Steve and Matt in Africa: The Tale of Lesiret

As I write this, I am wearing a clean pair of briefs. Why is this big news? Well, I went four days this past week in the same under garment. I’ll explain later. I know you’re excited to hear about that. Anyways, I’m sorry that it has been so long since the last blog, but Steve and I have been without the internet for the past 18 days, spending time in Tanzania with the Maasai people. I realize I am the master of hyperbole, but outside of Christ saving me, this past week was the greatest experience of my life.

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 21^st 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.

Steve and Matt in Africa: Gangs and the Gospel

Where were we? Oh yea, when I last wrote you, God had shown his favor by connecting us with Pastor Vincent, who was starting a church in Kawaida. Well, we went to that church service on Sunday, and let’s just say that God is hearing your expectant prayers and is blessing the faith and work of His people. The service lasted 3 hours, and there were about 25 children and 10 adults in attendance. It was a slightly smaller crowd than we estimated, but God obviously knew what He was doing. More on that to come.

One tidbit I have gleaned from these small villages is that the louder the speaker you can get your hands on, the better your church must be. I guess it’s a similar sentiment to some churches in America: the bigger the building, the better the church. But I digress. Even though we had been there before, the music was so loud there was no wondering about the church’s location as soon as we got out of our car. Pretty sure Ugandan and Tanzanian citizens heard it. As we approached the site, we began to realize that the music was actually Vincent playing some sort of plastic keyboard/synthesizer, while he and his wife sang a reggae Christian song with surprisingly nice harmonies.

We were slightly discouraged when we arrived to find only Vincent’s family, a couple of kids, and a DJ and MC at the service. Honestly though, this was to be expected as the place filled up over the next couple of hours. There is absolutely no concept of time here. It doesn’t exist. If something is advertised to start at 10, don’t even think about getting there before 11. Mom would fit in perfectly here, right dad? Before the service kicked into high gear, a man named Henry, who owns the land where the church resides, asked if he could be born again. Henry repented of his sin and confessed Jesus in front of the “congregation.” I have a strong opinion regarding the “sinner’s prayer,” and I talked to Pastor Vincent afterwards to be assured Henry would be discipled. We must teach people how to follow Christ and be true disciples—not just lead them in a prayer and send them off to live the Christian life on their own.

Some Christ followers in America claim that the term “born again” is too churchy, but if using Scripture to describe salvation is churchy, then label me very churchy. I love how Pastor Vincent, in sharing the Gospel around the village, often told the story of Nicodemus. In this passage, Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The life of Christ fully transforms us into new people. We are not a part of the Kingdom of God if we have not been born again.

This leads me to another revelation from sharing the Gospel this past week. Like many Americans, a lot of Kenyans profess to be Christians, when in practice they have no relationship with Jesus and no interest in following Him. It is so much a cultural norm for Kenyans to say they are born again that even the youngest children in attendance describe themselves this way. Side note: in these smaller village churches, EVERY person introduces himself or herself and says they are born again. This is one of many reasons why the services take forever. Anyways, Linda Gandy, our host missionary in Nairobi, is quite bold in using Matthew 7:21 to lovingly confront Kenyans who think they are Christians but have no relationship with Christ. The more I ponder it, while we are not called to judge one’s salvation experience, isn’t it better to make sure our friends and family know Jesus rather than avoiding one awkward moment of gentle confrontation that could transform their lives and impact their eternity? We must continue to share the Gospel at all times and to all people, even if they are members of our church. We never know who the Spirit is drawing to Christ.

At village churches in Kenya, you can be asked to give a word to the people at a moment’s notice. Pastor Vincent called on me to speak, and I enjoyed sharing a mini-message from Acts 5. As far as Pastor Steve is concerned, he flat out rocked the mic when he preached. He taught on the story of Elijah and Mt. Carmel, where the prophets of Baal were put to shame and the God of Truth was glorified. He was a natural up there, and it was so exciting to see him passionately share the power and faithfulness of God.

