not our plans...

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21 ESV

We had ministry plans while our team from Olive was here. They were giving Trey the opportunity to reach out to the surrounding community, to make our presence known there. He was going into the surrounding area, talking to people, sharing Bible stories, making connections, and letting people know he was showing the Jesus Film on Thursday night. Things went well. There was a village to the north that was welcoming and inviting. There's potential there. Everything was good. There was nothing bad about that week...

Registration at first village

Trey with Chief

And then Friday came. Friday morning we set out with the team to host an eye clinic in that village to the north. It was great. They were grateful hosts. Such sweet people and children. My heart broke as a little boy asked me what we were doing here. I explained to him it was glasses for reading and that mainly older people would need them. He looked at me and asked if we could fix this... pointing to his brother's club foot. That's a reality here. There are lots of medical needs and we can't fix all of them. I told him no, but that we would pray for someone to be able to come and help him. And then we continued to talk about their life. The team did great! Everyone who came to get tested for glasses heard the gospel. And all who heard, said they want to follow Jesus. I, being skeptical, don't believe that everyone truly means that... but I know that I know that I know they clearly heard the Gospel that day. And because of that eye clinic, we will be welcomed back with open arms. And we will be going back there.

Andrea checking glasses

Rachel & Tiffany testing eyes

Registration at second village

Friday afternoon we headed to a village to the south, one that our friends at Arbre de Vie have connections with. On the drive we passed a teenage girl walking the opposite direction of us wearing a Baptist shirt. We stopped and talked with her. We were shocked to see her since we knew there was only one Baptist church in this very vast area. We asked her about the church and she said we would see it if we continued ahead. So we continued. And we came upon a teenage guy wearing Baptist cloth. Again, we stopped. Shocked. He was going to same direction we were, so in a very African fashion, we told him to hop in the back of the truck and we'd drop him where he was going. As he got in a moto passed us carrying the teenage girl and her parents... going in our direction. We were confused and excited all at the same time. Finally we reached the church. Ashley, driving the car in front of us, pulled over to make sure we didn't miss it. We stopped, thinking we were dropping our new Baptist friends off there. They said no, we're going with you to the eye clinic!

Danny checking eyes for a pastor

We continued to the school where the eye clinic was being hosted. We got everything set up and then had a minute to talk. Trey quickly realized the two pastors had been at two of his trainings. Before when they told him where they were located, he hadn't heard of the town, so he wasn't able to keep the place in his mind. The teenage boy speaks great French, so he assisted us in the eye clinic. The pastors jumped in and helped share the gospel to everyone who came through. I spent time talking with the daughters and through them, talked with the wives. It was really great. It was not our plans to go to this village. It was not our plans to have someone announce the eye clinic the day before. It was not our plans to pick up random people in the village. But it was God's plan.

Kristen with pastors' daughters

Trey with pastor's son

Because of this clinic, we've developed a great relationship with these pastors. We've talked with them about church planting. They already have a vision for this and have already been working towards it. We are grateful for the opportunity to come alongside these two families in their ministry. We are grateful that we could not avoid His plans that day.

Anthony, Pastor Barnabi, Pastor Michel, Trey, Kristen, & Chandler