Things Are Happening People!

A few weeks ago, our supervisor came to town and we went to visit our people, the ‘K.’  Nick had met them once before when he came up here looking for houses, but it was Carter’s and my first trip out to meet them.  We could not have asked for a better reception!   We spent a good part of the day visiting with the leadership and watching Carter run around with all the little kids like he was one of their own.  They were so kind to our family and seemed to genuinely want us to come back and visit as often as we could.

Fast forward to last week: a team from Georgia came to spend the week with the K.  We went out to the village with them each day with our main projects being taking pictures for a pictorial directory (think church directory) while gathering the names and ages of all in each household and filming one of their rituals.  The K’s history and culture is very important to them, and the ‘leadership’ is very interested in finding ways to preserve it.  It was such a great week for Nick, Carter, and I to get to know the people better – visiting in individual’s homes and hanging around the porch at the ‘big house’ in the middle of the village.  Once again, Carter fit right in!  He was always seen holding the hand of a little K, running in and out of houses, and even laying on their beds.  One night, I hadn’t seen him for a bit and went in a new friend’s house to find him eating dinner with her children at the table! Haha.  Since we were there learning about their culture and customs all week, we asked if we could share a little about our ‘culture.’ They accepted and on Thursday night, we showed the Hope film, which briefly shares the story of Creation to Christ.  We handed out illustrated New Testaments (think comic book Bibles) at the end to whoever wanted one…which was almost everyone there!  Around 50 came to watch the film and most raised their hands at the end to say they believed it was true.  However, this is a communal culture so we have to be careful of that.  Also, they might believe something is true for others but not for the K because of their distinct history and culture. 

The best news of all (well, for us anyways) is that they want Nick, Carter, (soon) Oliver, and I to continue coming.  They want to share their stories with us and hear our American ‘stories’ as well.  We are going to go weekly at first (although Oliver’s upcoming birth will put a slight hiccup in this plan) and then go from there.  Amber has also started talking with the lady who is the head of the women's organization of the K about having weekly meetings where one week Amber shares a craft and story from her culture, and the next they teach a story and craft from their culture.  What an amazing open door!   And this Sunday, we will be spending the day and eating a special meal there for Mother’s Day.  Things are happening and we are so blessed to be a part of it!