The women of Mbila continue to amaze me. I stayed behind in Kinshasa when we first arrived in Congo this time to wait for a projectors from America to arrive. When I flew into Nkara, at the airport were close to 40 women who had walked 7 miles to be part of the welcoming crew.
A few days later, as I was walking to the Bible institute to teach Malachi, I saw several women in the old Bible school building. They were the same women from Mbila who had welcomed me. Only this time, they had walked all that way for a sewing lesson at the Bible school! The trek from Mbila to Nkara is 14 miles round trip, but oh so happy they were to be lifted above the doldrums of village life into a beautiful world of creativity, by sewing a skirt for themselves or a pair of culottes for their child.
My first day of teaching Malachi to these women was yesterday. The day before, I heard them give a recitation about Philippians that told me that they know that book like the back of their hand. They then went on to give the history, introduction, and main theme of Colossians, while group B was going verse by verse through Galatians.
It blows my mind with exultant praise to God to see how satisfying and completing is the Word of God to these ladies. When I visited group C, I was thrilled to see their progress as well. A few short months ago they didn't know A from Z. Now, some of them zoom through the alphabet, read and write all the vowels, are learning their consonant sounds, and read, write, and speak short sentences.
Many of them are in their thirties and forties and they work very hard and long hours to recognize and speak words. To them, the 14 mile journey from Mbila to Nkara and back each week is the icing on the cake. God bless the women of Mbila.
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