The Gardener

Emilia explains growing up as the daughter
of witch doctors and the pressure from friends
and family in the African culture to rely on
the medicine and spirits of witchcraft.

What a blessing it is for the women in Project Life
to have their own Bibles.  They are learning to
find chapter and verse in the books of the Bible.

Melita reading her Bible.  Her mother and
sister are witch doctors but she faithfully
attends the Bible study.

And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain,

growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and

sixtyfold and a hundredfold. Mark 4: 8

We walked into the gathering room in the children's building at the hospital. I sensed the climate of the mothers' concentration hardening like its cement walls. It is easy to bring soup to nourish the children's bodies, yet another challenge altogether to nourish the mothers' souls. The mothers quickly received their allotted soup for their child and left without a word.  A thousand thoughts rushed into my head. Could we have said it better? Did we talk too fast? Did we all speak a different language? What had we missed?

The next room the patients were polite.  There was no hardness, yet in their eyes we could see the evidence of other worries.  We left a Portugese version of John and Romans and then we politely left. By this time I was beginning to wonder what we were doing there.

The last room in the last bed lay one man with his wife dutifully by his side.  He looked at us quizzically for a moment then smiled,  painfully attempting to rise from his supine posture to greet us. We quickly assured him that his role as a patient was just to lie there, we had no expectations.  My translator started to speak, sharing our story, our hearts, and our mission.  His response was startling. He explained that he had been invited to church by a gardener in Lusalite that worked for an American.  He didn't know this person's name, only that he had promised to take him to church. He had eagerly waited for this person to take him but for some reason, the gardener never returned.  He was so sad. Days passed, he became very sick and had to go to the hospital. We all recognized God's hand in preparing this soil. He listened attentively as we introduced him to the real Gardener that never leaves nor forsakes us. He eagerly prayed a prayer to receive Christ.

The seed fell on fertile soil, we were blessed to water it, and the Gardener welcomed another thriving plant into His garden.

It has been amazing to see the work of the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of so many.  In the Bible studies out in the bairros and in the hospital, over 30 people this week have asked Jesus into their hearts. Thank you dear friends and family for your support in this ministry. It has been a blessing to report such a fruitful week.