Winter's Chill

Although overnight temperatures had dropped into the 40s and piercing wind gusts were sweeping through the village, undeterred, 56 women gathered for our Saturday morning Discovery Bible Study. It was the coldest day of this winter season.  

The women had no coats or jackets to brace themselves against the chill, and almost without exception, they were barefoot. Each woman had only a ntenja, a  two meter length of cotton cloth covering her outer garments or draped over her head. Mothers with young children wrapped them inside this garment with only their faces peering out. No one was complaining.

Before the children's class began, a group of them, barefoot and dressed in tattered summer shorts and shirts, were huddling around a small fire of maize stalks along the edge of an open field, trying to get warm. In a class of about 45 children, none of them were wearing shoes. 

So much need, and so many opportunities to show the love of Jesus.