Dearest Friends,
Two Days…Five Shows
The last two days have been very sweet as we heard hundreds and hundreds of children loudly calling on Jesus to save them. The days required perseverance as we are all tired from the heat, but God blessed us with strength each time we saw the children.
As soon as we are near a place, the children start running after us and waving. Often, we arrive to a full room of children who have been waiting for us to arrive. My friend Joel told me that for many of the children, we are not the best thing to happen this week, but the best thing to happen this year. The children humble us with their warm welcomes. Somehow, we beg God to make us more than we are. We pray constantly for the wisdom to say things better so that our poor words can describe the riches of our Father.
At each show, I always try to go out in the crowd and shake hands with the children. I know they cannot understand me, but I hope my smiles communicate the love of Jesus to them. Almost every hand I touch burns with fever. It is malaria season here. A doctor that does medical outreaches in the public schools here says that 85% of the children are sick with something.
The children come to the shows wearing dirty rags. Actually that is not true. My rags are in better shape than what they wear and my rags are clean. It is very dusty and dirty here.
At our last program yesterday, we had a crowd of 500 plus gather to watch a show and hear the Gospel. Amazing! Today, we were in a church at a Compassion International Feeding program and I took sticks off of one of the workers. He was threatening the children. From what I understand, the leaders are trained, but not the workers. Many children are hit at home. We explained that God’s house must be their shelter.
Our last program today was in a village. The children live in little mud brick houses about the size of a large American bathroom. I was smiling at the children and told Joel, "If I die tomorrow morning, I will be the most blessed person who ever lived." It is the truth. The blessing of telling these precious little ones about Jesus cannot be measured.
Thank you for sending me. Thank you for sending all of us. Please hold the children of Burkina Faso in your Prayers!
In Jesus,
Linda for Seth, Paige, and Heather