On Monday, our teams took a day to split up and do some ATL ministry. ATL means ask the Lord. We spent thirty minutes in prayer for the country of Botswana and for God to lead us to people to share with about Him. We split up into groups and spread out over the city of Maun. Two groups went into local neighborhoods, and two groups went into town to talk to people in the market area. Silas, Christy, and I headed for the market, feeling a strong leading from God to go and talk to people there. We had no idea what we would say. We were just going to strike up conversations with people we felt lead to, and thenask them if they knew Jesus. Simple enough, right?
Well I was very nervous about this expedition. What would we say? Who would we choose? What if they ignore us or make fun of us or give us dirty looks? Then I realized I was going into it with a completely erroneous mindset. God is control. He is leading. We ask Him for direction and He is responsible for the results. If we hearejection, it is because they are rejecting Him. I had to say a short, humble and repentive prayer to thank God for reminding me. But His lesson was not finished. As we began walking through the market and talking to people, I realized the differences in culture here. The people were friendly and polite. They welcomed our conversations and our prayers. They seemed genuinely happy to talk with us about Jesus. That rarely happens in America. Maybe because these people don’t have as much to cloud their minds from Christ as we do in the States. Maybe its because they are just raised differently. I don’t know why, but whatever the reason, they readily accept hearing about Jesus.
Then my mind begins to wander and analyze. Do they really understand what we are talking about? Do they truly understand the language we are speaking or are they just being nice? Is it really this easy to share Christ?God answers my quesions once again as we come up to a booth with a unger lady sitting at it. We chat with her a minute and then ask if she knows Jesus. Her response floors me. “No,” she replies, “Who is he?” I am amazed some what that she has no clue who Jesus is. We ask if we can tell her about him and she says yes, but wants her friend to come over too. We ask the other lady if she knows Jesus. We get the same reply. “No, I don’t.” I am astounded that they have never even heard his name. So we proceed to tell them about Jesus and his life and how he died on the cross for our sins and then rose again. We explain to them about being able to have forgiveness and spend eternity with God in heaven because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then we ask if they want this opportunity, and they both say yes. They prayed to receive Christ right there. No arguing, no logical debates, no skepticism. Just pure belief. God taught me about the simplicity of the gospel. He showed me the meaning of using foolish things to confuse the wise. Those who try to argue or figure out their salvation logically end up being confounded. Those who simply believe, like these two ladies, receive Christ easily. I praise God for two more souls in His kingdom and for allowing me to be a part of it.