At the end of the service, a man named Daniel took the microphone and expressed his desire to be born again. This was no ordinary man. Daniel was a member of the Mungiki, an outlawed criminal organization in Kenya who rejects the Western lifestyle, the modernization of Kenya, and the Christian faith. This gang has been responsible for the raping and killing of Kenyan citizens in the last decade, including a practice of beheading matatu drivers (Matatu). While the Kenyan bureaucracy claims the Mungiki are an outlawed organization, many believe they occupy government positions. The lesson here? There is no one in your life out of God’s reach. I often find myself giving up on friends that I believe will never come to Christ, but anyone can be drawn by the power of the Spirit and transformed by the grace of God. So, I urge you to identify people in your life that you think will never follow Christ. I will join you, asking God to save those that I have given up on.

After Kawaida, we spent Monday and Tuesday at the Karibu Centre (Karibu) in Thika, Kenya. Orphan care is especially near and dear to my heart, as I spent 3 months in 2008 at Tumaini Miles of Smiles Centre (Tumaini). Further, James 1:27 cannot be overstated. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” We also know from Scripture that God is a father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5), and the Karibu Centre is following His command to care for orphans. They have an abandoned babies wing of the centre, housing 20-25 children who were either discarded in dumpsters, kiosks on the side of the road, or other less-than-ideal situations. I love the work that Karibu Centre is doing, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. As Christ followers, we have all been adopted into God’s family, and I believe there is no better way to show the heart of the Gospel message than by adopting a helpless, parentless child. I pray that everyone reading this blog would think about whether God is calling you to adopt, for He will make a way if He leads you to do it. Regardless, Christians are supposed to be extremely generous people in the world, and we are to be at the front line of helping the “least of these” in society. Are we all doing our part?

We could instantly see the love deprivation these babies experienced, as many of them reached out their little hands to be picked up by someone. A baby boy named Innocent was screaming and crying looking for anyone to tend to him, and he immediately stopped crying when I held him, resting his sweet head on my shoulder as content as could be. Any time we left their presence, they would all come to the end of their concrete play area and peek their tiny heads around the corner, possibly wondering where we were going or if we would be back at all. They were so cute that I almost didn’t mind being covered in urine for a day. All of the kids were wet and soaked our shirts, but that wasn’t nearly as bad as when I sat in a puddle of urine, wiping it off with my hand because I didn’t want to put the child down.

The Karibu Centre also has a school, and they let us spend time in the classroom, teaching a group of kids the game “Flower.” In 2008, I made up this form of Hangman, because I didn’t find it appropriate to hang a man in front of the 5-6 year old African children. For each letter they guessed incorrectly, I erased a petal of the flower until the flower died completely. Don’t worry--we always gave them enough clues to keep it from getting to that point, because I couldn’t crush their beautiful spirits! We also watched them do their “This is a” exercise, where a 4-year old would take a ruler twice his or her size and smack it against each picture on the chalkboard, saying, “This (pronounced theeeeeeeeeees) is a house. Theeeeees is a ball. Theeeees is a trrrrree.” Incredibly cute.

Steve and I also spent time playing with the kids during recess. They loved when we picked them up and spun them around, and were obsessed with brushing their hands through our hair. I admit that some of my ostensibly altruistic motives for working with orphans are mixed with my selfish desires to hangout with extremely cute kids. I repent. Don’t fault me for it. They are so dang cute. We were struck by the euphoria these kids expressed because a couple of white people were around, and how every toddler brought us their toys and said, “Teecha.” The excitement was even more than at Tumaini in 2008.

How about this week’s wackiest? (1) At Karibu, I almost pulled a metal door off its hinge because I didn’t unlock it properly. That was fun. (2) We went to the market in Thika to get fruits and veggies with Luke Kincaid from Karibu, and it smelled worse than manure. I had my tennis shoes on and stepped right in a very muddy spot, and I probably have parasites and worms teeming in my right foot now, but it’s all good. The produce is waaaay fresher and more natural out here than in America, and it is delicious. Kind of makes me like veggies. Kind of. (3) We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant, where the meal looked like baby food and sponges (Ethiopian Food), but was unbelievably tasty. I may move to Ethiopia now. (4) I nailed my head on a dwarf-sized doorway and was almost knocked out cold. (5) I also slammed Steve’s fingers in a car door, but it only made a small dent and he was miraculously ok. He just looked at me and nonchalantly said, “My fingers are stuck in the door.” (6) Steve haggled with a street vendor to buy a lot of nice roses for the Gandys (our missionary hosts) for about 250 shillings ($3) and Raybans for about 200 shillings ($2.50) with the help of Emily—a wonderful missionary here!

