Ahhhhh Africa.
As soon as we stepped off the plane in Entebbe Uganda we felt the air tangibly change, no longer were we in Asia, it’s time for Africa! I know that in the physical it makes sense after all its winter here in Eastern Africa which means its cooler and the climate is drier, but its bigger than that. There is an openness here that wasn’t present in Asia, there is an acknowledged hunger for the Lord that is here that wasn’t there a month ago. People are literally receiving the Lord at the mention of the name Jesus.
I was never intended to be a vocational preacher or evangelist, those just weren’t my gifts but this month was a gift to push me in those very areas of my life. It’s amazing what God has to say, what he desires to say when we open our mouths and allow him to use us, but we have to open our mouths. God is continually speaking and has something that he wants to say to the people we pass on the street, to the child that crawls up on our laps, and to the church that asks us to preach. When he offers an opportunity to share his love you’d better sit up and listen, and take it seriously. Here in Rwanda the ministry is largely preaching and evangelism, and so when we found out that our main contact here had set up a month of preaching we weren’t too surprised. I knew that I would be preaching at some point but I was, truth be told, surprised when I offered to speak in church within the first couple days. I really and truly wasn’t sure what God wanted me to preach on, but I knew that I needed to speak and I trusted that he would give me the words when I needed them. Sure enough the Lord gave me the words the church needed, and gave me grace to speak them in at least some intelligible form. I’m not saying that it was graceful, or even super organized and I would not say that I’m a professional at speaking in front of others especially with a translator, but the words came out and the Lord was able to use it to touch hearts. Praise God!
The other part of our ministry here in Kigali Rwanda is door to door evangelism. Ok, I have to admit sometimes door to door evangelism is awkward for me, I’m a relational type of girl and would rather form a relationship with a person sharing the gospel along the way instead of going to a stranger’s home and abruptly sharing the gospel for a few minutes and then moving on. Well today was pretty awkward but I learned something, if you open your mouth God will use it even in the strangest of circumstances. So my story of the day begins with awkwardness and ends with celebration. Here it goes:
Today I went out with brother Paul and another African named Jack, and 2 of my squadmates, Sam and Caitlin, to do door to door evangelism. At the first house we met a mother and daughter who invited us in for sodas and conversation. They were both believers and so we spent time just encouraging them and chatting with them about why we were here and by the end we were invited to go to a wedding with them this coming Saturday. It still amazes me how cultures outside the US are so welcoming that they will invite you to a wedding that isn’t even theirs and it’s completely ok! Anyway, I’m getting off track, after we finalized the plans for saturday and left, I realized that the soda I had just drank was hitting my bladder pretty hard and I needed a bathroom ASAP. So I told brother Paul that I needed to use a bathroom as soon as possible to which he responded ‘ok’ and proceeded to open a gate to a random house and began calling out to the residents trying to find me a bathroom. I was mortified. I was actually thinking that we could just go back to the church and I could use the toilet there, instead here we were in a stranger’s house with a strange Rwandan man showing me to their toilet. I followed knowing there wasn’t any other alternative and needing it so badly that I decided to get on board with this idea. After I came out there was a grouping of 7, mostly men, and Paul looks at me and says ‘preach the gospel’ I honestly was caught off guard and so began with asking them what their beliefs were. They all said that they went to church somewhere or another except for one, he was muslim. So I asked those that went to church how they knew that they had a relationship with Jesus and then proceeded to preach a gospel message (again, I don’t claim to be the best evangelist, but I somehow was able to share). I want to be completely honest and vulnerable here, during the entire time that I spoke I thought that none of them were paying attention and that they could care less about what I was saying and wondered the fruitfulness of this approach, but at the end of it I was surprised to hear Paul say ‘they want a personal relationship with the Jesus’ even the muslim man! What? Ok, I know for sure it was not by my ability that these men and women felt the need for a savior but by the working of the Holy Spirit alone, but had I not opened my mouth and let God speak, these men and women wouldn’t have had an opportunity to respond to the Spirit or at least not at that moment. I was astonished for a moment and then prayed with them and watched the Lord work in their lives. Oh and then we celebrated with the heavens!
I learned a lesson today, a valuable lesson, NEVER underestimate a submitted mouth and voice. I pray I will continually open my mouth whether it’s awkward or comfortable, because God promises that his word will never return void and who knows when it will be time for harvest?
