Sierra Leone Day 2

I woke up this morning wide awake at 5am starving (thank you, jet lag). So I sat in the dark like a creeper eating beef jerky until I didn't feel the hunger pains anymore, and I fell back asleep. I woke up again at about 6:30 to the sound of roosters crowing...I must be in Africa. I was the first person up at 7am, which is obviously the work of jet lag, as I am emphatically not a morning person. I was expecting John and Kaysie to come to the hotel at 9am, but since they assumed I would sleep in like everyone else, I waited around on the balcony. I ate breakfast, which was fried plantains and some kind of beef in a brown sauce (both were delicious).

                                                      Pictures I took from the hotel balcony

A few of the girls and I decided to go for a walk through the neighborhood and venture down to the water.

Finally, at about 11am John found us on our walk, so the girls kept walking and I went back to the hotel. We hung out on the balcony with some of the team and Aden kept everyone entertained with games of peek-a-boo.

I kept blowing bubbles with my gum, and Aden's eyes would get really wide and then he would frown. He smiled at everyone except me at first. We concluded that I look too much like his Dad, and maybe he didn't know what to think. After awhile, John and Kaysie asked Ryan if they could steal me away and he said yes. They drove me along the coast and showed me parts of the city while I snacked on fresh cashews and played with Aden. We ate at one of their favorite restaurants...Basha's (no connection to the grocery store, haha). It's a Lebanese place that they love because they serve wraps that are sort of like machaca burritos. The wrap was good, but they put some kind of tangy coleslaw-like stuff on there that wasn't my favorite. The rotisserie chicken and fries, on the other hand, were fantastic.
We talked and visited for a long time about African culture and things going on with people back home. All the Africans smiled and were interested in Aden. We decided to go for an ice-cream, but we ran into many closed roads, closed businesses and political parades for the upcoming elections in November. John and Kaysie informed me that everyone is on edge because they aren't sure if they will be peaceful. They may go across the border just in case. They dropped me off at about 4pm at the hotel because John had a meeting.
At the hotel, they passed out paper to make prophetic art for someone on Andrew's team, as well as the name of someone on our team that we were in charge of praying for and blessing during the trip. I decided to make a picture with no one specific in mind, because I was sure someone would show up that we hadn't made a picture for. I figured I could ask God who it was for when they arrived. I saw a picture of a fist punching through the darkness with a war horse going before it like a patronus. God gave me a long interpretation about spiritual warfare and obedience, but the phrase that kept running through my head was "son of my right hand". I wrote that phrase across the top of the picture with a verse from Psalms about the Lord's right hand. I know that "son of my right hand" is the meaning of the Benjamin, and so I added that Benjamin is the 12th son of Jacob, and the number 12 is the number for government. I felt that to mean that he had extraordinary favor in government.
When the team of 7 people arrived there was one man named Pastor Benji, who we hadn't met until that night. Needless to say, I knew it was for him. We prophesied over each person for about 20 minutes each. When Benji was up I sat in front of him and explained my picture and prophecy. It was hard to tell if it affected him, but later Anthea and Ann-lis (two Sierra Leonian sisters that arranged our trip...more on them later) told us that on the ride home he was like a little kid. He was so excited about what God was doing and opened up to them in a way they'd never seen before. Oh, and it turns out that Benji means "Son of my right hand" as well. Also, Pastor Benji is one of the government-appointed intercessors for Sierra Leone, and interacts with the first lady and President. Is God amazing or what?

                                            Ann-lis receiving a prophetic picture

                                         Anthea and Ann-lis being prayed and prophesied over.

                                                            Pastor Andrew and his family

We were up really late because dinner went long and we had to wait up for Ryan to tell us which churches we'd be going the following morning. Ryan came by our room and informed Caroline and I that we'd be going to Pastor Andrew's church and asked me if I'd be ready to preach. I woke up that night at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep because I was planning out my sermon.