We have been working with a man from the church and his name is Johnson. He loves the Lord and desires to speak with everyone he meets about the gospel. As we have been walking down the streets and speaking with people, we are meeting so many Muslims. It seems most people we talk to here are Muslim and the Islamic religion is very sneaky. The devil was very sly when he created the religion of Islam. Giving them the belief in Jesus was by far his best move and one that has been confusing when trying to talk to people about Jesus. "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." (James 2:19 NASB) So as we continue to talk to people here we are slowly learning more and more about the contradictions in their beliefs about Jesus.
As we were walking down the streets on Tuesday, we talked with a lady outside of her house. Naomi was bringing some serious heat. I have never seen her share with someone about her faith, so it was a new experience to watch her share. She did amazing, sharing scripture that she had memorized and just being really sincere in her words. She was eloquent with her words and you could tell that the Holy Spirit was guiding her thoughts and words. As she spoke truths out to the African lady, she bobbed her head in agreement. Naomi would ask her, "Do you believe that?" And Johnson would reply, "She said she does believe that." It was baffling. She believed in the power of Jesus, that Jesus is the savior, that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Then Naomi asked her, "Well why do you say you are a Muslim?" After this Johnson started sharing his testimony with her and we were broken off from the conversation.
It was confusing and almost frustrating but we moved onto the next house.
Johnson said, "This is the home of my uncle, lets go in here." So as we walked into the courtyard we were greeted by a young man, who took us around to the back of the house. I was wondering who the man was but Johnson was too distracted as he was looking for his auntie.
We were greeted by this older lady with some crazy braids in her hair which made me laugh. She was so happy to have us visiting her house. She quickly invited all of us inside. I didn't think she knew that there was eight white people coming in, but she didn't seem to care once we were all sitting on her couches. She sat down with us and we listened to Johnson and her converse in Swahili. Then she asked, "Would you like something to drink?" Everyone said that they were fine and then she asked, "What about a coke or tea?" I could see that she really desired to serve us so I said, "Tea will be fine." Which led to everyone freaking out about drinking unpurified water, but we trusted that God was going to take care of us. Coming into the home, Johnson had already told us that his aunt was a Muslim and as we were drinking tea Jo Linda jokingly said, "I'm not leaving this house until she becomes a Christian."
She sat down a huge feast. The biggest bread rolls I have ever seen, some rice cakes that were amazing and Kilimanjaro Tea with a southern portion of sugar in my cup. We were served like king and queens, we ate until we were full and then Johnson looked at us and said, "Are you ready to talk to her?"
I pointed at Jo Linda, laughed a little, and said, "She is ready to talk." Since she said she wasn't leaving I figured she was ready to be signed up. Jo Linda began sharing with her about Jesus and sharing about His love. I can't really remember what she said because I spent most of the time in prayer. I was watching Rukia and Thabita's face as she shared. I was also distracted at the TV that was turned on by Thabita a while before as we were eating, I was praying that the electricity would turn off. Even with the distractions their gaze never left Jo's until Rukia asked to turn the TV off in which she quickly returned to the conversation now that the distraction was removed.
As Jo Linda finished she said, "Would you like to pray to receive Jesus as your one and only savior?"
Much to my surprise Rukia said that she would. When she said that Jo Linda's eyes lit up and as she told us later her heart began to race. She said the prayer of salvation and everyone started clapping. Then I pointed at Thabita who was sitting alongside her the whole time, intently listening. Johnson said, "Would you like to talk to him and ask him now?" He came over and sat by me. I said, "I know that you heard everything she said, what did you think about it?" He said that he believed it. I felt like he felt lonely, so I shared the verse Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." I told him that Jesus is in your heart, he will speak to you, if you feel lonely, he will be there to talk to you. Then we prayed the prayer of salvation.
Each of them were very excited about their new decision in life and we were all equally excited about them sharing in our faith. Naomi shared the verse "—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God." (Luke 15:10 MSG) (She shared the NIV version but I just think the MSG version is cool.) There was a legit party going on in heaven and a party in our hearts. Everyone was so excited to experience, finally, a Muslim who saw the truth revealed in their eyes.
There was a happiness in their hearts as we left the house to return home. Constantly hugging us and walking us out. Just a joy that only comes from the Lord. What I found out when we returned home was that Thabita was just the house keeper. So pray that his new faith is taken home with him to share with his family. We were taken down to their store because I was in search of fruit for the team. I noticed that she was selling cigarettes in her store, as well as beer, and as we walked away I asked Mark, "I wonder if she will stop selling beer and cigarettes now?"
Africa has been an amazing experience so far, and I cannot wait for what is in store. Friday we head to a new ministry here in Tanzania. Pastor Agnell is working with Pastor ChaCha in another town so we are going to work with Pastor ChaCha for a week of ministry. I cannot wait for what is in store here and what God has planned for us in our remaining 16 days of Tanzania.
Thank you to all of my supporters! I sent some postcards to everyone who I had on my online donations account, so hopefully those will arrive soon! Please continue to pray for finances for the squad as our deadline approaches on July 1st. Please pray also as we experience more of the supernatural side of Christianity. As we encounter more people who need healing, demons cast out, the deaf, blind and abandoned that we can walk in full faith that the Lord is going to be glorified on Earth as He is in Heaven.
