The first four days of the Tanzania trip were spent in the
Maasai areas of Longido and Kimokoa. Since the life-altering experience
occurred at the end of the week, I will briefly run through the equally eternally
significant events in these two places. The transportation from Nairobi was a
story in and of itself. We were taken to downtown Nairobi, where we boarded a
matatu with a Kenyan friend escorting us to the border. As we got out of the
car at the matatu station, we were swarmed by a million different drivers,
grabbing our bags and our arms to take us to their car where they’d give us a
“special” price. Thankfully we had our friend with us who knew what he was
doing. The driver we chose was chatting it up with us, telling us how good
Obama has been for America. Obama
is still loved in Kenya. The 3-hour crammed and bumpy drive, mixed with the
wonderful scent of Kenyan body odor, provided a lot of entertainment. In the
row behind us, two professing Al-Shabbab members were practically shouting in
Arabic, while smoking some sort of plant. It was creepy to say the least.
We spent the entire Tanzania trip with a local pastor named
Mikaeli and missionary Dan Johnson. Mikaeli is a tall, lanky fellow, instantly
endearing himself to people with his consistent usage of “Oh my braza, God
bless you” and “My dear.” In Mikaeli’s hometown of Longido, we spent Saturday
with a Compassion International group of children who played soccer, ate the
provided lunch, and learned the Bible. If you sponsor a child through
Compassion, rest assured that your money is going to a very worthy cause, at
least from what we saw.
From there, we spent a couple of days in Kimokoa, teaching
the Gospel message from Adam and Eve to Christ’s ascension to heaven, using the
kanga
storycloth to teach our audience. Groups between thirty to forty people
gathered beneath acacia
trees at each boma,
since acacias are literally everywhere in Maasailand. I still vividly remember
the second day of teaching when nearly 40 Maasai, including the chief of the
area, gathered beneath a massive acacia tree to listen to the Word of God. In those
few days of sharing, we witnessed God’s power of salvation in the lives of
many men, women, and children. When I followed up with two young warriors who
gave their lives to Christ, I asked them if I could get them a Bible so they
could continue to learn, and was saddened to hear they have no idea how to read
even in their native language. This is very common to the oral storying Maasai
people. The good news is the International Mission Board has created a
solar-powered audio player of the Bible in the Maasai language.
I will fast forward to Wednesday through Saturday (5/16 –
5/19) when I encountered something I may never be able to experience ever
again. This happened in the remote village of Lesiret. And when I say remote, I
mean remote. We were in the extreme bush. Steve said that Lesiret is so bush
it’s bushier than Anthony Davis’ unibrow.
The drive was only about 30 miles from Longido, but it took us 5-6 hours to get
there. In fact, the last 6 miles took us about two hours to drive. There was
literally no road. Sure, someone had chopped down some plants and maybe driven
something out there in the past century, but we crossed ditches, went over
rocks, and through trees to make it out to Lesiret in Dan’s wonderful Toyota Land
Cruiser. I did not get motion sickness because of peppermint oil and the
favor of God, as I’ve been getting nauseous a tad bit in Nairobi. Thank you,
Lord. Let’s move to a few life-changing moments.
Life-altering moment #1: Steve and I were the first
white people to ever visit this village. Ever. In the history of the world.
Life-altering moment #2: Steve and I were the first
white people the teenagers and children had ever seen. In fact, the children
were extremely apprehensive around us at first, because parents in the Maasai
culture often tell their children that if they do not behave, the mzungu (white
person) will come and snatch them away. How terrible is that?
Life-altering moment #3: the people of Lesiret had
NEVER heard the Gospel before this trip. Please let that sink in. Don’t just
brush over that sentence. These Maasai had NEVER been told the message of
Jesus. This rocks me to my core. It makes me even more committed to using my
resources—money, time, and abilities--to get the Gospel to places that have
never been touched. No guilt trip intended, but if we are Christ-followers and desire
a life of abandonment to Him alone, why don’t we give our everything to reach
people who have never even heard the saving name of Jesus? How can we allow
them to die without Christ?
I am incredibly shaken and humbled, that in God’s divine
providence, He chose Steve and I, in the year 2012, to be the first
Christ-followers to ever preach the Good News to the villagers of Lesiret.
