My time schedule for the day:

*  Enjoy a morning home with the fam and prepare for guests.

*  12:  Hosting Bible Study “Fellowship” at our house.

*   3:   Leave for Pastor Valentine’s Widow Outreach Event that is supposed to start by 3.

*    6:  Arrive home from Widow Outreach and play with kids, get them ready for bed...and

*    9:  Attend the South African Rugby Party while the kids sleep soundly with Rita watching

          them.

 

Reality:

*  We did enjoy the morning and had fun preparing for our fellowship guests.

*  12:15--my BSF leader arrived.  We spent the next half hour calling others to remind them to come.  Most arrived by 1:30 and everyone left by 2:30.

*  3:40--The associate pastor arrived at our house to direct us to the location of the Widow’s Outreach Event.

*  5:30--The event actually began.

*  7--I slipped on a rock and cut the arch of my foot on a sharded Coke bottle.

*  8--The time we finally got home, having left before all the food was handed out.

*  8:30--Nico threw up...changing our evening plans.

 

So the day didn’t work out exactly like we had planned, but it worked.  It was great getting to know my fellowship group better.  The women in my group are all in my age range.  It’s a great group of women!  It was fun to hear more about them personally aside from the material we were studying.

 

Pastor Valentine’s Widow’s Outreach Event was wonderful!  It was a grand idea to have the kids stay at home with Rita during this long event.  Pastor Valentine started the independent Tower of Refuge Church and has focused heavily on putting the Word with Deed.  This particular outreach was to show the local widow’s that this church is living out the Word.  They gave the women rice, beans and gari and extended an invitation to become part of the widow’s fellowship group at their church.  Within the church fellowship, they have been teaching sewing skills in order to empowering these women to provide an income for their families.  It was heartbreaking to see so many young and old widows in one place...I can’t imagine the stories each person sitting there must have to share.  In spite of the sad situations many of these women have experienced,  it was beautiful to see the church in action being the hands and feet of Christ fulfilling scripture to “to look after the orphans and widows in their distress...” (James 1:27).  Beautiful!  The Daniel Center is working alongside pastors like Valentine to encourage this very thing.  Mike has been primarily working with pastors, who then go back to their churches to apply this living out the scripture.  It was rewarding to be able to sit in on the application.   And incredibly exciting.

 

photo:  Mike speaking to a portion of the widows who came to the outreach.