Launch Into The Deep - Finding Faith

 

The Daisy Senesie House (Or the Pink House) gather to walk into Lunsar.

How do I describe my recent Ubuntu Explorer Journey to Sierra Leone?  There are so many wonderful memories in my thoughts and my heart.  Can I possibly help you to see what I saw and feel what I felt?  Impossible…but I’ll try to share a few instances of faith, hope and love in action.  For the purpose of this blog post entry, I’ll begin with faith and will follow with entries over the next two weeks to share instances of hope and love in action. 

I have to be honest in stating up front that my faith instances are about challenge and testing, but I guess that is how faith forms.  There were two times that my faith was tested.  The first was when we were traveling to Kono to visit international ministry projects that United Methodist Women supports.  We got a late start and ended up traveling a very bumpy, red dirt road in the dark.  We could only see what the headlights revealed in front of us.  Riding in the back of an SUV, nothing could be seen out the side windows.  Weariness started to creep into our journey after seven hours on the road.  We began to acknowledge the Lord’s presence and protection by singing hymns and some native songs of Sierra Leone led by the conference United Methodist Women Organization’s president, Matilda.  Soon our hearts were joyful and our weariness subsided.

All was well for about an hour until Abu, our patient driver, let us know we had a flat…oh no!  Abu stops and says we have to get out of the SUV, yes in the COMPLETE darkness.  Only the starlit sky and the scope of light from our flashlights are visible.  Although my anxiety rose again, thank God it was Advent and I could recall the angel saying to Mary, “do not be afraid.”  As fear subsided I could take in the beauty of the starlit sky and the stillness of the dark night brought a reassurance that indeed the Lord was with us.  We were back on the road in less than 30 minutes.

The second test of my faith was while attending the United Methodist Women Organization of Sierra Leone’s Annual Convention.  Their theme was “Launch into the Deep.”  It was an awesome gathering of over 200 women.  Keep in mind this is a week-long convention, unbelievable.  The second day of the convention we went on an Ubuntu day of service in a village near Lunsar, the town where the convention was being held.  It was an honor to meet a village chief, to get his permission to go into the village and share the gifts of clothing and Christian reading materials.  

Even though the chief informed us that his village was Christian, there was an uneasy feeling when we were invited into the bush.  We had visited and shared with all the households on the main road.  Now a man from the village told us there were more households in the bush--deep woods with no obvious sign of human life.  The leaders of our group,The Daisy Senesie Family, called a conference because many of us were apprehensive to follow this man, a stranger, into the bush.  Then a wise woman, Rev. Georgiana Maligi opened her mouth to speak saying, "Sisters, we said we were ready to launch into the deep; we must go--God has called us."  Hearing these words restored my faith that all would be well.  Yes, there were families in the bush and seeing their joy and gratefulness for our visit, humbled me beyond words. 

What if we had denied Christ by not launching into the deep? We would have missed being able to pray with a father and his toddler son who could not walk, to have my hand held by a little boy who felt a kindred spirit even though I couldn't speak his language and to see a grandmother's face light up as if she was looking at the face of Christ when we gave her a bag of clothing and her grandchildren some reading materials.

As we were walking back to the convention site, the reality of the day hit me and my heart was filled to overflowing.  We had truly launched into the deep and met Christ face to face.  Thank you Lord, for the faith of one among us to encourage us to trust you and launch into the deep...finding faith.

Thank you Sally for sharing your story of faith.  We look forward to reading additional posts.