Nothing is Wasted!

I knew I was overdue for a post, but I did not realize how overdue. It has been a busy couple of months. We have been working hard at learning language, and I would venture to say pretty successful at doing so. The girls have adjusted to being in a school setting, though middle school for girls is just rough no matter where you are. They are all coming into their own personalities and strengths, and sometimes they clash, a lot. Life is not the same without William here on a daily basis, but we are only four weeks away from having all of our family under one roof again, provided the visas in our passports come back on time. 

Rich and I have also begun to see the purpose for which God brought us here. One of Rich’s roles will be to work with volunteer teams, which we so enjoyed helping with in Senegal. He will be serving as the urban strategist for the team, since our work keeps us in the city while all of our teammates are busy traveling, so our time in Dakar will come in handy. Another role of ours will be to work with local churches to disciple their members and thus reach their neighborhoods. We have been attending a French speaking service most of our Sundays, but we have also been able to attend Congolese churches with services in Lingala at least once a month. Rich’s propensity to learn languages, at least to greet, makes it easy for him to pick up on Lingala, even while we are still learning French. 

As for me, I knew coming into the work here would somehow relate to children. With over half of the millions of people in this city being children under the age of 18, there would be many to reach. In addition, we knew there would be street children, which we also were prepared for by Senegal. Months before our arrival, our supervisor began casting vision to the churches to improve their Sunday School programs, to really teach the children His Word. This week I had an opportunity to attend a conference to train leaders over the Protestant schools in how to transform and improve, such that God would be glorified in the schools. This is an area that our supervisor has a vision for us to be involved. Did I mention that my Masters is in Christian Education? Though it has laid dormant for a while, it seems that God has chosen this moment to utilize that degree. 

Nothing is wasted with the Lord! When you do not see why you go through something or feel like you wasted your time on a degree or living in a particular place, God can use it if we will offer it to Him. Nothing is wasted!