We celebrated our first Easter in Mali, and it was so much fun! Much different than how we celebrate in America, but then again, everything here is different : ). First, we have a new Journeygirl here! Yay!!! It is always wonderful to see God send the laborers we are praying for. She came Friday and we took her out to the village Saturday morning, not easy when you're suffering from culture shock and jet lag, but she did great!The African Christians here get fabric made for different occasions, such as Christmas and Easter. Africans just get fabric made for any occasion, actually. They have fabrics supporting AIDS research, celebrating Women's Day, for their school, supporting their president (complete with his picture all over it) and, as I saw today for the first time, one supporting OUR president. It was black and light blue with large pictures of President Obama's face all over it. They love that man. Anyways, our fabric for Easter was green with the bible verse "A virtuous woman is a crown of peace." What that has to do with Easter I do not know. For Christmas our fabric had a Christmas verse and pictures of the nativity, which makes since. I don't know why they chose this one for Easter.
Unfortunately, we didn't get our hair braided and our feet dyed black, ha. I was so happy, my head ached for days after that.
We did however have AMAZING food. The pastor's wife in the village is an amazing and she outdid herself. People always talked about how bad food here would be, but it is not. Ok, some of it bad, but when it's good it's sooooo good. That night, we had an African dance. We all danced a little, but when we left at 4 am, they were still dancing! It was my first real African dance, and it was so much fun. They are amazing dancers! Easter morning, we went to church and the Pastor preached on the passover and Easter, and I had my first African Lord's Supper. It was pretty much the same, except we drank coke instead of grape juice.
Being here really made me look at Easter differently. Before, Easter represented the hope that I had, that I had always known of and took for granted. Probably for most of my life I cared more about my new Easter dress and candy than I did what they holiday represented. Now I can see that it represents not only the hope I have, but also the hope that these people don't know about. Jesus died for them, and they have no idea. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for their sins, and they don't know. Doesn't God deserve the glory for what He has done? They are worshipping their made up god who can do nothing for them now and nothing for them when they die. How is it possible that 2,000 years later, they still don't know? I am so surrounded by lostness here. You are constantly seeing people facing Mecca, praying to their false god, bound by rules and lies. Many of them are honestly seeking the One True God, but they don't know where to find Him.
People at home often ask me how they can support me, what they can do. They usually want to send money or gifts, but there is something that would be so much better. God has commanded all Christians to go make disciples of all the nations. Don't wait for a special call, it's already in Scripture. Please actively seek where God wants you in His plan to reach all the nations for Him. Right now it might mean walking down the street and telling your neighbor about the gospel, it might mean going on a mission trip, working with internationals, or even moving overseas. Please be open. Don't waste your life living for yourself, be where God wants you to be, do what God wants you to do, no matter how scary it is. God deserves the glory for who He is and what He has done, and millions of people are dying without ever hearing the gospel. That would be greater support to me than any money or gifts or encouraging words.
