THE JOURNEY TO BENDUMA

In January of 2013 I spent two weeks in the rural regions of eastern Sierra Leone, on the continent of Africa. On a mission to go and share in word and deed the love and kindness that has been shown to me by the boundless grace that is Jesus Christ. While there I saw my God on the move in Sierra Leone- a place that can certainly be described as home to the “least of these”(Matt 25:45). Sierra Leone, which was the subject of the movie “Blood Diamond”, ranked second from bottom in the 2006 U.N. Human Development Index due to a nasty decade long civil war which left the country with 50,ooo dead and 2.5 million displaced. The stories of the wreckage are far more reaching than words can express. But despite horrific circumstances and substantial carnage, hope is gathering momentum.

    Within the first few days, a few of us, led by our fearless leader and indignant missionary, Simon Baker- one of the most sincere men of God I’ve ever met- and head of an organization called the Great Commission Way which works to bring the Gospel to the parts of Sierra Leone “where nobody goes”, made our way to the most rural of regions in Sierra Leone: Benduma- about 12 hours from the port city, Freetown. And to my surprise, I met a vibrant church equipped with hungry hearts to know their Christ. As I spent a few days with them I realized their pressing need and one of the reasons God had brought me there. The people of Benduma and the villages that surround them, due to lack of opportunity, simply put, cannot read. There is no school within hours of their village. And therefore they lack the ability to share in one of the greatest graces of the Christian life- the personal study of scripture. They desire to know their Christ better but His love letter to them remains at arms length as long as they can’t read it. “Hands in the Harvest” is a vision to raise money to build a school there and continue to meet ongoing needs of these people riddled in poverty. Upon returning to the states in 2013, Hands in the Harvest through the fund-raising platform indiegogo.com raised the funds necessary to build the Hands in the Harvest Primary School which will be finished by September, 2014 and start teaching students in January of 2015. As recent as April 2014 I once again returned to lay the foundation stone for the school which as of this writing has begun being erected.

The school will teach about 40 children of Benduma to read Kissi (their native language and one of the languages the scriptures have been translated into) and English- which they will need if they are to enter university. In the future our hopes are to expand the school into offering secondary and high school grades and create adult education opportunities. So this school would help them to have the gift of reading. But, even more so, to study like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) what they are being taught and continue to encourage each other to lives of continuing holiness.- to know their Saviour more intimately. My ultimate goal for them is that. My ultimate goal for us is to continue to affirm in our lives that one of the true joys of our salvation is found in giving out of what we’ve been given to the “least of these”.

One last thing…When Jesus made His first public reading in Luke 4 His text was conspicuously this passage from Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” May His heart be our heart. I’m not asking you to give any more or less than you can but I am sincerely hoping you will give. I hope you get your kids involved- show them the animated short film so they can see what we’re doing so that they can start keeping up with the “Hands in the Harvest” project and hopefully begin developing a heart for those in need. I will be diligent to keep up with updates of how the building process is going so you can keep your family up to date and in prayer for those in need. Also, please tell others- share that opportunity with people so that they can experience the heart of Jesus as well. In the next two years I will return to Sierra Leone, hopefully shoulder to shoulder with a few of you. What a sight it will be, by God’s grace, to see a people in the corner of the world enjoying God’s Word because a few broken vessels joyfully gave of the many blessings they’ve been given- thank you for your help.