hit her with my stick. I walk with a cane that has a titanium shaft. My stick was bigger. She said she would not like it and so I encouraged her to see the children’s point of view. Disgusted, she tole me that they would never listen to us unless she hit them. I told her to watch and see the power of the living God displayed. He would call the children to listen.
At that point, all of the teachers deserted us for the shade of the porch. I told our team to pray. The children tried every trick as I told the story. They pushed and they shoved and talked and hit each other. Each time, I asked God to give Excell (my translator) and I grace and patience to deal lovingly with them. God was faithful. To the surprise of all of the teachers, they did listen! Hundreds called on Jesus. We are blessed!
The Big Finish
Rejoice with us that dozens of 12 and 16 year olds called on Jesus at our last school today. We had cloud cover all day and were grateful, but at this program, it rained. I could not use the chalks and I had to act out the story of Joseph. God increased our abilities as Excell and I did something we had not done before.
Please continue to pray for the dear children of Nigeria.
In Jesus,
Linda for Mykayla, Paige, and Heather