Plans and steps

A man's heart plans his way, but Jehovah directs his steps.
Proverbs 16.9 (MKJV)

As I have mentioned, there are not many regular days here in Africa!
And I hope there is not for you either, a regular old day can be boring.
To me even if there is nothing particularly "exciting" a day serving Christ
is full of fun, adventure, challenge. Well then there are days that are exceptions,
like Sunday (that would be May 24).
It was a pretty rough morning. I awoke early (also going to bed a little early
to compensate), well that is my alarm went off and I turned it off early and struggled
in bed for some minutes, and then awoke, needless to say though it was still early.
There was a workbee at the church, and though our hoe has gone missing I thought
I would go up to see what I could do to help. I madguiddance e breakfast, had morning devotions
and then went up on a motorcycle taxi, since I was a bit muchly late. The youth were mostly
present and working away. Some of the young guys in the church have been recently made
deacons, and they were there to help. The bee was for everyone, but especially the deacons
and deaconesses. Unfortunately the deacons held up, but the deaconesses were a bit of a
no show (that is until an hour and half after the work started). Pathfinders started nicely,
we did our opening 8 points, and then went on to some discussions on the future.
We had a bit of issues on how we were to run things. Some of them have been in Pathfinders
for a number of years but in the past there was not a solid program and no record of what requirements
for any classes. There were some different ideas on how things should be done, and
well it was a bit frustrating, they all had good points to make, but to organize all the requests together
is a challenge. With the younger kids we were washing the "A" or formal parade uniforms.
I have tried to get the uniforms very organized, but it has seemed to constantly end up
short. So hopefully with the boxes that are now set up everyone will have their clothes permanently.
After all this I was pretty tired. I went home, but also stopped by a friends house to say hi,
he was up high in a tree bring down mangoes. We chatted a few minutes. I got home and made lunch
and after some rest decided to head up to look at some homes to rent. We have been trying
to get our landlord to fix our roof, but it has bee difficult, the repairs are pretty major, and
if it is not done soon rainy season will be upon us! So we are looking at other options should
we have to move. I was told of some places up in the higher parts of Nati. Nati is very long
and narrow since it is situated in a long valley, so from the main highway it does not take
long for one to start climbing up the side of the valley. In the eight plus months I have been here
this was section I had not visited and it was really nice. The other side of the valley is too steep to build homes, so the
houses end at the commencement of the incline, but here the slope is gentler and all of sudden the town became
peaceful. There was little noise, the sky was blue, without asking God really refreshed me! I never really found
the house, but the walk was real nice. I thought of a name maybe "Cloud City", like the Jetsons living up there in
the atmosphere. It was pretty neat-o. I was sad to come down actually.
On the way back home I stopped by Fidard's house. He was not there but as I left he was coming, so I went back with
him to the house. We talked. He showed me this movie he had watched about a corrupt priest in Rome. He said
afterwards he is questioning life, is there really nothing after the grave. He always believed that the soul
goes to Heaven, but this movie seemed different. I explained to him about the Biblical concept on death, and also
that you cannot believe movies, though it may be a true story, that doesn't mean it present absolute truth!
It was just a perfect opportunity I asked him if he wanted to study the Bible more. He was very happy about that.
He went on to tell me about the problems he has had the last few weeks, how he cannot sleep at night because he
feels a heavy presence on his chest, and even during the day sometimes he is feels heavy and cannot move. Only by
prayer does it go away. I told him about the spiritual conflict we are in. He has done much to leave all the fetish things
behind, but I thought I would ask him if there was anything still in the home that might be a connection
from his father's past to the fetish, and he should me the altar. The tv cabinet has always been up on stools, but is
because in the corner of the living room, behind a big flat calender is a bunch of little stones, each one placed
to represent someone's death, and his father would often pray to the little stones for help. Since his father's death,
Fidard has had nothing to do with them, but has known what to do. I suggested we get rid of it. He agreed. So we set
a time for the next day. (We did not do the getting rid of because I talked with Suzy and she amply pointed out that
we would sweeping the house clean for perhaps worse spirits since Fidard, has really not commited all his life to Jesus,
ie he still prays to the virgin Mary, does confessions, things pretty similiar to fetishes, thus I talked to him that we
should study first and when he understands and accepts we can get rid of those things, but of course we can pray for
the mean time). I went home wondering how the whole day happened. I had not planned having a challenging pathfinder
meeting, being refreshed up in Cloud City, meeting Fidard and starting Bible studies, but somehow as I had commited
that day to God he had simply lead each step! And to top it all off, when I visited Suzy that evening she had made
cinnamen (that's not spelt write is it?)rolls, a real treat.