Sharing our Hearts for Longlac: July 15th,2008

Day four in Longlac began with an oatmeal breakfast that Momma Shirley made for us. Actually she has been making oatmeal breakfasts for us every morning. God bless her. After breakfast Nadine led us in a time of devotion and during this time the Lord reminded me to maintain my eyes on his vision, purpose and will; his people. I was reminded of the passage in Luke 10:38 when Jesus visited the house of Mary and Martha and Martha was so caught up in all the preparations that she missed what was important. Amidst the planning and preparing of meals and programs for the people here in Lonlgac God has reminded us to take the time to connect and converse with the people here.

After devotions we had lunch then we headed over to the Pow-Wow grounds for some outdoor activities with the children. When we arrived I was astounded by what I saw. There were kids running around freely, a lack of respect. I was surprised. In my mind I prayed for His sovereign presence to be with us. We started a baseball game and worked out (Crossfit) with the boys and the girls did some face painting and bubble blowing. The boys were really rowdy, especially when they missed a play or didn’t hit the ball the way they wanted to. God provided windows of opportunity for us to coach, guide and direct the boys and through such opportunities we began to see very small changes in their attitude and behavior. There was one boy in particular who had a hard time hitting the ball and every time he struck out he would throw the bat and walk off the field. After a bit of coaching and encouragement and a few more strikeouts I witnessed this boy hit a homerun! The smile he had on his face when he touched home plate was a smile of hope, perseverance, faith and encouragement. It was a blessing to see God work. God is good.

In the evening we held a barbecue for the community and it was amazing! Approximately one hundred people came out to the event. Everything ran smoothly. We served hot dogs and hamburgers, drinks and watermelon. It was great because not only did we got a chance to enjoy great food but we had time to interact with the people in the community especially those we don’t see during the day.

After the barbecue we went to the park to do more team building exercises…Crossfit! The workout consisted of as many rounds as you can in 20 mins of:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 situps
It was a great workout together and everyone did awesome but for some reason I heard ducks quacking in the field. Maybe Rollie knows where they came from??

Posted by Wilson

Baseball Game