9-28-09

Into the bush!

 

After living in Africa for almost a month, this weekend I got the REAL African experience. I had the opportunity to go with a team of Nigerians, Texans and assorted other short-termers to do a medical outreach combined with film ministry in the bush.

 

… it took us eight hours to get there and only 4 ½ to get back… Which means that we wandered around and got stuck in the mud for a considerable amount of time. In the rainy season (which is almost over) the maize is tall and it all looks the same, so it is understandable that it took awhile to find the right village. Teams like ours are strategically sent to places where there has been a church plant through ECWA so that there can be follow up.

 

Once we arrived people started showing up for medical treatment. They would get a translator who went through the whole process with them, talk to some of the guys from the Texas team about the gospel, see the medial people about their needs and go to the pharmacy to receive free medicine. Others set up the stuff for a puppet show for the kids or played football(soccer) and Frisbee with the kids. I held babies and tried to communicate (ie smiled a lot) with the women waiting for medical. I love the how colorful they were. This tribe had a lot of jewelry and a little less clothing than we normally wear. In the evening we showed an African made film about a man who turned away from animism and the gospel was presented. After the film we attempted to speak Hausa with the young people who stayed around and laughed together at how hard it is to communicate.

 

The whole team camped out that night- I was blessed to borrow some great camping gear that makes me want to go to REI when I get back… or to send some of that type of gear to the missionaries who do these trips all the time. In the morning we had church with the people who showed up, danced and sang and smiled a lot(best universal form of communication!) and headed back. On the trip back I heard a story of one of the people who came to the outreach that just thrilled me with how God pursues us so I’ll share it with you…

 

…. Somewhere in the process of us being “lost” for several hours (in the heat, with no food, thinking we’d never find the place) a 20 something year old named Ayouba saw us and just felt that he needed to go where the visitors were going. So he followed us on his bike for a distance that took us 45 mins in the vehicles, and even got lost a few times before finding the village we were staying in. He ended up having a 2 hour conversation with one of the Nigerians on the trip and accepted Christ! Praise God! I don’t know about you, but to me that testifies that God will make it happen when someone is ready to accept Christ. I am amazed that this man was so stirred and convicted that he needed to hear our message that he went to all the trouble to follow us into the middle of nowhere, knowing that he would need to ride back home that night in the pitch black- He didn’t know it would be with a new relationship with his Savior. So cool! So often I will try to convince myself that whatever I’m convicted by couldn’t be right because its too much of a hassle… like talking to someone I don’t know about Jesus, or loving someone who hurt me, or asking a hard question, or not ignoring the beggar on the road, or getting up early to pray… So many things fall under that category and I guess I’d like to challenge you to listen and obey today. Amazing things happen when we do.