In the Bush Bush

The last three weeks in Tanzania have been amazing. I’m here with my new team, Team Clay  and I must say I’m in love with each them! (Yes Gary, Soul Ties fo sho!) Not only do I get to do ministry in Tanzania, but I live at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I mean, how cool is that! From our YWAM base, I see Mt. Kili every day and LOVE IT! Our contacts Leonard, Solo have been amazing and God has given them a vision to minister to villages using films, seminars and open air meetings as the medium. It’s very affective and it draws people from places that look desolate. In fact, in some villages it draws hundreds of people so we see God really at work.

And that unused tent I‘ve been lugging around with me for 4 months – the same tent that 8 of my friends crammed into back in Virginia to “break in” for me before I left the States is finally being put to use!  Each week, my team takes our packs and tents and heads to a different village in the bush for ministry.  If you’re looking at a map, we live in Boma Ng’Ombe and have camped in the following villages: King’Ori, Mwanga, Mkata, and Nazareth – our final place of ministry in Tanzania. This is also the longest month of ministry in one country with getting to serve in one country for  4 wks.   Each week we camp out at a different village in the bush for 4 days and do door-to-door evangelism, Bible teaching seminars, home visits, preaching, showing the Jesus Film, lead worship, open-air crusades filled with worship, preaching, and prayer, and getting to meet and encourage the local pastors in their outreach ministries, as well as meet and encourage the locals. We’ve ministered to Jesus followers, Muslims, Lutherans, Protestants, Catholics, and witch doctors alike – proclaiming the love that God has for them. We’ve learned that many Africans turn to witch doctors for healing and that some of the villages have a high concentration of people demon possessed.  But we know that where we go we bring peace because we have Jesus in us, so we bring Him into these places.

KING ‘ORI
Our first week of ministry was spent in a village called King’Ori where we pitched our tents under a tree overlooking a cool landscape. After mentally preparing for it for so long, I loved finally getting to “rough it.”  But camping in a tent has been awesome because it’s the first time I’ve had my own room since I left America.

We spent our mornings doing door-to-door evangelism and encouraging those who we met along the way. We worked alongside of Pastor Ezekiel, married with 7 kids and his church elder, Abel who’s also married but with 8 kids.  The pastor walks 2 hours daily to minister to this area. They barely have money to feed their family, but the brokenness I saw in Pastor Ezekiel and his wife Jackie (his worship leader) hit me to the core. They give everything they have out of their nothingness and trust God for His provisions. 

During the afternoons we taught at our outdoor seminar and then from 8-11 pm we’d preach the Word before showing a film.  We’d see up to 300 people come out to see the films each night and many people prayed to receive Christ and healing.

I went to a church that has become one of my favorite churches I’ve ever attended and it was under the trees of all places. This church had no frame, no brick or mortar to brag of, no sound system or smoke filled stages, no big screens, but it was filled with people who loved Jesus, who shouted with songs full of energy and joy that would make most of the  Sunday morning worship services in America sound like a funeral procession in comparison. These Africans cried out to God from their brokenness. They shared and gave of what little they had. They would offer their chickens, bags of rice, eggs and mangos as tithes, offerings and gifts to me and my team. They listened to God, they were led by the Holy Spirit, and depended on the strength of the Lord for everything – even their next meal.  I didn’t leave thinking about the amazing church building or technology and effective media used. I left humbled, energized and full of joy. I left amazed at what an awesome God I have.

This church under the trees has quickly become my favorite and an example of  what one should be.

MWANGA
Our second week of ministry was spent in what felt like the desert. Didn’t think the landscape and beauty of the last village could be topped, but to our surprise, with our tents pitched in dust, surrounded by thorn bushes – we overlooked a lake with  breathtaking sunsets at one view and at another, the site of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

We lived among the Maasai (pronounced: mah-sigh) tribe who are rich in culture and tradition.  Our days were filled
with teaching the Word of God and sharing our stories through the help of a translator during the
afternoons and showing the Jesus Film and the Passion of the Christ.

Tanzania feels like the Africa I’ve been waiting to see. Driving along the roads and seeing giraffe and zebra. Living with a tribe who have circles branded into their cheeks, wear brightly colored fabric and large flat round beaded necklaces that feel more like a hot plate around your neck than a necklace. I wanted to be immersed in the culture as much as I could so I went tribal. The Maasai ladies dragged me into their mud hut and the dressed me in their local fashion. I LOVED every minute of it too! Soon, my whole team went tribal so the village had a field day dressing us and making us look like one of them. Then they grabbed our hats and glasses wanting to look like us.  Even through the language barrier, they ministered love and hospitality to us in a way that challenged me to the core.

We started this week with only 5 of us. Both of our guys left to join up with all the other men of our squad for 2 weeks of “man-istry” among the Maasai tribe in Kenya. So, Summer, Lindsey, Sarah, Tomina and I, along with our translator Solomen, who we called Solo, headed to Mkata. 

With a 6 hour drive to Mkata and the awareness that we would be heading into a village that is full of witchcraft, witch doctors and demon possession – we began the week preparing for the worst – a place full of spiritual darkness and mentally preparing for another week in the bush which means squatty potties, pitching our tents, being nasty dirty and sweaty, wearing some of the same clothes every day, eating more starch, and more long hot days under the African sun.

We decided to let the week be full of worship and ended each night singing songs of praise to the Lord. Then we met up with the local church members and we were  rocked by their worship, their shouts of joy, their singing and best of al l- their dancing. The Africans LOVE to sings and dance!  There’s nothing like hearing the Africans sing to the sound of a drum beat and join them in dancing before the Lord. 

In the States, we go to live concerts and shout out our “woo hoo’s” to the band, we sing back each lyric to the song because we know it by heart. We dance and clap our hands because the music moves us and it means something to us.  Churches in America seem almost dead in comparison.  I don’t often see this kind of energy or sincerity of worship in some churches in the States, but that’s how it is here in Africa.

From a hill top of Mkata, we shared the Good News of the Gospel, shared our faith and love with the locals. We had daily open-air Gospel crusades and spent hours just praising God and dancing with the Africans. It reminded me of Paul & Silas while they were in prison. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were attacked and thrown into prison for their faith.  While in prison, rather than feeling overwhelmed, bitter, or discouraged – they prayed and sang hymns to God and God opened the prison doors and set the captives free!