Our first day of ministry was at church. We were split up into about 4 groups, each group going to a different church. Preaching, teaching and worship were the three things we were expected to do. African church is a lot different than Canadian church, I like it 🙂 Our worship compared to theirs seemed like funeral music. They are all so free and passionate in the way they worship. Jessica and Andrea did what we thought was the teaching and preaching, Tyler and I shared our testimonies and we all sang a few songs. When we thought the service was about to end our contact, Pastor Gideon, turned to us and asked who was doing the preaching. WHAT! Thankfully he was ready to preach because we had done everything we had prepared already! Giving my testimony went pretty well, I had about 3 different translaters up there with me at one point cause they couldn’t understand my accent. It helped that there were only a small amount of people there. The church met in a small building made of tin panels which did not deflect from them praising their Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit was so present. Just goes to show that the church is not the building and needs not fancy buildings, instruments and sound systems.
Door to door evangelism is one of the main things we’ll be doing while in Busia and probably all the time we’re in Africa. Because I’m in charge of helping plan meals for the week and doing the shopping, I’ve only gone door to door once so far. Quite honestly I was really nervous about going and talking to people about Jesus. I don’t always know what to say but thankfully God is in control and when He wants something said He uses us who are willing. We had a lot of deep conversations with people, I was surprised how much they were willing to share with perfect strangers. They invited us into their homes and lives. Many were so grateful to see us and welcomed us back anytime. Most of the people we talked to were already believers but needed some encouragement in their walk. It was wonderful to encourage others by sharing what God has been doing in our lives. The Holy Spirit was so evident in one of the places we went to. This lady was telling us about how her husband was an alcoholic and she had to provide for her family when I felt the urge to try and encourage her. Once I opened my mouth passion filled words started flowing and honestly I don’t even remember everything I said. During our prayer I also felt the Holy Spirit giving me the words to speak, I loved it!
On Friday night we had an all night prayer meeting, I wasn’t sure what it was gonna be like but it was actually quite enjoyable. We didn’t stay up all night, only until about 2:30 since we have been trying to avoid anymore sickness. Our time was spent worshipping the Lord, praying and crying out to God. Andrea and I got pulled up to the front to help out with the singing and dancing which was a blast! Seeing their joy and passion so evident is incredible. They don’t worry about what people think of them as they sing and dance before the Lord they just want to worship Him with all their heart, mind and soul. One of their favorite sayings that we heard a lot that night was “Praise the name of the Lord!”
For the rest of the month we will continue doing church and door to door ministry, as well as hopefully visiting some prisons, hospitals and maybe an orphanage. (Fingers crossed!)
Please continue to keep teams Shakina and Redemption (the team we are working with this month) Our squad has been facing lots of challenges in the last week so please pray for health and God’s hand in ministry.
