Who would have guessed that we would come to Africa and instantly become celebrities?
When signing up for the World Race I fully expected to enter into each country as a servant
To lay down everything I have to love and serve those around me
To dive into the raw culture around me
To sleep on the ground and always go to bed hungry to be the least of these
To go and be the love, hands and feet of Jesus
However, every country has turned my world upside-down
And so-far, Africa has topped them all
We came and they made us celebrities!
Here are a few instances:
During the day we travel to villages greeting chiefs and praying for different people
Every where we went there was a constant crowd of children surrounding us just to stare and hold a finger
Every village we go to they treated us like royalty. They greeted us wth covered chairs and tables, offering us food and drinks, and taking pictures of us.
Sometimes we would go to churches expecting to greet the pastor and leave but end up staying to give the message
Many nights during the week we would travel to different villages to have an evangelism conference which consist of; showing a video about Christ being victorious over witchcraft, holding random kids in our laps, jumping around, dancing and lip syncing to Hillsong United, and giving a message to provide an opportunity for people to give their life to Christ
After the service everyone would come shake our hands and send us on our way
While awaiting our departure were little hands reaching inside the partially cracked windows just to get one last feel of our fingers and take one last picture
As we drove away our hearts shattered into a million pieces while watching the car being chased by bright smiling faces and the biggest waves known to man
One afternoon they put us on the radio for an hour just to share our news about Jesus
A few days before Christmas we got to meet the president of Côte d’Ivoire’s assistant and the lieutenant of Bocanda, where we were invited to a Christmas event. At the event we were escorted in, walked in a circle to be presented to the crowd, seated under a tent with generals and officials, given soda, food and lollipops, danced with the lieutenant and handed out a present to a child.
Christmas Day family photo shoots of course
And
Grocery shopping was impossible to do without stopping to take a picture with some fellow shoppers
We came to Africa and they made us celebrities
At first it was really difficult
It was hard to come into a county to be the least of these and to serve, but end up being displayed as royalty and being served
It was hard for us to grasp that people didn’t want to hear from us because we were missionaries. They only wanted to hear from us because we were American and light skinned
It was hard because we don’t want them to see us, only Jesus inside us. But they so clearly saw us for the color of our skin and our nationality
However, it was so incredible to experience the Jesus inside of the people who so passionately desired to serve us because we were bringing the word of God.
And we eventually realized that God was using our skin color and nationality to open a door for Him to speak.
People wanted to listen to ANYTHING we had to say, and what we had to say was for God.
I never thought my shin color and being American would be earn my right to be heard.
But God is so creative and has used such a simple thing for His glory.
We came to Africa and were Jesus Celebrities!
