So, I realized a while ago that I usually just blog about what is going on with me spiritually, emotionally and/or physically but I haven’t really shared with anyone what ministry in Africa is actually like! So, let me do that! (I can only tell a few stories, not every single one! That would take forever…)
Africa in itself is an “adventure”; You never know what is going to happen and they are on their own time.
Uganda was my first taste of what African ministry was to be like: PREACHING and EVANGELIZING all the time.
In Asia, it was different because we were really able to build relationships with people and share with them what we believe. In Africa, you have a 5-10 minute window to say everything that needs to be said and pray that the Lord moves. Many of us struggled with this because we felt like we were just shoving what we believed down people’s throats. The first couple of days we were pretty rusty, I know I was. It wasn’t until one day at a hospital where I met a 12 year old girl that I realized how the Lord was going to use me. She was sitting outside her hospital room, head down and not looking at anyone. I approached her with my translator and I just started to ask her questions about herself. This 12 year old had just given birth and the baby didn’t make it. We started to get more of her story but she still wasn’t looking at me. After a while, she started to ask why I was there at that hospital. I told her I was a missionary from America, that I had been traveling for 7 months so far and that I was sent by a man named Jesus. She didn’t know about Jesus so I told her the Gospel and told her how He sees her, as beautiful. Right when I said that, she looked at me and actually smiled. I went on to say about how He sees her in her pain and how He just loves her and that’s why He sent me to her. As I was speaking, her caretaker came out of nowhere. Apparently she had been listening to all of this just inside the room. She came up to us and told us she wanted Jesus to come into her life and into her heart. I told her that we were going to say a prayer, but the words of this prayer are not what going to save her. Words are nothing without a willing heart behind them. Then we all bowed our heads and prayed.
Preaching in every church service imaginable actually was easier to me than I expected. African churches are lively! Music is blasting and EVERYONE dances. After preaching one Sunday, the pastor went up after I sat down and basically started doing an “alter call”. But this alter call wasn’t full of tears like the ones I’m used to and not nearly as serious. People started coming up saying that they wanted to be saved and everyone started yelling, clapping, singing, dancing and truly rejoicing! It was amazing.
Kenya was COMPLETELY different than Uganda when it came to living conditions. We went from a small town in Uganda to the middle of nowhere in the Rift Valley of Kenya yet the ministry was the same: Evangelize and preach.
Instead of going door-to-door like in Uganda, we went hut-to-hut in Kenyan villages.
One morning, a teammate and I went off with our translator to go speak to the surrounding homes. We had been gone for a couple hours in the scorching hot sun when we came across a girl who was sitting outside. Our translator went right up to her and she invited us into the home. I felt the Lord quickly say to me, “Ok, say only what I tell you to say”. We sat down in a room about the size of a closet while this young girl just stared at the ground. I began to just tell her about why I was there. She never heard the Gospel before so I was able to explain to her who Jesus is and why He sent me. Then I heard “Tell her she is not alone”. I told her “You know, I just feel like you should know that He sent me here to tell you that you are not alone. He sees you and He loves you.” BAM. Water works. She went on to tell us that she was 20 years old, she lives in this house alone and has no family. After a while, she said something to the translator and our translator looked at us and said “She wants to know Jesus”. So, we all prayed and we invited her to church then we wrote down her name and gave it to our contact so he can visit her again. After that, every service she was there sitting in a seat worshiping the Lord.
And now Tanzania:
I think Tanzania is probably the most beautiful African country out of the three I’ve been too. Though, the Rift Valley was pretty gorgeous, here in Mwanza, I live next to Lake Victoria and it is also called the “City of Rocks” because there are mountains and huge boulders everywhere. Ministry here is relaxed though. Our contact has had 12 World Race teams so far, so he knows how everything operates. He found out that we are in month 9 so he goes “Oh! Than you will be tired than!” and has allowed us to rest whenever needed. Ministry is still the same: preach and evangelize but this time we have English classes thrown in there.
Church services here are by far my favorite. They might be a little over 5 hours long, but there is so much joy in that room it’s hard to not smile and rejoice even though you might not know what they are saying. There is so much dancing its crazy and I have met no man who can dance and move like an African man.
As I’m writing this, my time in Africa is almost over. We fly out to Europe on March 30th.
Africa has been a challenge for sure. I think I’ve hit a new level of exhaustion that I didn’t think was possible, yet, I needed Africa. I needed the Lord to take me through what He did while in Africa. There are parts of me that needed to be chipped away and for new things to grow in its place. Though I’m pretty tired, I feel stronger.
There is no place quite like Africa.
