Our time in Kenya thus far has revolved around doing evangelism. Most days, we head out in the afternoon and walk around the community surrounding the church knocking on doors and sharing the gospel.
It has been an interesting dynamic as most days I see more people pray to receive Jesus Christ than I did in my 5 1/2 years of ministry in the Czech Repubic combined. People here believe in God and often go to church, but they don't understand that a relationship with Jesus is a possibility and that going to church or reading the Bible is not enough.
It has been a privilege to have many conversations sharing about God's grace with the people in the Pipeline community. I have to admit, though, that there are days when my attitude has not been the best. Our hosts are very aggressive in sharing the gospel and coming from an American culture it feels at times like we are almost coercing people into making decisions. I know that the Bible says that God's word never returns void and so I work to rest in that as I share about how much God loves the peopel I come into contact with.
On Thanksgiving day, after walking around for a few hours my attitude wasn't the best. I was a bit uncomfortable and was not looking forward to the next door we knocked on.
I remember entering a courtyard where there were many children playing. There was a little girl named Precious who immediatly came up and help my hand the entire time we were in the yard. It definitely warmed my heart. A woman came out of one of the "houses" and we proceeded to talk with her. Her name was Ann, and she was an internally displaced person. As a result of the post-election violence in 2008, she had been forced to flee her home and now lived in a cinder block room with her 3 children.
Ronni (a church member), Ann and her children
We proceeded to share the gospel with her and after some discussion she decided to pray to receive Christ. After praying for she and her children, we moved on to the next house. I rejoiced in her decision, but honestly wrestled whether it was a "real" decision or just her trying to appease us. We moved along and finished our day and although I thought about all fo the people who had prayed to receive Christ, Ann did not stick out more than any of the other conversations I had that day.
On Sunday, we had church and we anxiously waited to see who, of the 100's of people we had invited this past week and the almost 40 people who had prayed to receive Christ, would actually come to church. I was thankful to see Ann and her children in church and with what seemed like a joy she did not have the day we had stopped by her house.
Ann shared with Pastor Mary before the service that she had purchased poison and was going to end her life because she was so hopeless and discouraged. Then, we knocked on her gate with a real hope for her. She stated she now had joy and had thrown the poison away as soon as we had left her house.
Praise God! I am continually amazed by the privilege God gives me in being able to serve around the world. Today, I was given a glimpse of how God used me to save Ann's life. God doesn't need me. He could accomplish his purpose without me, but what a gift it was to be used on Thanksgiving day in Ann and her children's life.
