JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world!  From the first step off the plane, a child will catch your eye.  Children are everywhere!  They may be walking hand in hand with an adult, they may be carried on the back of a woman or another child, or they may be all alone on the streets.  You cannot look anywhere without seeing the face of a child. As we walk down the street, we are met by many that have their hands outreached, or patting their bellies to let us know they need food.  And then there are those that will run to us with a smile on their face, reaching out their hands for us to touch them. 

One of the things we brought with us were bags of candy.  It is so satisfying to see the little hands reach as you place a piece of candy in them.  They all bow as they take it, and say "Asante" (thank you).  When we walk out the door each morning, you would think an alarm goes off!  The children run to the fence, or come running up the drive way.  When we come home, you can expect the same scene!   You would think they had just received the biggest wrapped present on the planet! 



Gideon



Yesterday, we visited Gideon Nzwalla at a clinic outside of Mwanza.  Gideon is a son of Moses, and he had requested that "Mama Janice and Pastor Eddie" visit him while he works.  He is a receptionist, and a very handsome one I might add.  We drove to the clinic on narrow, washed out clay roads.  The clinic was located on the slope of a hill.  Gideon came running down the hill when he saw us, so happy to show us his work place.  When we walked in the front room, it was lined with people waiting to see the doctors.  Gideon was anxious for us to see his desk, where he signs the patients in and keeps the records for each patient.   I'm still pondering on his filing system.  The files are all in several piles in what we would consider a bookcase.  They are hand written with a name and a number.   He has a method to this madness I am sure, but my mind can't wrap around what this method could possibly be.  I didn't even try to get him to explain.  He then took us to the laboratory.  There sat a woman at a small desk.  In the front of the room was a table, with a microscope & other medical supplies.  A laboratory?  I'm looking  around the room, and unless there is a hidden door, I don't see a sink, nor do I see a faucet of any kind.

How can they possible sterilize anything?  There are no rubber gloves hanging on the wall, no scrub shoes or hair cover on this woman.  The woman greets us with a typical Tanzanian "Jambo" (hello) and a handshake.  She turns back around to finish her work as we leave the room.  We walk out of this room through a doorway - without a door.  How can this possibly be?

Gideon walks down the hallway and knocks on a door.  He was introducing us to one of the three doctors.  He greeted us with a smile and "Karibu" (welcome).  He didn't speak English, so this visit lasted only a few short seconds.  No need to continue with conversation that neither one of us could understand. 

We then walk down a dark hallway, with rooms on each side. Gideon walks in a room that has two beds, one under a window and one pushed against a wall.  Lying on both the beds were little babies.  I would think they couldn't have been more than a year old.  Their mother's were sitting beside them.  One of the babies had tubes attached.  The mother's looked so sad as they sat there with their children that were suffering from Malaria. 

As I stepped into this room, the compassion for these children and their mother's overwhelmed me.  I couldn't step out as I had so quickly done as we had visited the other rooms.  Tears began to flow and I felt an urgency within me to touch these babies and pray for them.  I asked Gideon if he would ask  permission for me to pray.  Both the mothers sat back and reached out their hands as if to say "Please, please help my child".  I could only pray in the spirit as I touched their little heads that were burning with fever,because I didn't have the words to say except "you shall live and not die.  God please touch these children.  Give them life so they can grow to serve You."    You may think that I am acting out of emotion at this moment, but that is far from the truth.  I know the healing power of my Jesus.  I have seen healing miracles may times.  The Word of God says "the prayer of faith shall save the sick".  I stand on this promise and I believe it.  So it is with this power that I know is within me, that I have this need to touch these children.   I may leave and never see them again, but I leave believing that yesterday was the day their mothers will remember as the day that their child was touched by the healing hand of Jesus.