After spending a sobering day in the slums of Kibera, we are all packed and ready to head out to Tanzania in the morning. May many souls be saved for the glory of God!

Steve and Matt in Africa: The Favor of God

I am pretty sure this is the longest post I have ever written. The Spirit has taught us so much this week that I must get it down on paper! So I am sorry for the length, but I hope this encourages you a whole lot in your walk with Christ! Psalm 5:12 declares, “You bless the righteous, O Lord. You cover him with favor as with a shield.” If any theme has emerged during our first few days in Kenya, it would definitely be that the favor of God is on His children.

I hope to avoid this being an “I’ve come to Africa so I must love Jesus more than you” blog. Those really bother me. I also wanted to avoid technology and stay away from the computer as much as possible, but I thought it was crucial to encourage friends and family praying for us back home that your prayers are effective and powerful through the Holy Spirit. More than anything else, I want these next two months to be a true partnership of many believers in Christ across the world lifting up expectant prayers to our Heavenly Father, asking Him to move mountains in our lives. Talking to local pastors here has revealed that Christ still heals the sick, saves the lost, casts out demons, and loosens the chains of captives. He is real. He is alive. He is constantly moving. I feel like the man in Mark 9:24 who cried out, “I believe. Help my unbelief!” I do not see these things happen on a regular basis because I often have very little faith in a weak representation of an Almighty God. Help my unbelief, Lord. May I have big faith in an awesome, powerful God.

Back to the theme of the week. Steve and I first experienced the favor of God in the Tampa airport. We were supposed to pay $430 for three extra bags we brought with us as gifts for some of the Kenyan children and families. However, the woman at the American Airlines check-in counter allowed us to check all five of our bags for FREE. It cost us nothing. Luck? Not at all. The favor of God? Absolutely. On the flight from Tampa to Miami, I sat next to a man that someone in UF’s athletic department had wanted me to meet. He just “happened” to be near me, works in athletics, and loves Jesus Christ with all of his heart. We have already been talking about how we can minister and work together in the sporting world. The favor of God! The London security got us on the fast track through security so we could make our flight to Nairobi. The favor of God. Travelling to Nairobi, we sat in front of a woman from Burundi and became good friends with her, discussing why we were going to East Africa. The favor of God. Finally, all of our bags arrived to Nairobi (a major feat in and of itself) and absolutely no Kenyan officials looked through our bags. We literally walked right through customs and security without anyone batting an eye at us (we were a little concerned they wouldn’t let us bring in all this U.S. stuff for the Kenyan kids). Oh, the wonderful favor of God!

If you read nothing else, I really want you all to know about Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I never fully understood the sovereignty of God over the affairs of men before this week. I previously possessed head knowledge, but you cannot beat experiencing in your heart what you have always thought to be true in your head. As many of you know, we were supposed to be with Sport Outreach Kenya (SOK) these past few days. And as those of you who have been to Africa know, Africa Wins Again (AWA). I tried my best to plan a trip where our gifts could be utilized for the sake of the Gospel, but Steve and I truly left it up to the Holy Spirit to guide us. “Use us in ANY way you see fit, Lord.” And He did just that. We simply did not sense the Holy Spirit leading us to work with SOK, and we really did not see any need for us there. Also, we weren’t really sure how much they were trying to reach the kids for Christ, so we left our meeting discouraged about how we would spend the next three days.

As we were walking back to our missionary’s house on the compound, we were stopped at a small building by pastors from Sema Leatherworks. I had actually heard a lot about them through an IMB missionary, and you can check out their group here: Sema. To make a long story less long, we connected with Pastor Vincent and immediately sensed the presence of the Spirit in this man, as well the Lord’s guiding us to work with him. It “just so happened” that he works in the leather shop Monday through Thursday and does outreach and evangelism on Friday and Saturday. So, we decided to join him on Friday. The favor of God!

It also “just so happened” that he is planting First Baptist Church Kawaida, and their first service is this Sunday (tomorrow). We walked around Kawaida in two groups and invited many people to come to the church service, which led to several opportunities to share the Gospel. I was able to share the story of Creation to Christ with a shoemaker (I never got his name), who has read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but is not yet ready to receive Christ. I pleaded with him that today is the day of salvation. I also shared with him what my pastor in Gainesville teaches about Christ: Jesus was often passing through towns and asking people to follow Him or telling fishermen to drop their nets and come after Him immediately.

