As of today, it’s been nearly two weeks since I last saw Banda. I’ve texted him several times, but I haven’t gotten a response back. I’ve begun thinking it was because the weight of what he was faced with surrendering was too much for him.
I’ve heard of things like this. I haven’t had a whole lot of experience with witnessing to Muslims, but from stories I’ve read and accounts I’ve heard, there often comes a point when they are faced with giving everything up to proceed, and many times, the reality of giving up home, culture, family, and friends is just too much. I’ve fervently hoped and prayed that this was not the case with Banda. I saw conviction in his eyes as I shared with him, the likes of which I have never seen before or since.
Despite having met some incredible people this year, I haven’t met a person who has had such an effect on me. I’ve prayed for him, over and over again, each day in my discussions with God, and asked my team to pray for him, that God wouldn’t let him go. As each day passes, however, I realize that my time is running short. I know God can continue a work that I helped begin, so much better than I ever could, but still, this burden won’t leave me for this man.
This morning, I had to go to the doctor with my teammate, Katie, since she hasn’t been feeling well. In fact, most of my team has been completely exhausted this month and fighting and recovering from malaria. Since three of the six of us have been diagnosed with malaria (including me) we figure it will be best to test Katie for malaria, which is a very standard test in all public health facilities in Africa.
After finding out that she has no malaria and filling the needed prescriptions to make her feel better, we start out to catch a “dolla dolla’, the local transportation system in Tanzania that is much like the matatu of Kenya, but with less abuse on the van. Katie sits in the front of the van and I walk to the very back, situating myself beside a window.
I balk. Did God just tell me to get off of the van? Why? I couldn’t figure it out. I was thinking about how I needed to write my sister a letter and tell her about some things God is doing in me, and how I need to post some blogs, but does God really want me to leave my sick teammate to get home on her own?
Still, I feel it.
Without justifying it, I jump off, just as the van begins to pull away. I tell Katie, “I don’t know why, but I really feel led to write my sister a letter. I know it seems like a cop-out, but I feel like God really wants me to do this. Are you okay to get back on your own?”
Reassuringly, she tells me she is fine as the van pulls away.
As I was walking, mulling over in my head where I should go, Tanzanians are calling out “Jambo!” to me in a friendly manner. I casually take note of their friendliness with a head nod or a return, but I’m not really noticing what’s going on around me until I hear, in a barely raised voice from behind me,
I turn… and see Banda! All at once, it came crashing down on me why God wanted me off the bus! If I hadn’t been walking down the street to go to the internet, I wouldn’t have ran into him. I was amazed.
With the clanking of the ice cold bottles being set on the table, I eagerly asked him how he was doing and if he had been thinking about what we talked about last week.
He said to me, “I am well, but I thought you had left. I was so upset, because I so desperately wanted to talk to you again. You see, my phone broke soon after I gave you my number, and I have been wondering if I would be able to see you again before you leave here.”
Immediately, a wave of thankfulness to God washed over me; He wasn’t ignoring my texts! And by the look on his face, I could see a very different air about him than the last time we talked.
My heart nearly stopped, and I couldn’t stop the excitement from displaying itself on my face. I’ve so often had to explain to people here how to accept Jesus, and I’ve so often had to pray a prayer they repeated; but Banda did it in his own way, with all sincerity, using his own words to accept Christ. I was blown away.
“Banda, don’t you see? I was sitting on a dolla dolla just a few minutes ago, and God told me to get off. I didn’t know why, but He told me to get off so that He could answer your prayers. Jesus already is rewarding your faith! We would never have met if God hadn’t answered your prayer.”
He was amazed, about as amazed as I was.
He began to explain a huge problem in his life, which is unemployment. He hasn’t had work for six months, and he has a wife and two little daughters to support. “I didn’t tell you when we first met, because I was listening to what you said, but this is a big problem for me. So much of a problem that I have almost been hit by cars while walking and thinking about it.”
His face lit up. “I know God cares about me now, and that He will provide for me. I must have the faith to please Him, and to know that He loves me.”
I asked him, “Tell me, have you told your wife about your decision to follow Jesus?”
‘Yes, I have told her. She is a Muslim, just like I was, and she had many question against me at first. She wanted to know many things, and some things I didn’t have the answers to give her, but I knew that what I now have in my heart is the truth. So, after a long time, she told me that I can decide for myself what to follow and that she will not be an obstacle to me following Jesus, if that is what I want.”
Then, with a smile, he leaned in, “But I am hoping that slowly, over time, I will be able to convince her to leave the mosque and follow Jesus, too.”
i was amazed at the power of God. Only having been a Christian for a few weeks, with no christian friends and no Bible, the Holy Spirit is already cultivating the meaning of the Gospel in his heart, to share the good news with others and bring them to repentance.
As we shared, I could see the visible difference in his eyes, in his voice, and in his smile. We talked about many things, like how he met his wife, how he learned to speak Portuguese, and how he had done a lot of traveling in his old job of removing land mines throughout parts of Eastern and Southern Africa. I told him about our travels, the difficulties we’ve encountered in various places, and about how I changed my major so many times because I used to be an indecisive person. We laughed and shared, joking like old friends, and I thanked God from the bottom of my heart that He has given me not just a friend, but a brand new brother, with whom I will one day spend eternity.
After a very long time of sharing about our lives and families, our struggles and encouragements, we decided to meet again Tuesday so I can introduce him to some Christian friends and local pastors who can mentor and teach him in the Lord.
We exchanged email addresses, promising to keep in touch and be an encouragement to one another. We bowed our heads together and asked God to bless Banda and his wife and little girls, to bring them to know Jesus as he does, and to give him a job to support all their needs.
As I walked away from him, I couldn’t contain my joy. God pulled me off of a dolla dolla and led me to the exact road at the exact time Banda was also walking and praying, all to answer the prayers of a man who, only weeks ago, was facedown on a prayer rug five times a day to try and make merit towards his salvation. Now, he has it, and his prayer to Jesus was answered when God pulled me off the van. How amazing is our God, that He answers prayers in such a way?
