DATE:  August 20, 2017

Wednes­day this week found Bawana Leader, Car­l­i­tos Jorge, and our MELUCO food dis­tri­b­u­tion team in the Ele­phant Vil­lage where 119 orphans live. While the team dis­trib­uted the food to the wid­ows, Car­l­i­tos start­ed play­ing games with the chil­dren. Word spread like wild­fire and by Bible Les­son Time, 163 chil­dren had showed up to play “Bawana” Games  and hear God’s Sto­ry.   For Melu­co, we now call it “MAWANA GAMES”.

As soon as Car­l­i­tos arrived back in Bala­ma he jumped from our food truck to tell me an amaz­ing sto­ry. THE 50+ CHILDREN FROM LAST MONTH TOLD HIM THE CREATION STORY he had taught them last month! This is AMAZING since they only heard it one time!!!!

These are the same chil­dren that a month ago didn’t even know  “God had cre­at­ed them and tru­ly loves them!” We know that God is mov­ing in the hearts of these chil­dren who are tru­ly fer­tile ground.

So we have a prayer request.

We have tried for 3 years to get a church start­ed in this vil­lage, but were unable to get ANY TRAINED PASTOR to live there. Why?  Lack of food, scared of the ele­phants,  and no decent mud hut avail­able are the most com­mon rea­sons giv­en. But all that can be orga­nized if we can find a per­son with a will­ing heart.

AFTER 2 MONTHS of search­ing this year, no young man in the Ele­phant Vil­lage wants to become a trainee. We con­tin­ue to pray and search for a Pas­tor, or a “trainee” who is will­ing to start a church in the Ele­phant Vil­lage. These chil­dren are “hun­gry to know more about God and Jesus”.

Please put this need on your prayer list and help us find an enthu­si­as­tic youth leader or cou­ple will­ing to live there, teach God’s Word, and love on these children.

LARRY FRIEND IS BACK!

The much loved Bible Teacher, Lar­ry Friend, is the amaz­ing man who intro­duced “Bawana Games” to our Pas­tors 5 years ago.

This pro­gram helped us start a mas­sive evan­ge­lis­tic out­reach that now has over 15,000 chil­dren learn­ing God’s Word each week.

Tomor­row, Mon­day, Aug. 21st, Lar­ry begins a 5 day “Bible Con­fer­ence” to edi­fy and advance the train­ing of our 50+ Pas­tors and BAWANA Lead­ers who will attend.   His lessons will include new object lessons, and new games they can use to teach Bible Lessons.

We plan to talk with all these men about the Ele­phant Vil­lage need and see what solu­tion might “pop up”! It is the only time each year that ALL our Pas­tors from 3 Dis­tricts (coun­ties) are togeth­er in one place.

It will be a busy week for sure, so stay tuned next week for “the rest of the story”.

Bless­ings,

Bush Bun­ny Bren­da Lange

And the Bala­ma Staff