weeks and God has been moving in us all! As a team, we are learning how
to live in love and community, living out the body of Christ. Yet It
has been amazing to watch as God has placed specific areas of interest
and ministry on the individual team members hearts and minds. For
myself, the hospital ministry has been my favorite. Three weeks ago,
when we first went to the hospital, each team member was given the
option of the area of ministry inside the hospital they wanted to work
in that day. As the opportunity arose for two of us to work with Somali
muslims, my heart jumped and I knew it was the area I wanted! I was so
happy when I was one of the two and have been blessed to work with
Dororthy and her husband Thomas, the Somali translators/chaplins, for
the last three weeks. Dorothy and Thomas have been such a blessing to
me! The first day together, Dorothy sat Judson and I down and gave us a
quick Islam lesson, specifically Somali muslims. Somalia is a very war
torn country with three different parties ‘in control’ and is a very
closed nation to Christianity. But the Lord is working in mighty ways
especially through Kijabe Hospital. Many Somalis come from Somalia to
Kijabe hospital, even though it’s a Christian hospital, because the
Doctors and nurses have a reputation of being fair. It’s amazing to see
God work in this way!
Even though many Somalis will openly declair hatred toward the
western world and Christianity, they come here because they know the
doctors will not lie and cheat them like in other hospitals. This has
created an amazing opportunity for sharing Christ’s love with this very
unreached nation.
The first two weeks of ministry in the hospital has been a lot of
observation on my part, learning the very different ways the Somalis
interact and trying to learn a little Somali at the same time. The time
was good, and necessary for myself to sit quietly and learn. But this
last week, Wednesday the 7th, God gave me the opportunity to speak.
I had spent a good amount of time over the last two Wednesdays with
a mother and her three year old daughter, Leila, from Somalia. Leila
walked over a mine on a road outside of Somalia’s capitol city about
two months ago. She now has her right leg amputated at the knee, but by
the grace of God the doctors were able to save her right hand through
many reconstructive surgeries. On Wednesday her mother and I had an
amazing conversation. It started with her asking, through a translator,
what encouragment I could offer her during this difficult time. That
opened the door to an hour and a half long conversation about Jesus and
Christianity. I was able to share my testimony with her and she, in
return, told me of Islam. She spoke very passionatly about her religion
and I could feel it was from a caring spirit wanting me to know the
‘truth’ about Islam. The main differences in our discussion were this,
that Jesus was God and that you can know that you will go to heaven
when you die. That it is possible to have an assurance of where your
eternity is spent, and peace beyond understanding while on earth. Even
though she did not agree with my faith, I am praying that something
that was said will stay with her and that she will one day meet her
savior face to face. I count it the greatest honor to have spent that
time with this women. She told me at one point that if she was seen
speaking to me like that in Somalia, she would have been killed. Please
pray for this dear woman, and the other Somali men, women and children
at Kijabe Hospital. Please pray that myself, the rest of the team and
the staff of the hospital would have the utmost in wisdom in sharing
the gospel. We count it a joy and pleasure!
As I write, the team is preparing to leave tomorrow morning for an
eight hour drive north to live with a Maasai tribe for five days. We
are all very excited and can not wait to update you on our adventures
with the Maasai when we get back! God Bless!
