Within the last 3 weeks our small village has had 3 suicide attempts. Students have been taken out of school and put in a room, watched around the clock. They send the students to Bethel for more treatment if necessary. How do you convince young people that everything is going to be okay when their friends and relatives are giving up on life? How can you encourage them to persevere when they have little to no chance of building a life outside this dark and gloomy village? What do you say to a 14 year old when her older brother tries to kill her? What do you say when a student confides in you and tells you her parents are alcoholics, they’ve been gone for 2 weeks and she doesn’t know when they’re coming back? CPS isn’t exactly an option here. By the way… these are not rhetorical questions. If you have suggestions, I’d love to hear some.

Prayer is powerful and I do talk to God daily. I’m asking you to PLEASE pray with me. The natives are angry, hurt, many are lonely and scared… it’s times like these when I feel inept. I know this is where God wants me and I trust Him. But I’m only human and I don’t want to let these people down. I am definitely not a talker and therefore feel even more negligent. But I know too that it’s not always good to talk. :) What God has already demonstrated to me in His ability to equip the called proves I’m not going to freak out and fall apart, but that doesn’t mean at the moment I have no idea what I’m doing. Just typing through my thoughts here…

The truth is, I’m useless on my own. When I feel like breaking, it’s GOD’s strength that allows me to keep going. The truth is I don’t know how to do what I’m meant to do. I don’t know what to say to these broken people. I don’t know how to comfort them or ease their pain, or heal their broken hearts. I don’t know. I just know God wants me here and I know he equips the called whenever HE is ready. Trust and patience. I can’t make it without Him so my only option is to trust and be patient.