Story Time!

When doing hut to hut evangelism, we are often invited into the hut to pray over the home and the family living there. It was a few days before we left the first tribe (Tangi Ta Tu) and we were told that there was a very sick woman in the next hut who heard we were there and begged us to come pray for her. We made our way to her hut and soon realized that it was much too small a house for all of us to enter. I volunteered to go in along with one of my team mates. We walked into the house and it was pitch black; I literally couldn't see my own hand held out in front of me. I used my ears to determine what was going on in the hut and realized that the woman was lying in her bed, moaning and crying out in pain. Our translator explained that she was paralyzed from the waist down and she was in great pain all the time. She had also just given birth to a baby 3 days earlier. The translator said that she woman was crying out in Maasai "Remember me God". It broke my heart. We laid hands on her head and began to pray for healing in Jesus name. I begged God to bring her peace and comfort and healing. And while she wasn't healed of her paralysis immediately, I could sense peace come over her. She was quiet and seemed to be resting. She thanked us very much for coming and we left the hut shorlty after. I continue to pray for this woman even though I can't pronounce her Maasai name. The Lord knows her and has a plan for her.

The kids in Tangi Ta Tu ADORE white people. A lot of the younger children and babies are afraid of us at first because we are the first white people they've ever seen but most of the kids just want to be around us constantly. I was walking one day with my team of 4, doing hut to hut evangelism and a young girl (probably about 9 yrs) was watching over her families cattle. She saw us coming and ran up to us so excitedly. She grabbed my hand and grinned up at me. I introduced myself with the little Maasai I knew and learned that her name was Din. She had a great time trying on my sunglasses, looking through my journal and bible and had a strange fascination with my arm pits (the kept lifting up my arms, poking my arm pit and laughing hysterically as if it was the funniest thing she'd seen all month). I had to leave her soon because we were walking on and she had to stay with her cattle. As I was saying goodbye, she looked at me and said in English "You are my friend!!" I smiled right back and agreed! "Yes, Din, we're friends!" I never saw Din after that small encounter but I continue to pray for her and smile every time I remember her.

The first day we were doing ministry in the second village (Meru) I recieved an extrememly encouraging reminder that God IS with us here and He does have a plan for each person we come accross. We were walking along a highway (no, really. Cars speeding past at 70 mph…pretty exciting.) stoping to chat with the people traveling on foot. We would introduce ourselves, explain why we were there and encourage them with scripture or a story that the Lord laid on our hearts. (At first it was really tough for me to get into this type of ministry because I don't like to be the "typical missionary" that shoves Jesus down your throat right after they learn your name. But after learning a lot about how the culture works here, I see that this type of ministry is very fruitful. God works in MANY different ways) We were speaking with a group of men and our translator asked if anyone had a passage to read. I had my bible open to a verse that I was planning on reading but my team mate spoke up a little sooner and began to read. As it turns out, he read the EXACT verse I was planning on reading and he had no idea I was going to read it! Obviously God had something for those men to hear that day. I was so encouraged after that!!

African Christians LOVE to sing and dance. Especially at church. And what they love even more is inviting the visitors from America to sing and dance in front of the congregation! This came as a bit of a surprise to me that first Sunday when out of the blue the translator announced "And now, the visitors from America will perform three songs!" So, our team takes the "stage" at the front of the room and stumbles through the first three christian praise and worship songs that came into our heads that include motions (waves of mercy, Lord I lift your name on high, Mighty to save). After this happened a half a dozen more times as we visited schools and such, we decided it would be a good idea to plan songs ahead of time and even rehearse them! We are definitely not a choir and we don't sound like one. But we have learned to enjoy the times we are invited to sing and dance! One of the pastors we were working with in Tangi Ta Tu even wrote a song for us! He wrote it to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat" It goes like this: "Row row Jesus name (repeat)  to the ends of the world (repeat) for the salavation of all! (repeat)" We had fun with that one.