There are still hundreds of thousands of Maasai like this in Tanzania alone,
and they are considered an unreached people group in this country. And let me
tell you this: they were more than hungry to be taught the Truth. They were
starving. We allotted time to teach the Old Testament using the storycloth on
Thursday, and prepared to teach the New Testament on Friday. After finishing up
on Thursday, the chairman of Lesiret said, “We thank you for teaching us these
stories. We very much enjoy learning them and hope you are telling us the
truth. We want to hear more tomorrow.” Wow. God is good. He asked everyone from
his village to come listen to what we had to say. That is huge, because if the
chief and the men of the village receive Christ, many of the women and children
will as well.
So, God makes dreams come true. No, I am not trying to mimic
Joel
Osteen or sound incredibly cheesy. God places desires in our hearts that
only He can fulfill, and this is one of those instances for me. About a decade
ago, I watched the video
of a missionary sharing the Gospel to a people group who had never heard before
and saw them rejoice in dance and song over this Good News. Ever since then, I
have always wanted to witness someone hearing about Jesus for the first time.
Who knows why, but God allowed this dream of mine to come true.
And He also allowed Steve and I to teach the entire New Testament
on Friday. Steve taught the bulk of it and did an outstanding job, but I will
forever be struck by what happened when I stood up to speak in front of the 40-50
Maasai men and women. I started with Judas’s betrayal of Jesus and how Christ
was sentenced to die for crimes He did not commit. I have never seen a group of
people so drawn in to what the Spirit was saying at that moment. They did not
know what happened next to Jesus, and they were waiting intently to hear! They
were very quiet and somber when Jesus was crucified. However, they expressed
great joy when discovering Christ had been raised from the dead. On this day,
all of them committed their lives to following Jesus. Praise God!
Some Christians think that short-term missions aren’t worthwhile,
and others have asked, “Why not just help in America where much help is
needed?” I completely agree that we should be living out the Gospel in the
cultural context where God has placed us. This means America for most
Americans. However, I have a newfound commitment to expend maximum effort in
taking the Gospel to people that don’t know of the salvation Jesus offers. I have
also witnessed that the harvest is still plentiful in many areas of the world,
and that the human pride and worldly intelligence of many Americans cause them
to miss out on the simple but powerful truth of the Gospel. So I will continue
to send support letters and go on trips, and even though it can be awkward to
ask, I will continue to raise money for worthy causes like spreading the Gospel
across the earth.
And now to this week’s wackiest. (1) Maasai people hate
eating eggs. In fact, most of them would not even try one. We scrambled eggs
every morning in Lesiret, and they nearly gagged when the eggs were near them.
(2) Out of all of the disgusting things I have eaten in my 6 total months in
Africa, the Maasai milk was worse than drinking urine with roaches as ice
cubes. I would describe the milk as warm, chunky, bitter, thicker than jello,
and having the worst smell and aftertaste of all time. By the grace of God I
got one sip down, and passed the cup to someone else. (3) The day before we
arrived in Longido, Mikaeli’s daughter Hannah asked when her mzungu from 2008
was coming. I am her mzungu apparently. I guess she owns me? (4) A few of the
Maasai girls sadly performed a Shakira
song for us. (5) I got stuck up on a trail in the mountains having to go to the
bathroom in the worst way. The one that requires toilet paper. I flat out
sprinted down the mountain and made it just in time. (6) I constantly woke up
to loud donkey noises at night. Not used to that. (7) Steve celebrated his 21st
birthday in a Maasai boma. They gave Steve Maasai warrior clothes and made him
participate in a jumping ceremony so that he could officially be a man. (8). We
saw black lambs. I
didn’t know they existed. (9) We had to fetch water and pour it down the toilet
if we wanted to flush. The rule was “If it’s yellow, let it mellow, but if it’s
brown, flush it down.” (10) The Tanzanian and Kenyan people have so much
trouble saying “Go Gators.” It always comes across as “Goad Gatos.”
Sharing Christ in a village outside of Nairobi tomorrow.
Thanks for your powerful prayer! Love you all.
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