The man appreciated my urgency and said that he would like to talk about it more on Sunday. Steve and I also got to share the Good News of Christ with a man about my age named Robert. Aside: it was so cool getting to share the Gospel alongside my brother. And that really made me wish sis and Ju were with us too! Back to Robert: He actually approached us first, and after talking about what we were doing there, he said, “Well how can I be saved?” Insert heavenly music and a divine gift dropping out of heaven now. Robert believes that good works are enough to have eternal life in heaven, and we were able to gently show him Scripture that counters this view. He too wants to accept the gift of Christ, but he is just not there yet. Please be praying for both the shoemaker and Robert.

Today (Saturday), we went back to Kawaida for more invitations and evangelism. By the way, if there was any worry about Steve adapting to the Kenyan lifestyle, it has completely disappeared. He is a smashing hit with the children, and his extremely laidback personality is so Kenyan it’s not even funny. People around here should stop referring to him as “mzungu” (white person) and start calling him “mkenya” (Kenyan).

On this visit, we recruited a bunch of watoto (children) around the village to help us move chairs to the extremely small First Baptist Kawaida building. They became the focus of our day. After watching the watoto climb trees and teaching them how to do pushups, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to tell stories from the Bible and share Christ with these 10-15 kids. Through a translator, I was able to tell the first four stories of a story cloth Steve and I are learning (Kanga). I discussed Creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah’s Ark. After introducing the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, I was able to proclaim that Christ was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

Please pray for the outcome of today’s story time. Normally, I would be rejoicing over 10-15 kids receiving Christ as their Savior and Lord (which is what happened), but I was very concerned that the kids had done this many times before. I want them to understand that salvation is certain through accepting Christ once, but it is common around here for watoto to receive Christ every time there is an opportunity (just like in America). I was not going to give an “invitation,” but Pastor Vincent said we needed to do it. He and I spoke outside after story time, and I asked him to promise that these kids would be discipled when we left. We are not at all about “getting people saved” or making numbers look good. Steve and I want those kids to follow Christ with all of their hearts. I am excited to be able to see them at church again tomorrow, so please pray about their relationship with Christ and that they would understand what it means to follow Him.

Before I end with the week’s craziest events, one more item deserves an entire paragraph all by itself. STEVE IS PREACHING TOMORROW! Yes, Steve Seitz will be giving an opening message before the pastor speaks (the service will be several hours). How cool is that? He is going to be the first person ever to speak at First Baptist Kawaida, and he is a mzungu at that. Please pray for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit and that people would be very convicted and encouraged by the Gospel message. I am experiencing so much joy seeing Steve’s love for Jesus. It puts me to shame but pushes me to love Christ more.

Shifting gears to close, how about this week’s wackiest? (1) Well, if you have never driven on a Nairobi road before, consider yourself blessed. We have encountered flooded streets (it is raining constantly here), a man in a wheelchair that we almost nailed, a 20-motorcycle funeral procession in front of a bus with a coffin on top, a lightning bolt exploding a transformer, a man with a 20-foot stick walking in the middle of the road. Madness. People literally drive wherever they want here. There are almost no lane markers or signs indicating upcoming speed bumps. If you are a fan of amusement parks, just skip the roller coasters and come join the crazy on the streets of Nairobi. Wow. I love what Steve said about it: “I’m excited to go for a ride here, because it is always an adventure.” Amen to that. (2) I sat next to a Bolivian woman on a flight who did not speak a single word of English, and I do not know any Spanish, other than “gracias.” We talked with our hands almost the entire flight, and she never quite figured out that I COULDN’T SPEAK SPANISH. (3) We have been wearing huge goofy gumboots (Gumboots) all over the very wet Kawaida. Pictures to follow. (4) We have been forced to eat more than any human being has ever tried to consume. It’s not that there is a lot of food at any one sitting, but every Kenyan is so hospitable and wants to offer you chai and chapati (Chai/Chapati) or Blue Band sandwiches (butter sandwiches--Blue Band). We are so full! (5) Steve and I drew water from a 75-100 ft. well. Very bad news for anyone who falls in.

I love you all so much. Sorry for the length. Talk to you soon!