Dear Ministry partners and loved ones,
This has been a day to remember. We began our morning leaving our place of
stay and heading out for a day of Women’s Ministry at Pastor Jerome’s Foursquare church here in Kigali. The guys took care of a few things that needed to
be done after dropping us ladies off. The day was originally scheduled for another day,
but changing things seems to be our “normal”.
God has opened doors, and we will take any
opportunity to share the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with anyone who will
listen. Amazingly here, most people are willing to listen, and are hungry for
Truth.
I know we can often say, “I have no words to describe what
God is doing.” But truly, I have NO words that would accurately describe what
the Lord did as we said yes to the Lord and watched the Holy Spirit move in
power and transform lives. There were about 60 women at the church today. The
babies, oh my, I couldn’t even count them. They were precious beyond precious
and I got the opportunity to hold and love on a few of them.
The women in their beautifully colored dresses
and their heads wrapped just so, melt your heart. Then you realize there is a tiny little baby
in a wrap on her back, which she so gracefully carries. I smile, because the
way they carry their babies makes it so they can be hands free as the walk the
miles and miles to get water, water that they carry back in a rectangular
shaped jug, on their heads. And that is just one of the “smaller items” we have
seen them carry.
It’s indescribable and truly breath taking. But these were not women
we passed by in our car on our journey up to a prison and snapped a quick photo
. No, these beautiful women were right there with us. They came to hear a word
from the Lord.
As we walked up the steps into the little church, they had
already begun singing. Their voices carry through the air and straight to the throne
room. We settled in.
The women’s leadership introduced Arlene and I, as Toni
had stayed behind today as she is still not feeling very well. Please keep her
in your prayers.
Arlene said a few
words and then introduced me and I got up to teach and share my story. I left
the US with a direction I thought we would be heading in for the women’s
conferences and trainings, but boy was I wrong. God decided to go a different
direction and so as of last night, God confirmed through Arlene, sensing the
same thing, that I would teach about the
story Joseph.
Because of the things we needed to accomplish as a team last
night I had not time to prepare. So I got up at 5:00 am, got ready quickly and
sat outside on the balcony. I prayed, read the Word a bit and wrote down a few
pages of notes. I was not done, but I knew this was an opportunity for me to
say, “ok, Holy Spirit”. This is your message and I am going to trust that when
I get up there, You will give me the words to say and I am anticipating
miracles, because I had nothing.
Indeed, that is exactly what happened. I honestly cannot tell you what all was said
in those hours.But I can tell you what I saw ....... I watched as the Holy Spirit spoke
to those beautiful women and broke them free of sin, shame, guilt, anger, you
name it! After I was done Arlene got up and to be honest , I cannot not remember
a whole lot of what was said by her either, except that the Spirit was flowing
through her and the Holy Spirit brought many to make a decision to accept Jesus
as their Lord and Savior.
There came a point where there was time for a few
testimonies. I was in tears. I am in tears now as I type. We had the honor of
anointing and praying over a few ladies. When I held their beautiful faces in
my hands, and looked into their eyes and told them that they are beautiful and
loved. They looked back and the tears flowed down their cheeks. I am so thankful and
honored that God has allowed me the opportunity to be with these women as He
ministers to the very depth of their souls.
It was hard to say good bye to these ladies. So hard, but we
got lots of beautiful pictures with them, so that we can remember their faces.
I am so thankful for this team God has put together. It’s truly beautiful watching everyone
working in their gifting and how we all fit together like a puzzle as we go out
and do the work that God has set before us.
Blessings and much love to each of you reading this blog, thank
you for your continued prayers. We love you all.
Leslie
That none would be lost,
Arlene
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