Being away from home for even a couple weeks has taught me a lot about who I am. It has helped me to step into the potential God has for me. It means not staying silent when it would be easy to do so. It means following the Lord's voice no matter what. It means encouraging and building up my teammates when they feel down. Its means that God tells me who I am. It means that I dont walk in the ways of my past, but that I live in God's present glory.
This past week, we as a team have done hospital ministry everyday from 4 to 6pm. We have prayed over people of all ages and all kinds of hospital wards. It has been super challenging for me. Pastor Steve from Deliverance has encouraged us that God is sovereign and in praying for sick, we are simply being obedient to what God calls us into. The first day there, I got to pray over a couple patients in the Men's Ward. There was one guy there that really hit me hard. His name is Stephen and he is 16. He was in the hospital because he had malaria and also because he has consistent seizures, which led him to falling into a fire and getting severe burns. He also cannot walk because of a leg condition. When I first prayed over him, the Lord was really telling me to lay hands on his legs and pray for healing. Unfortunately, I didnt. I was scared. I was scared of looking weird. I was scared of what my other teammates may think. The next day, I purposefully went back to Stephen to pray over him again with my friend Hannah from the team. I layed hands on his legs and prayed over him and God really hit me hard. The only way I can describe it is that God showed me his heart for Stephen. Not to mention that the first day we prayed over him, he was almost unconscious and didnt comprehend that we were praying for him (his Mama explained everything to us). The second day he was awake and told me he was feeling fine in Swahili. The third day…… he talked to me in English and was able to use his arms to pull himself up to sit. God is so good, man haha. Also, his Mama, who spends the whole day in the hospital with him was so encouragted by what God is doing. I could just see it in her face and in her smile.
Things are going pretty well here in Busia. Some of us got to play soccer with some Kenyans on Saturday. USA 1, KENYA 0 wooooo! All the street kids call me Mzungu Mandevu aka Hairy White Person haha. Continue to pray for me and my team. Pray especially for our health, the enemy is definitely trying to throw us off by getting people sick, but it isnt going to work. Pray for the crusade this upcoming week, it is going to be crayzayyyyy.
Love you all,
Nate, Nathan, Nathaniel, the Prophet (thats what the Pastor calls me), Mzungu Mandevu
