As we have traveled around the world we have heard many stories from the people we have met and we have been a part of many stories. Many stories pass in and out of our day and never truly stick. However, there are a few stories from Tanzania that I would like to share with you as they have impacted me as well!
Our pastor in Tanzania has a rather powerful testimony. He learned about Jesus at an open air meeting and shortly after accepted Jesus in his heart. When this happened his parents were furious at his choice to truly follow after the Lord. At the time he was 14 or 15 and his parents were so frustrated that they began to beat him and withhold meals from him. Multiple times he was even kicked out of the house – with no where really to go. Despite how difficult the next 4 to 5 years were for him, he continued to place his trust in Jesus. Our pastor never gave in to his parent’s disapproval; rather, he continued to fight for what he believed in. After leaving his parents out he was able to go to university and bible school and has always been provided for! He has never gone without food, clothing or shelter; everything he has needed has been provided to him. His life is really encouraging to me about the provision of the Lord and the dedication to persevere under difficult circumstances.
The first night I went to preach at an open air meeting I saw something I had never experienced before; the manifestation of a person who was demon possessed. The pastor has asked anyone to come to the front that wanted prayer. As we began to pray and lay hands on people this girl began to convulse and scream. Even I wasn’t sure of the authenticity of her actions except that 5 minutes later she was still flailing about, obviously she had lost control of her physical body, and her voice went back and forth between hers and one much deeper and menacing. A group of us surrounded her and began to pray. Unfortunately there was not unity amongst those of us that were praying for her. After almost 2 hours her parents decided they didn’t care what was going on and wanted to take her home. As we tried to stand her up her body was still flailing and she had no control of her movements. She could not even walk, they had to carry her, and it was devastating. It reminded me how real the spiritual battle is in our world today. It reminded me how important unity while praying is. Though that was the only manifestation I saw, my teammates saw several others and theirs all had much more pleasant endings; of the demon leaving the individual.
This month was mostly preaching, but one Sunday Lamar and I had an opportunity to visit a hospital and pray for people. I was super excited. Pastor Benjamin guided us to visit some church members and friends of his (this hospital was HUGE and there is no way we could pray for everyone). After praying for the people he knew, we went out on the balcony to look at the city. While we were out there we happened to see a few more patients and one of them began talking to pastor Benjamin. Just like we had done many times we prayed for this man and his arm. We saw Pastor a week later and he told us an amazing story. Pastor had gone back to the hospital on Monday and went to visit that man again AND his arm was healed! YAY praise the Lord! Overnight this man went from not being able to move his arm to having full range of motion! It reminded me that the Lord does hear our prayers and the Lord does here. It was also a great lesson about how God’s plans are not always the same as ours. I find very interesting that the person who was healed was the man we had not known we were going to pray for 🙂
