Joseph’s
Story
Let
me introduce you to Joseph. I met him just the other day when he came to our
house to be our translator for the day. I had heard of him from some of the
girls on the other team. I heard he was on fire for God and had a heart for the
Muslims in his area. I didn’t know his story until that day, and I was so
moved. He told me how he had been stoned for his faith, his church had been burned and he’d been in prison. He told me how all he wants to do is be a missionary and he shared his dreams with me. I admire this young guy and told him he needed to come to America to be a missionary. He laughed, but I was serious! Joseph is 22 years old.
told him I would be sharing his story with you and I hope you are moved by his
faith and love for Jesus like I was. Here is his story written by him for me to
share with you.
I was born in a very rich family, Ma
father was forced by his parents (my grandpa) to get married to ma
mother just because His first wife was barren. And according to our
tradition which is popular in many African countries one can marry more
that one wives and live with them together…… eg i know someone that
has 8 wives living with them together at the same time.
By that time non of the members of the family ware true a Christian.(We were a religious family) Ma
mom gave birth two three Kids (Joshua, Yusuph & Boaz). We Lived
with peace and me with ma brothers took our studies in an International
school at Kenya. Every thing seemed to be like Paradise.
But in the year 1998 ma mom got saved (Become a spirit filled
Christian). And according to the Bible its restricted being a second
wife while the first wife is still alive. So she decided to separate
with ma dad because of her new faith in Christ which non of us new
about it…………… But ma dad did not want ma mom to leave, he
wanted to live with her as her second wife something that ma mom
rejected.
At the beginning it seemed like there was no any problem, but in
2000-2001 problems began. My dad started treating us very bad in order
to
put ma mom under pressure so that she may reject her faith. But she was
firm. so Ma dad sent us (Me and my brothers) out of the House…He even
tried to KILL US. I can say he treated us as if we were not his own
sons. VERY BAD. I can remember one day he took off all of ma clothes
and pulled me in the streets naked………. He did this thing only to
pressurize ma mom to get back to him. My Lovely Dad sent us out of the
House so for some days we had to sleep in streets, We had no
option than finding our mam in order to start a new life with her. She
was living at Mwanza town almost 400 Km from the town we lived.
Life was very hard coz ma mom had no any job, She told us God had
called her in a ministry of Praying. So she had to spend more time in
prayer……. I can remember her sometimes fasting for 7days without
eating or drinking anything. Anyway we Loved her and in ways that we don’t know God provided.
Little by little i was interested in knowing more about my mother
faith, so i started attending to the church with her….Her Pastor
spent more time teaching us about Jesus and what he personally meant in
our lives.. And in June 2002 I personally accepted
Jesus in ma life too… and after a short time my brothers also
accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior like I did.
I had to quit with ma studies to find a job but couldn’t find .
sometimes we had to go to bed without food. Life was miserable the
better thing is that our hearts were filled with the inner peace that
Christ provide for us. after some time i was hired where i was paid 2
Dollar per day which helped us have only dinner. The days that i didn’t
work then we had nothing to eat.
Our dad continued following us, i can remember one day he wanted to
shoot ma mom, but God saved her….he also tried to kill us but God was
our shield. we feared not anything except Christ our Lord…
Its a very long story/very painful…..I can remember Sometimes we
had to sleep in streets because we had no money to rent the house, I
though i would have died in those moments, although our father
abandoned us but till to date Jesus has never abandoned us.
Am happy with the way God is using me in populating His Kingdom,
With my eyes i have seen more that 5000 Muslims accepting Jesus as
their Lord and Savior in many Islamic villages i have taken the Gospel
here in Tanzania. I have passion for Mission, Hope i spent the rest of my life doing Mission.. Hallelujah.
