We were met at the sidewalk by one of the school girls. She's dressed in her uniform - blue skirt, white shirt, white socks and black shoes. The socks may or may not match, the skirt may be held together with a pin, and the shirt may or may not be neatly pressed. I mention this because our children are so conscious of their appearance that they wouldn't think about going to school without everything matching, cleaned and by all means the right size! But you don't really notice the mismatched uniform because of the big, beautiful smile that is on her face.
As we walk in the classroom, the girls stand up with excitement and started clapping their hands to greet us. The classroom is filled with only small desks lined in four rows. There are no pictures on the block walls, no carpet over the concrete floor. There were windows, all opened because there was no air conditioning. A girl walks in carrying a small table and sits it in the front of the room. They were making preparations for "Pastor Eddie" and Goodluck. Over to the side of the room was a bench and a small table for me to sit. Goodluck introduces Eddie and as he walks to the front of the room, the girls just yell and are saying "Bwana Asifewe!" "Praise the Lord!" Goodluck interprets as Eddie talks. This is absolutely the neatest thing to me. It's fun to watch them because Goodluck speaks with the same emphasis and movement as Eddie. And the strangest thing of all, if Eddie says something that Goodluck doesn't know the word immediately, it's as if Eddie knows that he doesn't know the word and will change his word to help Goodluck. That has to be the Holy Spirit, you think? Eddie introduced me to the girls as his "beautiful wife". Ahhhh he's so sweet. He had asked me to say a word to the girls. They were as happy to hear from me as they were Eddie, imagine that! I took only a short minute to tell them that we were so thankful to be there, how awesome it was to see their beautiful faces and the obvious love they have for the Lord. I told them that if they continued in their walk with the Lord and continued to strive to achieve, they could say as we say in America "GIRL'S RULE!" They just clapped and laughed.
Before Eddie encouraged the girls, he requested that they sing for us. One of the girls stood up and brought a drum to the front of the room. A group of girls came with her and they began to sing the most beautiful song in Swahili. The only instrument was the drum, but you would have thought there was an entire band playing. It made tears come to our eyes. They sing with such passion and sincerity! As they were singing the presence of the Lord was so strong & beautiful. Their worship was if we were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. We have here 30 girls that came from different backgrounds, different religious upbringings, yet all were praising and worshipping God with such reverence and intensity. They had forgotten the visitors and were focused completely on their time with God, praying in tongues, singing, tears flowing, hands reaching to the heavens as if they know that God was holding them. It was an overwhelming experience for us as we stood there and watched because we thought of our young girls and boys in America and what a shame, what a shame, that we would never hear of this happening in our children's classrooms. It has all been taken away from them! We can't even say the name of Jesus in our schools, how sad this is for us and for our children. These girls were not ashamed to show their love for Jesus. It didn't matter to them that complete strangers were standing in front of them. They were praising the Lord as if they were in a room all alone!!!! I think of us when we are in a crowd of people, either at church or at work, wherever it might be. Most of us are too conscious of our surroundings, who might be watching us - what would they think about me?
Eddie spoke to the girls about the importance of knowing who they were in Christ. I watched the girls as he spoke and it was absolutely amazing to see their faces. They were listening with such seriousness, like they were capturing every word and placing it into their hearts & minds. They would respond with a loud "Ndio" (yes) or shake their heads in agreement. He encouraged them that we are all the same, although we live in different countries, our relationship with Jesus is what matters. And that they could make a difference in this life by making the right choices and continuing their walk with the God that IS now.
After he finished, he said a prayer. Oh if you could have watched them as they worshipped and praised the Lord. For those few minutes, the white man standing in front of them wasn't their main focus. They were raising their hands, eyes looking up, talking to the Lord as if He was standing there with them. Tears would flow down their faces. After the prayer, the girls lined up for Eddie to pray for them. They wanted him to pray for them, lay hands on them and bless them. One by one he would pray for each girl. The very last girl was so precious. God was dealing with her and as Eddie prayed, she wept and wept. When he walked away, she put her arms around me and I just stood there and held her for a few minutes. At the end of the meeting, the girls wanted to sing one more song. The harmony of these voices will forever be remembered, no music, no drums this time, just beautiful voices! As we said our goodbye to the girls and were walking from the room, I reached down and grasped the hand of one of the girls. She had the biggest smile on her face and the entire room just started laughing and yelling with joy.
We were walking back to the car and as we passed by the window of the girls classroom, we heard the them yelling "Mommy Jan-ise, Mommy Jan-ise!" Talk about warming the heart! They were so precious. We will never forget the expressions on these faces.
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