This is a ministry story that in order to tell it I have to go back to Kenya take one and it bleeds into Kenya take two. So one day Pastor Zak and I were out doing door to door evangelism. This particular day there were seven of us doing ministry. Four wzungus [white people], three Kenyans. At first I thought we were only going in two groups, it turns out we ended up going in three groups to cover more ground. I ended up with Pastor Zak; Chase was with Ernest; and Lindsay and Dan were with John. Here is what happened with Zak and I
We walked quite a ways from the church and we were talking theology and what I learned at Grace, when we come to this compound with a blue door.
As we are approaching the door it is cracked open a little bit.
Pastor Zak looks at the door sideways.
We continue walking.
Zak looks back with an intrigued look in his eyes. [side note: at this point in the race, I have figured out what that look means. it means: “the spirit is moving and I want to go in there.”]
So I say, “Should we go in there?” Already knowing his response would be yes, but not really sure why.
So we walk back and go in the door.
In these compounds you walk in the door and then there is like a hallway with doors on either side.
Each door is to a small house/apartment type thing.
There are 6 doors in this compound.
One door belongs to a woman from the church, but we don’t stop there yet.
We begin knocking on doors.
One woman tells us to come back in 30 minutes because she is cleaning her floor.
One doesn’t answer.
The last door on the left side, he knocks, someone answers.
Zak asks if we can come in. The woman says “No, the owner of the house doesn’t let in strangers.”
Zak then just says okay we can stand outside.
We ask if she is born again.
Her answer is no.
“Amanda, give her a word of encouragement.”
I began talking about joy and the joy I have found in Christ. Not in marriage, not in family, not in education, not in work, but only in Christ.
I pray for the woman, for her friend, for some children that I didn’t really understand about because it was lost in translation.
She starts laughing at the end of my prayer. She apologizes quickly and I have no idea what is going on.
Finally Zak tells me that the reason she is laughing is because she is the owner of the house and she has invited us in. She was sorry that she deceived us by trying to get us to go away.
We come in and continue encouraging her.
I can see the Spirit moving in her heart.
I can read the conviction on her face like my favorite book.
We continue encouraging her for about an hour.
She accepts Jesus.
We pray and leave.
She came to church that Sunday. I got to see her and sit near her. I was thrilled. When people anywhere accept Christ, sometimes I seriously wonder if it is because they really want to or if it is just because we are white people coming into their home. I wanted to do a follow up with her the next week, but there were some conflicts of schedules and we were not able to go back the next week. For the next two weeks she didn’t come to church and I was beginning to get discouraged. She knew that I was supposed to be leaving the country at the end of Kenya part one, so I figured she knew that the white people were gone, so she didn’t have to come to church anymore to try and impress me. But our last Sunday in Nakuru, there she was at church, just simply beaming. She was not able to come to church the previous two weeks because it was too cold for her to take her baby outside [it’s a cultural thing]. But she invited me to her house for lunch sometime that last week we were in Nakuru. I told Pastor Zak and we ended up working it out so that on Saturday, my last day in Nakuru, we would go and have lunch with Monica. I was so excited, just to catch up with her and see how God has been moving in her life since she accepted Christ and just get to encourage her.
We got to her house on Saturday and she was ready with her favorite Kenyan meal. It consists of mashed potatoes, maize [harder than corn], and peas all mixed together and a side of cabbage. She had never had a white person in her house before I was there the first time, let alone have the white person come a second time. She told me it was an honor for her to share a meal with me. I was the first white person she had ever shared a meal with.
I was honored.
I was humbled.
We spent some time eating, praying together, and encouraging her. Then Pastor Zak had to leave. So I got to stay with Monica and her baby Shantell. Shantell is 5 months old. She is so precious!! I got to spend time with Monica just being girls. She is only two months younger than I am and so we just shared some girly stories. I encouraged her to walk in her womanhood and to walk as a daughter of the Most High God. After a few hours we called the motorbike to come get me and I was so sad to leave. Monica’s life was truly changed, I could tell the difference just by speaking to her a second time. She is my sister for life and I am so honored to be a part of her story. She is a powerful woman and she will do great things for God’s kingdom.
That was the best way to walk out of Kenya take two, knowing that God moved in a mighty way, and that even if she is the only one, her life has been changed and she will never be the same person that she was before.
Much love,
-A
