Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...

Hello!

A few things I totally forgot to mention when I squeezed in time to blog the other day! I’ve been on Tanzanian radio! And I got to meet the city Mayor! It was all very random, as it usually is in Africa! So the children and I were playing outside after lunch, when I was supposed to be putting them to bed, and 3 cars drove up and parked outside. A group of Muslims came and introduced themselves to the children and I and went inside with the orphanage director. Visitors do come regularly so we continued to play as more and more people arrived. Then they asked to speak with the staff and children and were recording what was being said. Then one of the men came over and announced himself as mayor of the town. I genuinely had no idea if this was a joke or not but thankfully decided to believe him and introduced myself. We had a lovely little chat and the staff were all giggling and excited about him being there. Then I was asked to take the children out when they recorded speeches for the radio programme. Afterwards the children sang for them and everyone began to leave.One of the guys called the children over to him and began to sing, "Head, head, head" over and over again. The children stared blankly. Then he asked me to join him at which point the radio crew brought out their recording equipment again (and video cameras this time!!) And I began also to sing "Head, head, head!" I had no idea what was going on. Then he proceeded with the well known song, "Head, shoulders, knees and toes!!" Well known yes, but such a surprise at this moment in time. So we did three renditions of the song, actions included whilst the children laughed in hysterics. And then they all clapped when we finished. And then I even got a "Mzungu clap" (white person.) So it was all very funny. But to sum up, I've been on African radio and met the Mayor of Arusha!

I also had the opportunity to attend an English speaking service on Sunday at a church about 15minutes walk away. It was really great and I am glad the orphanage director took the time to find it for me. The speaker was speaking on faith being a verb. It was a challenging sermon about how it is not enough to say the right things and have the correct answers if we are unwilling to live them out.He told the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18 and the people putting their trust in the Baal gods. They battled it out on top of Mount Carmel and of course the true God was all powerful by burning up the sacrifice. The speaker focused primarily on the end of the passage about how we kept sending his servant to look for the raincloud despite the drought. He told Ahab to go home before the rain comes. The faith that he had resulted in action. And so in our daily lives it is good to have knowledge but we must strive to be living for God in everything we do and have the faith to take action.

I'm speaking to the children tonight in devotions so I must go and prepare. I'm planning to do the Gospel in colours. The attention span of some of the children is short and so having a translated talk is going to have to be energetic and enthusiastic to keep them listening. So please pray that they would remember and take in what is being said and taught to them. Hopefully it will be a fresh reminder of God's love for us and our need for salvation.

Sarah