A Memorable Weekend

It’s been fun having Doug and Tara with us. Brandon has really fit in well with the Kingdom Hikers and is very helpful when we need him. He’s very flexible and a servant, like his dad.  He even goes with us on shopping trips to help carry our bags.

The talent show was a great success. There were about 150 people throughout the day. Preparations were interesting. We had several meetings to plan the day. Hikers took responsibility for different things to do. Yashana was very deliberate about having a banner for them. She wanted  vinyl. We couldn’t find it but she was a dog on a bone. Finally she decided to let it go and gave it up. We went to town that day. As we were riding down a street we happened to see a little store with rolls of vinyl out on the side walk. We both shouted to George, “STOP! Let us out here.” What else could he do? He stopped and we jumped out and got some red vinyl for about $4. I looked at Yahshana and told her, “God loves you”. He does. She has been “wonderful” to have here. The Hikers love her because she loves them and pours herself out for them. 

Now let me tell you all about the popcorn. We were planning snacks for the kids and she, of course, wanted to pop popcorn. I’m practical so I suggested we just buy it from one of the popcorn street vendors. It’s only 10 cents a bag. But no, she wanted to do it herself. Ok, whatever (sorry ShammahJ So Friday we started. She was in the kitchen popping so I got the little bags out and started filling them. After about 25 bags she was wondering why she wanted to do this. Only 175 bags to go. We couldn’t find the stapler so we had all these open bags of popcorn on the dining room table. We finally decided to tape them closed and after about  6 hours and 5 people working on it we had 196 bags. They loved it! Ah, a labor of love.

Noah and George worked on setting up the tent. George was amazed at Noah’s skills at constructing an extension to the tent and clearing the grounds. Hikers washed the tent, cut the grass and edged the fence with only machetes, helped with the addition to the tent and other things - I don’t remember them all. 

We rented some instruments and finally the big day came. It was a great day. The kids were so encouraged as we clapped and hooted and joined in on the fun, singing and dancing all day. They gave  glory to God in everything they did. It reminded me of the days chosen were doing Winddance and Kula, glorifying God with the life He put in their hearts. It was a great day! We all came home pleasantly tired.

Sunday morning came too soon. We were all tired but ready to go again. Showers, breakfast, clean up, get dressed and we’re off by 9:30 am. Doug spoke a good word about friendship followed up by Noah, then George. We could hear Yahshana in the background teaching the kids how to throw Jonah into the whale. She sewed together bean bag Jonahs and made a fish out of a cardboard box. 

After the regular service we had a ‘fund raiser’ to raise money for a building to replace the tent. We had no idea what to expect. The ladies wanted me, Yash, and Tara to lead the ladies to give. We weren’t sure what they meant by that but decided to do a dance to ‘Sing to Jesus’. We practiced and were ready to go. For some unknown reason they chose Mary (Lloyd’s mom) and me to be the ‘distinguished guests’, put a tag on us and seated us in front. Then they started calling up different groups of people to put money in the basket. Some came. Then Mary our priestess came up with money and a big basket full of vegetables…yes…. Vegetables, she had grown herself. 

Then Gideon started the auction. Corn went for 10-30 shillings, the cabbages went for 30 – 100 shillings, a bag of carrots for 300 shillings and the biggest take was a bunch of green onions for 950 shillings. It was all organic. My dream auction! 

Gideon kept trying to get Noah to give something. He kept refusing until finally he gave Gideon a challenge. He said he would give 1000 shillings if he and Simon, Lloyd and Kenford would run around the tent 3 times waving their hands in the air shouting Halleluia! They did it! Then Doug challenged Gideon to stand in front and not talk or laugh or smile for 100 shillings a minute up to 5 minutes. Now Gideon is only quiet when he’s eating so this was a strong challenge. He only lasted one minute.  Others took the challenge. They only lasted a minute except for one lady lasted 2 minutes. Everyone cheered and tried to make them laugh. It was fun and Fred was happy to add another 500 shillings to the basket.  In the end they raised 12,700 shillings. That’s about $140.

By the time this was over we were pretty tired and hungry. But alas, it’s not over yet. Ziporah’s husband came to church and said he wanted to be baptized so George and Noah stayed to talk to him. The ladies went home to wait. When they finished talking to him they came home at about 3:30 pm pretty tired and hungry. So we all went out to eat at Gilani’s. After we ate Tara and Yahshana decided to do a little ‘window shopping’.  We all came home satisfied.

We fought some battles this week but in the end all is well. What a good weekend this was!