“I cannot read, but the Word of God has come into my life and filled my heart.”

This week we began our discipleship school in Engikaret called Taa Ya Mbali, A Distant Light, and almost everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.  Both of our cars broke down this month so we used a motorcycle to get out to the neighboring villages to meet with students and their pastors.  A couple of students showed up without their school fees.  Two young women arrived and stayed for a day only to inform us after the first day they were in the wrong place.  They thought they were coming to computer school and would be leaving that afternoon.  Two women arrived after walking over 8 hours on foot with their luggage.  However, in the distance we noticed more than just their luggage, but also their children in tow.  Quite a bit of the week was spent maneuvering our sleeping quarters to accommodate small children.  Some of the women were forbidden by their husbands to come to class, so we had meetings over tea with the men requesting opportunities for their wives to come.  Lots of things were difficulties that needed to be overcome, but none of them were so terrible as to overshadow the incredible fruit that is growing in the hearts of the people in class.  I just wanted to quote a few things that the students shared this week from what they learned.  We had a teacher from Tanzania named Immanuel this week teaching about Sin, Repentance, and Forgiveness and this is what they learned.

“I now know what Repentance is.”  Can you imagine the value of knowing repentance?  Can you imagine the difference in life between knowing and not knowing the freedom that comes from repentance?

“Other teachers will come and go, but now have laid for us a foundation for others to build on.” 

“We thank God for the words He has brought us.  We are few here in class, but we are grateful that you teach us anyway because even though we are few, we will go out and change the rest of our people.”

“We’ve learned so much this week already.  By the end, we see that we will have been built up enough to be different.”

“The reason we are here is because of God.  We have learned things we did not know.  I am amazed God has given us as women a chance to come and learn when we would never have been able to have left.  I am full of the fear of God.”

“It is not my teacher that taught me, but my God has taught me.”

And my personal favorite from this week that has been worth any number of problems.

“I cannot read, but the Word of God has come into my life and filled my heart.”