Our day in Eseka was spent mostly at a potter’s workshop.  He and his team get their red clay from the local river and first set it out to dry for 2 weeks.  Then the potter soaks the clay to remove all the dirt and impurities in the clay.  Third it goes into a larger barrel of water until all the clay settles on the bottom and finally clay to mold.  We first watched a woman create a beautiful vase on the wheel.  She made it look so effortless.  Then the boys were asked if they would like to try it.  Jonah quickly spoke up and was so excited!  He sat down and the woman took his hands and as the wheel spun the blob started to turn into many different shapes.  The finished product became a little bowl type piece.  We won’t have the actual finished product for quite some time.  Jonah loved being an honorary potter.  He has already asked when he gets to do that again.

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,  “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”  So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.  But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.  Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.  If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,  but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. Jeremiah 18:1-8 (NLT)