We were there for two days and did door to door evangelism, a first for us. Africa is a very different culture than America to say the least. In Africa, they’re already outside and welcome you before you’ve even fully arrived. Many of the people in the village hadn’t heard of Jesus. Nor had they heard of the Bible. So we got to start fresh with God, from the beginning! There were two translators with us, one translating from English to Kiswahili and a church leader from the village translating anything they didn’t understand in Kiswahili to the villages local dialect. The village life was nice and quiet. No We also discovered while taking photos and showing them the digital images on the camera, that many of them were seeing their own faces for the first time, not having mirrors or glass. They were so excited for us to take their photos. They instantly welcomed us as family and it was a highlight to our month to say the least.
We traveled four hours on a bus out of Iringa to Mkulula Village to stay with a pastor from the Bena Tribe. He had a small church that had members from the Masai Mara Tribe, Bena Tribe and Hehe Tribe. They were working on getting materials together to start building a church on land nearby. They’re building the foundation with granite rocks brought from the hillside nearby and the bricks are all handmade from the earth and dried in the sun.
running water or electricity. Everything is cooked over the fire and you turn out your lantern before turning in for the night. Everyone in the village knows when someone new has arrived and the village leaders come to the home you’re staying at to greet you. Bicycles are your mode of transportation. Life is nearly self sufficient. They make their own tea, grind their own rice to make flour and beans, potatoes, greens, maize from the field. In short it’s a simple life that we’d both love living.
‘Ask, seek, knock.’Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.’ Matthew 7:7-8
The pastor was eager to have another team come back to stay longer with them. The next team that heads out there will be able to bring them Kiswahili Bible’s so they can read the word of God themselves!
