Are you Jackie Chan or Jet Li?

It’s a cool, crisp morning here in Eldama Ravine, Kenya. I look outside each morning and see the rolling hills of Drift Valley and I have to remind myself that I’m in Kenya, not Colorado. When we all think of Africa we envision sweltering heat, red deserts, and wild animals roaming around everywhere. But, here in Eldama Ravine, it’s the exact opposite. There are mountains all around and the temperature hovers at around a cool 70 degrees during the day and lows in the 50’s at night. It’s quite the welcoming change from Cambodia where it was at least 95 degrees plus every day. Beautiful.

 

The majority of days are spent in villages walking from house to house. We introduce ourselves, share the Good News, invite them to church and pray over them. To the non-believers we share the Gospel and present them with an opportunity to accept Jesus into their heart. The first day we did ministry we had EIGHT people accept Christ into their heart! That’s eight people that now have Jesus Christ in their hearts. But, for me there comes a challenge in all of this. With those people that we have led to Christ, how many of them actually know what it really means? Yes, it’s great that God led us there to love on them like Jesus would, but after we leave….then what? For example, if I wasn’t a believer and some foreigners came to my house and presented Christianity to me and I accepted Jesus into my heart, and then they leave; what do I do now? We don’t leave Bibles or literature, but all we leave is a memory. When I first became a believer I wouldn’t have had a good start if it wasn’t for Rachel or Jenny. I feel that these people that have just accepted Christ need some sort of discipleship in order to fully understand Christ. BUT, we must live by FAITH knowing that God led us to those people for a reason. It’s NOT up to us to have them understand what Christianity is, but for God to move personally in their life. I just have to walk away knowing that a seed has been planted in their heart and it’s up to God to nourish it and make it grow. It’s up to God to lead them to come to our church on Sundays.

 

(Traditional African Mud huts we visit during our door to door)

Door to door evangelism doesn’t sound very glamorous, but it’s very effective. We get to be face to face with God’s people and be there to answer questions or deliver hope. I look at it like going to the gym. C’mon, you all know this feeling…….you absolutely dread going before you do it, you try and find every excuse not to go and when you actually go and get there it’s hard and challenging at times, but when you’re done it feels absolutely AMAZING! That’s the exact way that I feel before, during, and after door to door evangelism. I get home with a smile on my face knowing that God spoke words through me to the people that He loves. I don’t memorize a message or repeat the same thing I say to each household over and over, but I just let the Holy Spirit lead me in what the Lord wants me to say.

We have met all sorts of people so far during our evangelism spree. We met a man who used to be violent and drunk. He used to throw rocks at Pastor Omega’s church, but through recent years God has changed him and he is now sober. I shared with him my testimony about how I used to drink a lot as well and that really touched him because he didn’t think Westerners have the same problems. He doesn’t attend church, but he plans to come to church this Sunday. The most interesting story is when we met a man named Robert who simply refused Christ because he feels that he has done too many bad things in life for God to love him. He kept saying “No, I’ve done something terribly bad that even God can’t forgive me.” We kept telling him that God is our Father and He sent Jesus to die for all of our sins. “No. You don’t understand! I used to kill people and throw dead bodies into the forest.” “I was a doctor in the military and I was given orders to inject people with poison and throw their bodies in the forest.” We explained that sin was sin. There is no sin greater than the other. Whether you steal from your neighbor or you murder someone, it’s all the same sin. It’s the same sin that disappoints God, but He forgives us because we are all His children. Sarah had a great point by asking him if he had children and he said he had two kids. She asked him if either of them did something bad, would he forgive them for what they did? He said yes, but he would be sad. Then Sarah said that’s the way that God feels towards us. Yes, He gets sad, but He still forgives us. Keryn also had a great point when she mentioned that the leader of the S-21 prison during the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian genocide) was in charge of torturing and killing thousands of his own people recently came to Christ. He accepted God’s grace and forgiveness and now lives for the Lord. We went back and forth for a while and eventually he had to step away. He came back and said he wanted Jesus. He wanted God to forgive him of his sins so he could move on with his life. Miss Emily (our translator) led him in the sinners prayer and I closed up by praying for him. We could feel God’s presence all around us as He was orchestrating every single word said and movement made. We invited him to church, but also said that we’d be willing to come visit him again at his home if he didn’t feel comfortable going to church just quite yet. God is good.

 

(Sarah and Robert)

 

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All in all it’s been a great month so far. My new team is doing quite well and I am thankful for them each and every day. The food has been FANTASTIC and our contacts are amazing. The weather is great and so is the landscape. I bought a suit to wear to church and it cost $15 USD for a handmade, custom, tailored suit from a tailor on the sidewalk. Dex and I both got one made so we finna look goooooooood for church. Uhhmmm huuuhhhmmm. J