This week we went to a small town
called Mkata. The town is 90% Muslim and visiting witch doctors is
common practice. We drove 6 hours to serve with Bethany Church,
holding seminars and open-air crusades. We were blessed to get to
stay on the floor of a YWAM preschool classroom, away from the dirt
and siafu (biting ants that will eat a live chicken….).
Technically we didn’t play anything but
a few card games this week… but there were some MVP’s. I want to
highlight 2 key players: Tomina and Solo.
Tomina Slevin
Age: 26
Hometown: Roseau, MN
Sport: Listening to God’s Voice
Position: Children’s Ministry
Seminar started on Thursday morning and
Tomina and I were slated to be the speakers. Tomina was going first
and upon entering the church and seeing the large numbers of children
in the congregation completely let go of the sermon she prepared and
began a children’s ministry. She sat on the stage and brought the
children forward to tell them about the Good Shepard who loves them
and leads them. They learned a song and it was adorable to see them
all singing (adults joined in for the song) “I just want to be a
sheep”.
Later that evening as we listened to
the Lord two of us heard that Tomina was supposed to continue
ministering to the children each morning. She would be the only one
to have to preach three times and she took that challenge on with
joy. Each morning she brought out an incredible sermon for the
children,outdoing the one from the previous day. On Friday she had
them act out the drama of the flood including children playing the
rainbow that is the promise of God. Almost every child had a part and
the adults also got to be reminded of the story and God faithfulness
at the same time. The last morning she brought everything needed to
plant a bean plant and had the kids each add something to the pot to
explain how God provides.
There were about as many kids as adults
in each of the seminars and she did not neglect them. It was amazing.
She saw a need and met it, with God leading the whole way. She heard
Him prompting her to serve them and she did. There isn’t Sunday
school in most African churches and to see these kids learning about
God was incredible. She was an MVP. She served half the congregation
while the other 4 of us served the other half.
Eliakimu Solomon “Solo” Mollel
Age: 30
Hometown: Bomagombe, TZ
Sport: Serving God
Position: Comic, translator, and YWAM
leader
guess I will start with what I will remember most about him- he loves
the Lord, follows His prompting and is absolutely hilarious. He spent
the week making five wazungu (white) girls laugh hilariously. There
are two men who are in charge of the outreaches, Leonard and Solo,
and this week Leo had class so Solo took us to Mkata. In four days I
have laughed more than the last four weeks.
He is quick to listen and follow God as
well. If God told him to continue worshiping even if it meant the
service would go over time, he led the congregation to do so. As much
as we joke around with him we also have been blessed to have some
amazing conversations about Tanzania, the culture and God.
He also constantly served us. He woke
up early to get our breakfast from town. He carried the guitar to
service. He reminded us to drink water. He got our sweet preschool
room set up for us too, we are never in want when we are with him. He
is also our translator every time we speak in church, with a church
member, with an Islamic girl, with the old man who dances during
worship (any time we speak with anyone really). It is humbling and
such a blessing to get to serve along with him this month.
Six of us went and served this week,
and it was incredible. I have never felt so close to the voice and
heart of God as I did this week. All of us had a week unlike any
other in the last 4 months. I don’t want to discount what the rest of
us did, but I just wanted to highlight these two. Love and miss you
all!
