A pretty sweet day!

I'll be honest when I say I can't actually comprehend this day quite yet. The day started out a little rocky with facing a couple of disappointments but ended with some pretty sweet things. The afternoon started like every other Sunday with the kid's Bible study at 2 and then the girl's Bible study at 4, but there were a few things that made it amazing!

One of the things that made today so awesome was that the kids asked me to quiz them like we had done last night - I just started in Genesis chapter 1 and went on from there asking them random questions about what they have been taught over the past several months. I then informed them about they were able to get baptized next Saturday after the youth conference if they were ready that they should talk to me if they're interested and I kind of passed by it without thinking much would come of them coming and talking to me about it later. Well...after I had finished teaching the girls, I had a drove of my kids come and say they wanted to talk about being baptized. So I sat them down one by one and asked them about their understanding of baptism and questions pertaining their salvation. One of the guys I teach, Ochi, is 11 years old and has the world's most amazing smile! As I was talking to him about baptism I asked him about if he had ever truly given his life to Christ and prayed for Jesus to be the master of his life. He said no, and then I asked him if he was willing/wanting to pray to do that. We've talked about this over and over before and I've given them all opportunities to do so if they had not already, and this time he finally said yes! I had been praying for that kid for a while now and can't believe that I was able to be here to witness that part of the fruit God was producing! I was almost in tears at dinner afterwards!

On top of that the teaching with the girls went really well! We just ended up hanging out and talking and didn't start the actual Bible study until about an hour and half later than usual. There were three girls today, and these three are probably the most mature out of all the girls who have come, so it was just neat getting to continue growing in my friendships with each one of them. We then studied the end of Acts 3 where Peter teaches the crowd after the guy was healed. I didn't think I was going to get so convicted from going through this passage, but especially the emphasis that Peter put on repentance really shook me. Repentance is a word I hope most Christians hear on a fairly frequent basis (although I'm pretty sure these days they don't). Repentance acknowledges that there is something wrong, that there is something that needs to be turned away from, and that above everything else- YOU ARE A SINNER! Even those who have been walking with God for years, still have sin they need to turn away from and that's what got me - me, a missionary, has sin...SIN! That needs to no longer be a part of my life! The internal dialogue that was taking place in my mind as I was approaching that part of the teaching was "oh no God! I know I have sin, but really...it's not like the 'sin' we all think of as the really bad kind." I wish I could say I was lying, but it really was what was going on in my mind. Then God really hammered into me what it means for us as forgiven and cleaned sinners to return to the sin we know so goes against what He wants for us and what sin, even sin that in our mind is a small as something like gossipping, is still filthy, retched, nastiness that smells putrid in the holy nose of God.

Anyways, there you have it, between Ochi's praying to accept Christ into his life and getting the smack down during the girl's Bible study made it for a pretty intense bu awesome day!