Africa was a long 3 months in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong it was good, but I’m also thankful it’s behind me. Our squad participated in LOTS of preaching, door-to-door evangelism, home visits, hospital ministry and teaching English as well as various other things along the way. Malaria visited several of my squadmates as well and even put some of them in the hospital. Within our squad people have seen miraculous healings, demons cast out, people come to salvation, the local believers encouraged and Jesus spread to 3 East African countries.
I’�ll try to give a recap of what Africa entailed for me.
We started out in Kenya where we had our month 4 debrief. God used this time to refresh and revive me and put in me a deeper love for my squadmates. It was the first time when the entire squad got together and it wasn’t too overwhelming or chaotic for me.
Tanzania started off really rough for me. I honestly just wanted to go home and be around people who really knew me, sleep in a mosquito-free house with AC, walk down a street and not get verbally harassed by the local men, go to an 1 ½ hr long church service strictly in English and not have people think I’m rich just because of my skin color. I wanted familiarity at this point, and the things around me were NOT familiar. Within the first week I also found out that my 15 year old sister had a mass in her pancreas. I was ready to hop a bus and then a plane home and forget all of this.
I told God that He needed to remind me of why I was out here. Was He even using me? I didn’t feel like it. Within the next week and half, by the power of Christ in me, I helped cast out demons, saw people physically healed after me and my teammates prayed for them and actually led people to Christ for the first time in my life. Okay, God. I get it. You ARE using me. You are growing me. I was super thankful for “evidenceâ€� that He was really moving and working because so often we don’t get to see results. It was just what I needed to keep going. I also found out that the mass my sister had was NOT cancerous!!! Words can’t describe how thankful I was for Jesus’ protection in that. God grew me a lot in the areas of evangelism, speaking and rekindled a love for His Word.
Rwanda was filled with teaching English, more preaching and home visits. Mama (Sylvie) taught me how to cut a pineapple. Daniela and I cooked a Mexican supper over hot coals (I mainly chopped things for her). I slept in a wonderfully comfortable bed and got to make coffee in my French press. Taking motorcycles into town, just like you would a taxi in the States, became a normal occurrence, and I could buy an avocado for around 40 cents. My sister went through a super intensive surgery halfway across the world, and I could only pray from across the miles and wish I could be there to hug her and the rest of my family. By His marvelous grace surgery went well, and she finally left the hospital after almost 2 weeks. God showed me that I could actually enjoy teaching English…who knew! He also used that month to continue to work on our team as a unit.
Uganda was the final stretch of the African leg of the Race. It began with rafting the Nile and hanging out as a squad, and then came the long bus ride to our place of ministry. My team was picked up at the bus stop by a tall Ugandan man in a long coat who promptly put us, along with our packs, into the back of a tiny pickup and told us it looked like he was quote “human trafficking” us. He laughed, and we nervously chuckled and drove off into the cool night to our new home. Here we go!
We had no electricity or running water which meant we spent a lot of time talking and laughing together as a team. God did something very mysterious and actually made us all FRIENDS. We did more preaching that month than ever before. We were also involved in a soccer ministry. Fresh popcorn was available up the street for about 40 cents per bag, we ate more chapti than ever and discovered Novida (a delicious pineapple soda) at a local hangout. We made friends with the local children, actually named one of them, showered in the rain and fit 26 people into the back of a tiny truck on the way to a soccer game. God gave us lots of down time, and I was able to soak in His Word and spend extra time with Him which was super refreshing. I also had the opportunity to visit several hospitals and pray for people. We are certainly blessed in the US with excellent health care.(Visit a government-run hospital in Africa and you’ll never be the same). The Lord continued to put in me an appreciation for home, family and friends, privacy, food and cleanliness.
I left Africa on a good note, I believe. My team was in the best place we’d been in the 4 months that we’d been together. God did great things in my heart. I had tons of new experiences; God gave me freedom in areas that I had bondage in and I was blessed to fellowship with African believers and also spread the gospel. I believe that the Lord does everything for a purpose, and I’m grateful for my time in Africa.
