What a Saturday!

Outreaches come in all shapes and sizes. When Ruhtt Mbomwae plans one, you can count on something big! Ruhtt asked me to come with her last Saturday to do teacher training at Katundu where she supervises a community school. She also requested that I put together a team of sponsored students to do a children’s Bible class while I was teaching. I found four girls who were willing to go on the outreach, and we were all set.

When Ruhtt pulled up in front of our house in a 24-passenger bus, I knew there must be some even bigger plans in the works. I climbed in and joined a full crew of sponsored students from the college, most of them guys. We picked up a few more along the way and then headed up the Kabanga Road to Katundu.

We pulled off the main road and wove through the path to the village. As we broke through the last of the tall grass into the clearing around the school, we saw a huge crowd of children already gathered and waiting for us.

Ruhtt began by showing me around the school. There are currently two classroom buildings with another under construction. I asked her where the money came from to build the structures. She told me that the people in the community worked together to make the bricks and put up the walls. She got the money for the roof and doorframes by requiring each family with a child in the school to bring one chicken. She took the chickens into Kalomo and sold them to generate enough cash to finish the building project!

Ruhtt busily organized the morning’s activities. She set me up in a classroom with 10 teachers from two different community schools for a training session. She divided the huge group of children into two age groups and appointed two teaching teams. I knew she had some plans for adult Bible teaching as well, but the adults were slow in arriving. Later, when I finished my two-hour training session, I found that there were groups of 30 to 50 adults under every shade tree. Each group had a college student conducting a Bible lesson.

“Since you’re finished with teacher training, how about doing a ladies’ class next?” Ruhtt asked. Next thing I knew there were 75 ladies in front of me and I had a translator helping me teach a lesson on Jonah.

At 1:00 all the adults were gathered in one spot for a final sermon. A fiery preacher from a nearby congregation kept their attention. Several responded for baptism, so we all formed a line as we walked through the tall grass down to the river.

When we returned after the baptisms, it was after 2:00 and I was sure Ruhtt must be ready to load up and head home, so I went over to stand in the shade near the bus. Soon I noticed the crowd forming lines and saw four college guys coming off of the bus carrying huge sacks. Ruhtt finished the day with a food distribution project—each family got a plastic bag full of beans.

We finally loaded the bus and started for home. As we bumped and rattled down the road, I marveled at all Ruhtt had managed to pack into one day! I estimated that there were at least 1,000 people there, with about equal numbers of adults and children. Ruhtt made sure they were trained, taught, and fed in a single outreach effort.