There are only a few things a person gets to experience once in a lifetime. Those things that only come around every once and while, and if your lucky, you get to be a part of them. I got one of those chances this past weekend…I got to go to the “bush” (basically the middle of nowhere in Africa) and preach the Gospel to the people that lived there as well as the Masai people (a tribe in Eastern Africa that at one time was very well known for sending out their boys to kill a lion to become men). It was an amazing experience that I will never forget! It was definitely growing, but God really used the days we were out there to grow me in my spiritual life with Him and how I spread the Gospel to others.
Once again, we spent a few hours on some crazy African bus to get to the “town” we would be in for the next few days…more like one store amongst many mud huts. I will be really excited when I can take a plane again to get somewhere, but until then, I am thankful that God continues to get me safely to where I need to be. I have to say though, the landscape in Tanzania is truly breathtaking. It is so beautiful to see how untouched the land is, just as God made it. It really makes me appreciate how creative God is and how his creation is so magnificent! Even to see as many stars as I can see out here because there are no lights to interfere is truly amazing. I just thank God that He has allowed me to see so much during this year.
We spent four days going from mud house to mud house to make relationships in the community as well as preach in a few of the local churches and share Jesus with everyone. This was definitely a whole new type of evangelism that I have never done before, but it will certainly be one that I never forget. It was great because one of the best ways to build up my faith is sharing it with others. As believers, I really feel we make our faith stronger by speaking it out with other believers and people that don’t know Jesus yet. We are able to tangibly put how and what we believe into words and make our testimony that much stronger.
Not only did we get to share Jesus with a lot of people, but a few of them actually came to Christ too! Even though it can be frustrating talking through a translator a lot of the times, it was so good to see people respond to the message of the Gospel. We were really blessed by the people there so much! Everything from getting us a donkey cart to take us to church to making sure we had plenty of ugali (not my favorite, but very thankful to have food to eat) or mandazi (African version of a doughnut) to eat. My spirit felt very tired after this weekend, but also very refreshed. God is in the biggest cities and in the smallest middle-of-nowhere place in Africa too. He truly holds everything. I really pray that the seeds that were planted this past weekend grow on fertile soil and that they truly see how much love God has for them.
