The first night we hold a “church service” in the remote
village Jesus shows up and shows off.
Our days consist of outreaching to the families of the
village we are staying in for 3 weeks. We break into teams of 3 and walk door
to door telling people who we are and why we are here. We must take
interpreters with us because English is not a language people here learn.
Nonetheless, we are able to communicate the best we can that we are staring a
church in their village and we would like for them to join us in “church
fellowship. After the time and place is conveyed, we are off to the next home.
This is where things get interesting. There are children at
almost every home we visit and they LOVE these new white people. This is the
first time around 90% of the people here have seen any white person. Imagine
the look on their faces when they see me, this extremely white girl coming to
see them. They are delighted when we want to come in their homes. They
don’t even ask why you are there. It seems every home has a “guest bed.” This
is a 4 post contraption that sits maybe 3 feet off the ground and is made of
intercrossed ribbons of fabric. We hold our breaths each time we sit down in
fear if breaking them. So, they pull these things out in the yard usually and
offer us a seat and sit cross legged on the ground in anticipation of what we
have come to say.
As we journey from one home to the next, which is about 4
feet until you reach the next small one bedroom home, we notice we have a
following. The residents of each home follow us to the next home. At house #5
instead of talking to the 4 people that live there, it has turned into 30+
people. They stand and sit with eager faces and graciously offer us an orange,
banana, or juice as a small thank you for gracing them with our presence. Their
hospitality should be a lesson to us.
After only 2 days of invites and visits we hold our first
“church meeting. Allow me to paint a picture of how this looks. All we have is
a 2 bedroom home with a tiny porch and a 50×50 ft yard, if that, and 9 white
people excited to share about this man named Jesus. After all, Jesus tells us
he has fully equipped us so what more did we need? Just for Him to show up and that He did!
Even though the sun had set, the heat is still unbearable.
We were all dripping with sweat and hadn’t even begun the service. Instead of
making everyone more miserable and cramming into this tiny home, we spread a
large tarp down for everyone outside and began. You would think we had this
grand plan going into this but all we did was pray for the Holy Spirit to guide
us and we went for it. The adults and children we separated into 2 groups so
our teachings could be more customized to ages. I was the one standing in front
of all the children, approximately 15-20, so lucky me, I started talking to them
first. It started with “Tonight I’m going to tell you about this man named
Jesus……,” I told a simple story on a child’s level to best explain who he was
and is today and why we need him in our hearts. They were captivated by what
they were hearing. I remember one moment noticing Michael wasn’t talking to the
adults like he was supposed to be. Everyone was listening to me including all
the adults and all the team. No pressure……….right! The enemy tried using that
moment to distract me but I could feel every one of my team members praying for
me.
Out of complete holy spirit God driven boldness I finished
my simple story with ” Ok, now who wants to know this cool man, Jesus? And who
wants to ask him into their hearts?”
Every child’s hand went up! I was expecting 2 at the most,
and I knew that would be expecting a lot. I looked at my team with a sort of
what do I do now look and Leyna just says,” keep going.” I led those children
through the prayer of salvation and they accepted this man name Jesus into
their hearts for the first time.
Words will never be able to describe what God did in that
moment. It was His words, His moment, His timing, and most importantly His
children entering the Kingdom of God.
Those children WILL be a light to their parents,
friends, neighbors, teacher, and their own families.
