Ebenezer
About a week ago, we were singing a song in front of the church, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. In that song, there was the word “Ebenezer”. What did it mean, we wondered? We found out that it was the name of a rock that the Israelites set up to remember what God had done (1 Samuel 7:2-14). Israel was about to be attacked by the Philistines and in great fear they asked Samuel to cry to the Lord for help. The Lord sent thunder that sent the Philistines into “such a panic that they were routed by the Israelites”. This was only one of the many times that the Lord protected the Israelites and made them triumphant over their enemies despite unlikely odds.
At training camp we talked about how remembering God’s goodness and past victories helps us to have faith in our current and future circumstances. Here are a few of the absolutely amazing things that God has done for/through us so far:
1. Rwanda: Denied Entry
There was a lot of paperwork to do to get into Rwanda, and as the Canadians of the team, Talitha and I had to fill in an extra form found online at the Rwandan government website. Although Taryn told us this 2 weeks before our travel days, the website was always down and we couldn’t fill it out. Two days before travel day, the website finally worked. Mike, our Logistics guy on the squad, quickly called us, and as he filled in my info for me over the phone, Talitha hastily went online with our internet stick and filled out hers.
I received a confirmation email the same day, and the next day received the PDF of the letter of admission that was needed to cross the border. Talitha, however, did not receive it. Anxiety mounted as our bus ride to Rwanda drew close. Mike tried talking to border officials and to do everything he could think of to help her out to no avail. Talitha kept checking online, even trying to fill a new form out, but the website wouldn’t let her do it. It was 5pm, and our bus would be leaving for Rwanda at 10pm that night. There was talk that our team might have to be left behind at the Ugandan border (we had to pass though Uganda to get to Rwanda) until we figured things out.
Taryn called our team together to pray about it, and we prayed, giving it all to God and acknowledging that we had no control over the situation at all, but that He had the complete power to bring us over the border if it was His will. And if it was not, if He wanted us to stay in Uganda, we would also gladly do His bidding. We asked Him to glorify His Name in the situation.
We opened our eyes, feeling more of a peace about what would happen next. Then, about 10 minutes later, we heard a scream from Talitha. She was on her computer and she was laughing. Could it be…? A minute later the whole team was jumping up and down, shouting Bwana Asifiwe (Praise the Lord)! There was not one, not two, but THREE confirmation emails sitting in her inbox!
We’re so thankful to Mike and Pastor Moses (another team’s contact) for ALL their untiring work on our behalf. But we can’t deny the sovereign way in which God answered our prayers! He really did glorify His Name indeed through this situation!
It took us another hour to find a place to print our forms. So, instead of walking all the way back, Talitha bought us all rides on bicycles back to the church where we were staying. It was a good way to celebrate our admission into Rwanda! =D
2. Going to Prison
During our second week in Kenya, we had the privilege of ministering at a women’s prison. Although it was all our first times going to a prison, the Lord spoke through us and the prison chaplain and his friends liked us so well they invited us back next week to the men’s prison.
So, the next week we went to the men’s prison. The atmosphere was noticeably different than the women’s. The men sat in the grass, watching us as we were seated behind a table under the shade of the lone tree in the field. As we started off with praise and worship led by the prison men, we noticed a considerable amount of them sitting warily, not really participating.
We started off with introductions, and briefly said our names and where we were from. When it was Hannah’s turn, she surprised us by saying, “I already have a word from the Lord for you!” There is no difference between you and I, she said. We may have been born in different parts of the world, and we may have different life experiences, but we were all created by God and we all need, and have a chance to receive, His gift of grace. We moved the table away from between us. The atmosphere began to change.
Our men began speaking their messages, and one by one their attentions were captured. Ben shared the story of how Paul used to persecute Christians, but God in His mercy changed his life around. Brandon shared from his own experiences of experimenting with drugs before finding Christ.
At last, when Pastor Moses wrapped up our message, 18 men wanted to accept Christ as Saviour!! We were absolutely astounded. We know it was not our message, but God Himself who drew their hearts to know Him (John 6:44). Praise God for what He did that day!
Talitha and Taryn cutting up bars of soap to give as presents to the prison inmates.
3. Weather it Rains
“Father, we just pray that You would glorify Your Name,” we prayed. “We confess that we do not have the urgency in our hearts, that we do not mourn for the lost, or rejoice over saved souls like we should. Help us to have your eyes, your urgency, your love for lost people. Do wonders through us, that Your Name would be magnified to the max.”
It was our second evangelism trip since we arrived in Rwanda (to read more about evangelism and what it’s about, read Ben’s blog here), and Brandon had the idea to pray before we left. After all, we can’t do anything at all, the success of the whole trip is out of our control and not in our hands, but God’s. We left Pastor Robert’s house at 3pm each day, since, he said, most people would be at work until the afternoon.
We hiked up the slope to the main road and caught our overloaded-as-usual bus to its end stop, where we usually hike through a deep valley to get to our church. As we were still on our bus, it began to rain hard. We reached our stop and waited for a while, but the rain did not let up. Pastor Robert told us that it would be better to go back. With some disappointment on our hearts (especially after our prayer), we waited for the bus to turn around and reverse its route. There must have been a reason God allowed it to rain right now, we thought. As we were waiting, however, the rain began to let up! We quickly hopped off the bus and began our hike to the village near our church.
After crossing the valley, our pastor led us to a house with three men sitting in the grass, resting from what appeared to be a day of construction. At first the conversation was awkward, but like most Rwandans we’ve met, they were curious about what six mzungus (white/non-African people) were doing in their backyard. We opened up the conversation for them to ask any questions that were on their minds relating to us or to the Christian faith.
By the end of that conversation, we had talked about which direction heaven is, the differences between Islam and Christianity, whether Jesus was really born on Christmas, and why not everyone automatically goes to Heaven. When it was time to leave, several people wanted to accept Jesus, and two of them, Celestin and Shampur wanted to come to our church!
Crossing the valley to reach the church and villagers on the other side. It's a good work-out every day!
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These are three of the most memorable ways that God has answered our prayers while we have been in Africa. I’m sure there are many other subtler instances too, a prayer for strength, for wisdom, for words to speak, that He has answered on our behalf. With such Ebenezers in our minds, I am reminded to praise God for what He has already done and expect great things from Him in the future.
