This one particular day I was partnered up with Tangi and our translator, Innocent. It was our second house that day and we ended up talking with 2 women and 2 men from different houses, but they gathered in the yard to meet with us. The women were Muslim and they just laughed at everything we said. The men (David & Francis) both listened carefully as me and Tangi began explaining to them why we have left our homes to travel this year… we explained what we believe about Jesus and the Bible. We told them that when Jesus died on the cross, it was to offer the gift of salvation. We are offered forgiveness of sins and eternal life. I used Ben’s analogy and said “If I hold out 10,000 Shillings to you and tell you it’s a gift, you can believe it’s a gift, you can see it’s a gift, you can even tell people about the gift…but it’s never yours until you actually take it from my hand and receive the gift. Jesus is holding out his hand and offering you this gift of forgiveness and of eternal life…will you receive it?” They both said yes, they both accepted the Lord! We invited them to the church for Bible Study that afternoon and to church on Sunday.
Now, in my door knocking experience in Africa, I’ve also noted that many people are very friendly and tell you things they don’t always mean because they think you want to hear it…not always, just sometimes.
On Sunday morning, David (who is 18 years old) showed up to the church and I was completely blown away at what the church did. Pastor Albinus & Mr. Sanga (an elder in the church) were able to talk with David and found out his story about how he accepted the Lord a few days earlier, and they embraced him and introduced him to the church, they prayed for him and they assigned him a spiritual father in the church to help him grow in his faith.
Innocent, our translator, who is also the Praise & Worship leader at church is just a few years older than David and immediately befriended him.
David gets regular visits at home from the pastor & many others.
David also started coming to everything that was happening at the church. You could see how much he felt appreciated and wanted in this new found family. He would come over and visit us during mealtimes at Sanga’s house. When we said goodbye to David we had the opportunity to pray for him, especially in the area of funding for his schooling. I just found out today that the day after we prayed over him that he received the full amount of tuition that he needed for school!
