Yesterday, I was running along with Kelly, Meghan, and our bodyguard. (We think his name
was Deo, or Dale, but we’re not quite sure because of the thick accent). We’re
in the midst of the Kelly Boot Camp month to get us in shape. My focus was on
just getting through this 4-mile run…..In fact, I had my earphones in and did
not even notice a lady that was sleeping under her skirt on the side of the
sidewalk. I was really confused on why Meghan and Kelly had stopped, as our
goal was to run down to Lake Victoria. As I pulled out my earphones, I was a
little annoyed because I just wanted to get done with the workout. I found out
that Meghan had felt led to stop running and pray for her…and you wouldn’t
believe what happened next.
As we went over to her, we couldn’t even see her face.
Everything was covered up by her wrap skirt except her bare butt that was
peeking out. Immediately, my heart
broke for this young lady. I saw that some of her fingers were gone and the
skin on her hands was peeling off. As we began to pray, my heart began to
change and my feelings of annoyance begin to dissipate. At one point, I looked
up and noticed that many people passing by had stopped to stare and take
pictures. Some of them tried to tell us to move on, that she was crazy and it
wasn’t worth our time. But we knew that she was worth it. Even if only one life
is changed, it is always worth it. As we got done praying, she gave us a little
bit of a smile, then went back to sleep.
As we stood up after we finished praying, a man named Nester
came up to me and asked me if we had just prayed for her. I told him yes, and
he proceeded to tell me that our actions had really touched him. He could not
believe that we were willing to take time out of our day and stop to pray for a
lady that everyone felt was crazy. We told him that God loves everyone, even
the ones that are “outcasts.” We told him about how Jesus’ ministry consisted
of loving and praying for people on the streets, and how we as Christians are
called to do the same. As we conversed, we found out that Nester had grown up
Roman Catholic and had never seen this sort of thing take place in his church. He
was very interested in learning about salvation, so we prayed for him and gave
him our pastor’s number.
As we finished praying for Nester, a lady named Monica came
up to us and asked for prayer. Monica had been struggling with bad dreams
during the night, so we prayed for her as well. Meghan was able to encourage
Monica because she had been delivered from evil dreams after prayer a few years
ago.
So here we were….three girls and our body guard out for a
run. My initial thought was that
it was only going to be….a run. Little did I know that God had bigger plans
than boot camp. God had a distinct purpose of us running that day – it was not
to get in shape or accomplish running four miles. God had a young woman on the street, a man who was searching
for truth, and a woman struggling with bad dreams in mind for us to encounter.
And the only way this happened was because of a small step of obedience – an
act of listening to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.
I am so excited to see how God will continue to use us this
month! It’s only the second day of being here and I can already see that God
has big plans for us here in Tanzania!
