The kids in Korah ate the same thing for lunch everyday. They were given injera (a type of bread with a spongy texture and appearance that is made out of teff flour) with some kind of tomatoe looking sauce poured over it. Our team raised enough money to purchase a goat so that the kids could have some meat and protein. We had no idea that donating a goat to these kids meant that we would be going to the market, picking out a goat, putting the goat in our van, and taking it back to the village where we would be slaughtering it. Luckily, I was not in the van with the goat!

 The next morning our team arrived in Korah and the men brought the goat out and handed one of the guys on our team a machete. It took a few others to hold the goat down so that it could be slaughtered. If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE animals. The thought of killing an innocent animal made me a little nauseous. I kept reminding myself that this animal would feed an entire village; that these people were starving and needed this food. So the animal was slaughtered, cooked, and served to this village a few hours later. There is a video that I still haven't been able to watch. But, the kids were so happy when they found out that they got meat that day.

 Romans 8 is my daily multi vitamin. I try to recite this chapter, that is packed with so much good stuff, at the beginning of my day. As I was going through this the next morning, I came to the last part of Romans 8: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 This takes on a whole new meaning when you have just experienced a slaughtering! But then I started thinking about how the whole gospel had been summed up right before my eyes! That an innocent animal was sacrificed in order to bring life to a people in need. This death brought life! In this gory scene, a message of hope and love were splattered across our hearts. The suffering we witnessed had a purpose and God used it for good! The same will be true in our lives. We will experince suffering but we are "more than conquerers" in these trials. God is good and He turns everything, even suffering and death, into good. In verse 28, Paul says that for those who love God, "ALL THINGS work together for good." Jesus himself experienced suffering because He knew that we needed a way to know God. That is the kind of love Romans 8 is talking about.

 My roomate on the trip played this song in the mornings that I couldn't ever get out of my head. I think there's a reason why we get songs stuck in our heads and sing these truths to ourselves throughout the day. It was a cool moment to know that the little song that had been stuck in my head for a few days, was exactly what He just taught me in Korah. So I'll leave you with these lyrics from Kari Jobe's song, "What Love is This"

   "What love is this that you gave your life for me and made a way for me to Know you And I    confess, you're always enough for me You're all I need Jesus in your suffering, you were reaching, you thought of me Jesus in your suffering, you were reaching, you thought of me"