I still need $900 to be fully funded! I have been given an extension on the Dec. deadline because I need so little. That’s 9 people at $100, 18 people at $50, or 36 people at $25. Thank you so much to all my supporters and prayer warriors! Happy New Year!
All six of us women and our hosts Queen and Tshepang Basupi piled into the 8-passenger vehicle around 5 pm on Tuesday the 13th to go to a village called Mmanoko. Mmanoko literally translates into Mrs. Porcupine.
(It makes me wonder where Mr. Porcupine is.)
The drive was a short 20 minutes to our door-to-door evangelism mission. We pulled up in front of a small house with a short stone barrier surrounding a dirt courtyard where three women and many children were sitting. Because only our hosts know Setswati and many of the villagers don’t know much English, we split up into two groups.
As we opened the car doors and stepped out onto the rusty-brown dirt, the two groups just naturally formed. Bekah, Dresdyn, and I fell behind Queen while Marge, Danielle, and Catherine went with Tshepang in the opposite direction.
We made our way towards the small house with the stone fence. The women and children were already moving small wooden benches that stood about a foot high for us to sit on before we even said hello. Now that’s hospitality.
Queen sat down but had to wait for me to sit because the balance was off. Bekah sat down next to me on her own bench and Dresdyn on the other side of her. We asked a bit about their faith and then Dresdyn and Bekah shared the gospel. Queen then found out that they do believe in Jesus. We all stood in a circle holding hands, children included, and held hands as Bekah as Bekah prayed for their walks with the Lord.
As we moved on to the next house, the children followed. One was a girl that I had noticed earlier listening to the gospel. We found a girl of fourteen standing in the doorway. She thought we wanted to meet with the elders, who weren’t there, but we assured her it was she that we came to see. She rustled up 4 plastic white chairs for us and she sat on the porch step. We found out that her name is Pamela and that she knew pieces of the bible, but not much. Dresdyn and Bekah again told the gospel and I prayed for her heart to soften during the presentation.
Queen asked her if she wanted to accept Christ as her Savior and she said yes! Dresdyn sat down with her on the porch and led her through the prayer. Afterwards, I gave her a scripture from Matthew that I had written down last month and asked Queen to ask the little girl who had listened both times if she wanted to accept Christ as well. She did, so Queen led her through the prayer. The 8-year-old recieved Christ.
I grabbed her hand and told her she was now our sister. I could have overlooked this quiet, watchful girl, but I didn’t. I know now that God gave me eyes to see her because I am usually also a quiet, watchful woman. We need all types of people in the Kingdom of God. Don’t you DARE think that God won’t use
you because of this or that. He will use you if you allow it.
The Father cares deeply for His children. Don’t overlook them. They are mighty in God’s Kingdom.
We wandered on and decided to hit one last house before we met back up with the other group. I noticed a cart being drawn by two donkeys coming up behind us and wondered if we should talk to them. I thought of the Eunuch in the bible that was reading the word but didn’t understand it. About that time Dresdyn stopped to take a picture of the glorious clouds streaming sunlight through their thick fluffy mounds. The cart veered off onto another dirt path and the kids asked for their picture to be taken.
I took out my camera at that point and got some shots of them. We talked to them for a bit and then me and Dresdyn turned our attention to the small pack of kids behind us. After taking some photos and talking, I started a game of O Lay Lay. It is a game we have played a lot where the kids repeat our words and actions. They loved it and I was reminded of how important it is to drop what you are doing for a moment and love the people around you. See the divine appointments that God has set before you and act on them. Faith without works is dead. Works without faith are pointless.
We continued on our short journey and talked with a man who was Seventh-Day Advent. He would not let us talk to his 15-year-old daughter, but he talked with us for about ten minutes. He quoted a lot of scripture and Queen handled it well, not wanting to argue, and we left him because he was going to work and we needed to meet our team.
As we drove back to CAPRO, I was just in awe because we only spent 1 hour in that village. What can God do through you in an hour?
Much Love,
Saraya
