SO LET ME JUST TRY AND EXPLAIN THE WHIRLWIND THAT HAS BEEN THE LAST WEEK OF MY LIFE.
Saturday- Left debrief in Nairobi, where we found out our coming home date (December 5th!), and our new teams (I'm on the exact same team as last month for the rest of the race!), and drove to Arusha, Tanzania.
After arriving in Arusha, we met our contact for the month, Pastor Mapande, who informed us that there were no more buses that day to our final destination of Singida, Tanzania. So we piled ourselves, our pastor and all our bags into a van which took us to a hostel somewhere in town. After getting rice and some undenifiable part of a chicken at a hole in the wall restaurant for dinner, we had a somewhat successful meeting in broken English about our minstry this month. Door to door evanglism for two weeks and working at an orphanage for one week. This is the first time that the world race has been to this part of the world.
Sunday- At 5:23 AM we were awoken by the pastor loudly knocking on our door to make sure we were ready to go. After a 6 hour bus ride from hell through the middle of the savannah, we arrived at the first real town we had seen along the way. But once we arrived we were blessed with pleasant surprise after surprise. We are staying at large house with beds, closets, a cook, running water, lots of space and wifi!
Monday- Spent the morning getting copies of our passports so the government can keep tabs on us. Spent the afternoon visiting the church and the area we would be working in, visiting the pastor's home and the homes of a couple of the church elders.
Tuesday- First day of ministry. Caught a dala dala (public transportation) to the church and started door to door ministry after meeting our translators and praying. A good majority of the families in the area we are working with are Muslim, but the people are very friendly and willing to have us talk with them. However they almost always say with a smile, "We were born in Islam and will remain in Islam!" After evangelism we walked the 2 kilometers back to the house for lunch. After lunch we caught another dala dala back to the church to do more evangelim.
That's when things began to get crazy. At our second house Trena, Caitlin and I started talking with an older Roman Catholic woman. She believed in Jesus but wasn't saved and wanted to be. She also asked us to pray for a pain she had in her stomach. After she had prayed a prayer of salvation with the pastor's wife, Janet, we began to pray for her stomach. After about a minute, Janet nonchalantly told us that the woman had a bad spirit and that we needed to pray it out. We all stared at each other and the woman for a few moments, but had no option but to keep praying. After a few minutes Janet tried to get her to stand up, at which point the woman went stiff and fell over. More praying. After another few minutes she opened her eyes and was able to stand up. She told us the pain was leaving. Somewhat in a daze, we prayed over her house and went on our way.
Wednesday- Second day of ministry. As we made our way to the church I wondered if there would be any "bad spirits" that day. Upon arrival we all watched the pastor pray over a young girl in the corner. She proceeded to pass out and apparently be delivered from demons as we waited for ministry to start. At our first house, while we were busy talking to a woman who wanted to be saved, seemlingly out of nowhere a man walked up who told us that he was from Kenya. Over the next couple of hours we simultaneously casted demons out of the woman and heard the story the young man. We brought the woman to the church to the demon-casting-out corner where she proceeded to growl, cough and struggle until she was freed from both the demons and her physical pain and began to dance around the church with the pastor's wife.
This young Kenyan man, Samwel, had been walking around the area because he had nothing else to do. About a month earlier his friend had tricked him into coming to Tanzania with him. He told Samwel that they were going to purchase bulls, which are much cheaper here apparently. Instead his friend took him to a witch doctor in town as a sacrifice so that he might receive wealth and good fortune. By God's protection, the witch doctor had decided not to kill him as a sacrifice, but rather let him live there. He had been able to find some work teaching, but school was out and now he had nothing to do but walk around the village. He wanted to accept Jesus and go to church, but he was scared because of the witch doctor. He had tried to go to church, but many of the same people who went to church also went to the witch doctor and he was scared they would tell her and she would kill him. But when the other lady was receiving salvation, he had prayed the prayer as well and we were able to encourage him and praise God with Him for protecting him and bringing him to us.
We returned home for lunch expecting to go back out after, but the pastor was too busy. Spent the rest of the day sleeping, working out, having a lesiurely team time, watching Get Smart and saying "my life is nuts" about 50 times.
Thursday- Third day of ministry. Took a dala dala to church in the morning. Talked to people. Prayed over homes and families and sicknesses. Cast out more demons. Dodged our translators to pray over a man and tell him he didn't have to go to church to be a Christian and that Jesus loved him no matter what. Prayed over an old woman with a bad foot. God healed her on the spot and she began to dance around. Played with children. Took pictures.
In the afternoon Trena and I went back to the church to meet a couple of our translators, the pastor's wife and our friend Samwel who was waiting there with all of his belongings: one plastic bag with some papers and an extra shirt. We then all walked him to the bus station where we were able to buy him a bus ticket home to Kenya for the next morning. "Samwel, are you excited?" "I can't even believe that this is really happening."
Friday- Fourth day of ministry. Prayed with more people. Played with more children. Took more pictures. Contemplated a time in my life about a year ago when I barely gave a thought to the spirtual realm and didn't spend my days in dusty huts praying demons out of people.
Dragged my tired, cracked feet home. Collapsed on the floor until dinner. Had dinner and team time and watched 3 episoded of Modern Family with my team.
Saturday- Day off. Spent several hours uploading pictures and figuring out how to explain the last few days of my life in one blog. Ate a lot of chapati and rice. Worked out. Sent a very important message concerning plans for after the race (blog to come). Did absolutely nothing else.
My life is nuts. I'm sorry if stuff about demons and people getting healed freaks you out or makes you think I am crazy or making things up. But this is my life and I think I am having just as much of a hard time believing it as you might be. Please be praying for my team because this month is awesome and amazing, but it is tiresome, stretching and just plain nuts!
