One of the biggest desires of our team in Africa is to work out
in the village areas, and even though we are staying just outside of Mwanza, we
found out we are working with a small
church with a pastor by the name of Faustine. As we left on our beautiful drive taking a dirt road and going along the
beautiful coast of Lake Victoria, we realized quickly that we were heading out
into the forest and plain areas to a village area called Nyamwilolelwa; good
luck with that one! This place is
beautiful mixed in with the palm trees and many others, there are gorgeous huge
birds, women carrying things on their heads, and people yelling hello as we
ride on the back of a truck to the village and back.
in the village areas, and even though we are staying just outside of Mwanza, we
found out we are working with a small
church with a pastor by the name of Faustine. As we left on our beautiful drive taking a dirt road and going along the
beautiful coast of Lake Victoria, we realized quickly that we were heading out
into the forest and plain areas to a village area called Nyamwilolelwa; good
luck with that one! This place is
beautiful mixed in with the palm trees and many others, there are gorgeous huge
birds, women carrying things on their heads, and people yelling hello as we
ride on the back of a truck to the village and back.
Our first day we went to join their small church in worship and
our team gave a word from God that was on our heart, but this was a great
moment. A small African church that has
holes in the walls to keep sunlight in and air, women dressed in the long
African attire dancing and singing in Swahili, some screaming like tribal
languages, and they would do some African dances for us during church. There is a faithful few that had a bubbling
joy that echoed in the small dirt walls. They were excited to have us and we were excited to be a part of the
small villages of Africa.
our team gave a word from God that was on our heart, but this was a great
moment. A small African church that has
holes in the walls to keep sunlight in and air, women dressed in the long
African attire dancing and singing in Swahili, some screaming like tribal
languages, and they would do some African dances for us during church. There is a faithful few that had a bubbling
joy that echoed in the small dirt walls. They were excited to have us and we were excited to be a part of the
small villages of Africa.
The last couple of days our team has started house to house
evangelism. We did A LOT of walking
through rice fields, meadows, almost falling in mud ditches, and walking at
least one hour one time just to come to one house. On Thursday, Tash and I walked forever in the sun and through the dirt fields to this
small mud walled house in the middle of nowhere and met a lady named Tatu. As I sat down on a small short wooden seat
and Tatu sat on a little wooden reed blanket in the dirt. I was told through our translator that Tatu
had never heard of Jesus before, in an area where at least hearing of Jesus was
normal. In these types of villages, you
have to walk a long way just to see someone and be somewhere, so for her to
never hear became surprising to me, but then again it didn’t.
evangelism. We did A LOT of walking
through rice fields, meadows, almost falling in mud ditches, and walking at
least one hour one time just to come to one house. On Thursday, Tash and I walked forever in the sun and through the dirt fields to this
small mud walled house in the middle of nowhere and met a lady named Tatu. As I sat down on a small short wooden seat
and Tatu sat on a little wooden reed blanket in the dirt. I was told through our translator that Tatu
had never heard of Jesus before, in an area where at least hearing of Jesus was
normal. In these types of villages, you
have to walk a long way just to see someone and be somewhere, so for her to
never hear became surprising to me, but then again it didn’t.
So Tash introduced ourselves and then I began to ask her if shebelieved in a God and about after life. She said she believes in a God but nothing after life. I then began introduce to her who Jesus was
from the beginning of God creating this world, to eternity after death, and all
of the gospel from sin to salvation. She
was listening intently with her little son beside her. I used the dirt ground between us to draw the
cross and other things to share the gospel also. We talked about the gift of God, and just
like a Christmas gift when no matter how nice it is or looks, we still have to
receive it. The same way, God has given
us the greatest gift, but it’s nothing if we don’t receive it.
Fifteen minutes later she received the GoodNews of Jesus Christ. It was a great
moment. One thing we can never fully
know is the full intent of someone’s heart and we pray in faith that their
salvation is sincere as we do this for so many days. We just know we are called to do this, but
that’s why follow up is huge. Follow up
hasn’t been stressed a lot by the contacts here which has been surprising, but
our team has been pushing it; just like what happened with Esther and Chalice
in Kenya. I believe even our contacts
are learning from this team the importance of follow up. If we don’t follow up with people like Tatu
and the world chokes the seed away, it’s almost as bad as her never hear the
gospel ever.
It’s crazy to think someone has never heard of Jesushere, nor ever heard or seen a Bible, but then for them to receive the Good
News. Sad news is, that most of all
Christians here out in the villages here have no Bible or will never have one,
so we tell them how to pray and to just love God and love people to fulfill
Jesus life in us. It’s completely
humbling and we are just privileged to be a part of it all; it’s not about us.
