In February, our children assembled hygiene kits as a service project. These hygiene kits are given to students that come from far away to attend the International Evangelism Centre in Salika, Tanzania. At the Centre, these students prepare to be church planters and pastors to a number of countries in East Africa. The relatively few supplies—all fitting into a 1 gallon Ziplock bag—are a tremendous blessing to these eager, but often impoverished, students.
This project allows us a wonderful opportunity to discuss in chapel just how richly we are blessed, and that there is always something to be thankful for in the midst of our struggles in life. For many of our children, uprooted from their homes and working through some very difficult issues and matters of relationship, it was a healthy reminder that they, too, have something to give. They could see in a very tangible way that they had been blessed to be a
Bishop Eliudi asked the children, “Which of you wants to be a pastor or preacher?”
blessing.
In a special chapel attended by Bishop Eliudi, the founder and president of IEC-Salika, the children had an opportunity to connect a little with the culture and language of Tanzania. Bishop Eliudi then shared a brief message with the children, asking them if any of them wanted to become a pastor, teacher, or chaplain in order to share God’s love with others. A number of children raised their hands, but I am not sure they were prepared for what was coming next…
Bishop Eliudi called each of these children, in turn, to the middle of our circle and asked them, “What message would you preach when you become a pastor?” And, the question was not rhetorical… he was looking for them to share something–right then and there! Here were some of the messages from our children:
- “I would preach that God loves everybody and that he loves them no matter what!”
- “God loves you and you should praise God!”
- “I would share about the story of Jesus getting baptized and the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove.”
Clearly, the children have been listening and learning in our chapel times together! At Intermountain, we feel it is important for the children to learn compassion, empathy, and the positive sense of self that comes from giving oneself in service to another. From the spirit and the energy that flowed from our chapel service with Bishop Eliudi, it is hard to argue against the therapeutic power of service and acts of kindness and encouragement.
A big thank you goes out to the many Intermountain staff that donated items for the kits we made. I am also thankful for Sami Butler for her help in arranging the visit on campus. A grand total of 32 kits were assembled, each with a special note of encouragement from one of our children to the student that would receive one. We closed our time together going around the circle, with each child praying for the student that would receive their hygiene kit and reading a word of encouragement from the postcard they were going to include in the kits they had assembled.
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