In the afternoons, we head out into the community visiting both the church members and the non-believers. The locals love inviting us into their home. They’re very grateful to have visitors. Most are believers and are just thirsting for some encouraging words. When I open up my Bible to give them a word, they sit at the edge of their seat. I usually tell a short story about the character of Jesus and apply the teaching to their lives. I mostly read from the Gospels, Acts, Romans, Corinthians, ect., and try and revert everything back to Jesus.
One day we walked a mile or two down a dirt road that lead to a single house in the middle of some farmland. I remember the father of the house being amazed that someone would walk all that way just to pray with him. Just our company was a blessing to him.
But, I’ll tell you, there are times when it gets a bit overwhelming. Sometimes we’ll get to a house where someone is sick, injured, or can’t walk. I’ve never prayed for instant healing like this before. And what adds to the pressure is that everyone believes that I have more healing power than anyone else because I’m a foreigner or something. I try to tell them that God gives each of us the authority to pray for healing over people. But, they still insist that it’s ME who needs to pray for healing over this person or that person. I usually tell a story of when Jesus heals someone and then I remind the person that since God is the same now as he was then, he can heal you too.
As we leave a house, the kids stretch out their arms wanting me to simply shake their hands. Ezekiel says they believe we carry "extra blessings" and they want it to spill over into them. Attempting to satisfy the cultural norm, I try to shake as many hands as I can get a hold of before we get to the next house. Just saying "bless you" means the world to them.
So, this is what we do each afternoon. We're 2 weeks in and we feel like the community knows who we are now. We still get strange looks as we trek through the farms, searching for more people to visit. But, they know why we're here and we've slowly become part of the community. Praying the 2nd half of the month goes just as well as the 1st half!
