So, we have been in Nkhota Kota, Malawi for almost a week
now, but there’s a story that I have yet to tell you about from Nkhata Bay. A
man named, Gideon, you know the man from Judges who holds the true 300 story!
Our first day of going to get internet someone had to use
the restroom, respectfully called toilet here, if you say bathroom they will
take you to the shower. When we went, since I didn’t have to go I sat in the
toilet office. In most places the bathrooms are not for free, so for 30
Kwacha(two dimes) you can use the toilet, so naturally there is a man who runs
the toilets, cleanin them every morning, leaving his village at 5 and returning
home around 6 or 7. I sat in the office with this man.
I have no clue what came over me but for some reason all I
wanted to talk to him about was the Gospel and news of Jesus Christ. So I asked
him, “Gideon what do you know about the “Gospel” about the “Good News.”” He
definitely didn’t understand the terms really so I plainly asked him what he
knew about the Bible, about Jesus.
Behind a smile of nervousness Gideon replied, “umm I don’t
really know. I know the laws.”
“The laws?! All you know about Christianity is do this and
don’t do that?!” I asked in disbelief.
He answered with a simple yes. 10 rules of what not to do
sounds horrible. Hey come join me, here’s a list of the things we can and can’t
do. Sounds great doesn’t it? Not!
I began to tell him about Jesus, his life, and how we can
have life, the new covenant, how Jesus breaks through our crap and saves us.
For some reason I just started telling him how his Father feels about him. How
he has a light inside him that God himself put in there, among other things I
can’t remember because I just started goin off! Julian came in and started doin
the same thing, it was awesome, God spoke things into life and He does the same
thing through us! I then asked him if he could read the bible and he said he
didn’t have one. I didn’t really feel lead to give him my bible but I knew
exactly what I was gonna do.
The next morning at 5:30, Julian Sutton, Robby Smith, and I
headed out to make a trip down to the toilet office. It’s a 3 or 4 mile walk to
this place but soo worth it. As we walked we literally prayed to God for eachother,
over Gideon, over our teams, and over our ministry. I felt like little kids
walkin down the road to go play, and on our walk all we did was talk to our
Dad. Pretty cool stuff. Since Gideon expressed a desire to read the Bible I
figured he wouldn’t mind us droppin in at 6:45 to read with him.
We got there and Gideon, was still cleanin the bathrooms so
the three of sat, prayed over the area, and began our own little Bible study in
front of the office. Romans 8 is straight ridiculous. All I have to say about
that.
After about 30 to 45 minutes Gideon invited us into his
office. He was excited to have us there, his smile said everything. And I
handed my bible over and Gideon started to read in John. We would stop every
now and then to be able to explain everything. His reading of English wasn’t
the best, but the fact that a random guy I met yesterday wanted to read in
front of me felt huge. I would never have the guts to do that. I can remember
sittin in 5th grade class and DREADING the fact that the reading
line was creepin up and I had to read next. I would with my finger on the
paragraph I knew I had to read and I would read it over and over until it was
my turn, completely ignoring what the other kids were reading. Haha not too good for reading comprehension.
Sorry Mrs. Walker!
I only got to do this with Gideon twice while we were there,
but this is where it gets awesome! Gideon, after work would come to our house
because it ended up that we lived in the same village, Sentechi Turn Off! No
coincidences in the kingdom of Heaven, seriously. Every night, our pastor and
his family would basically have “service” but it was just life. They would sing
songs and have someone give an encouraging word. Gideon would come to these
services! He even asked me to pray over him because he had been having chest
pains! God, have Your glory!
This kid is hungry for the word, so I’ve been prayin for a
way for him to receive an english bible and a dictionary because there is an english
service that he can attend while he works! He can’t attend Sunday services in
the village because he works 7 days a week so, that leaves the english service
for him. This is where you come into play! Simply pray with me, that’s all you
have to do. There’s already a hunger in Gideon for the Word, so where there is
hunger there just needs to be something to satisfy that hunger. Pray for
Gideon, his heart, a bible, a dictionary, a community to be a part of to get
poured into. It’s gonna happen!
