Painting, Prayer and People!

Hi friends and family,

We have had a very busy and exciting second day! There is so much to share with you all. As our team sat down together tonight, we all talked about the highs and lows that we experienced throughout the day. Highs and lows is how we express the positive and wonderful things we saw in the community and things we saw that challenged us. So that being said, one thing that seemed to be a recurring theme within our team debriefing tonight was the joy we encountered among each person we met. It is so hard to explain the joy these people had with just a few words. Their faces, young and old, just beaming with so much life. I can't even begin to grasp the joy they have. I can't compare it to anything I have ever seen or encountered, but it is beautiful and brings tears to my eyes. We encountered many of these people within Sweet Home and Philipi, which were two townships that we visited earlier today.

In Philipi, we visited an informal school. An informal school is exactly how it sounds. The school is run by women in the community that also work and partner with ROCKHARBOR. It is not a proper school or public school like we have in the United States. It is literally a small building (shack) put together with a concrete/dirt floor, thin particle board walls, and random two by fours placed on the walls for support. The walls and window sills had water rot and water damage that we did our best to paint over. We cleaned and swept the floors of dirt and debris and just tried to clean up this school for these women, teachers, and children. It was an incredible experience and I was so thankful to be a part of something so special.

About five team members participated in the painting of the informal school while the other members of our team met up with a few women in Sweet Home to do prayers walk and just pray over specific individuals within the community. Meredith here! The team piled in the van and drove into the heart of Sweet Home, contrary to the name the sites were not as sweet. Dirt roads and gutters at certain points overflowed with trash, as a team it seemed our conversations within grew quieter as we turned our eyes outward. When we parked our van we were greeted by a dozen small smiling faces, as we headed into the winding walkways of the shanties.  As a team we followed the CHE's and were welcomed into one of the shanties with no electricity, into their small living space where we prayed as a team for the woman living there. It was beautiful to see the team together uniting in prayer and to be able to be the hands and feet of the team. We made a second stop with members of the team to pray for another woman. Meeting back up with the team at the informal school we were able to digest and process a little of what we experienced. Ok bye now back to Kinsey!

Please keep sending your love, prayers, and comments. It was such an encouragement to read the comments that were left for us. We appreciate all the support and need a lot of prayer for the next few days as the BYD camp begins. Please pray for strength and sleep! Lots and lots of sleep! We will be needing it the next couple days. Love you all so much!

With love,

Kinsey and Meredith and team

Organizing bins at the Informal School.

Kids playing in the township of Sweet Home.

The streets of Sweet Home.

The Informal School in Philipi

Some of our painters.

Painters :)

Smiles all around.