I'm going to combine 2 days in to one email because I didn't get a chance to write yesterday. I had a bad a morning yesterday and was trying not to break down and cry. Like I wrote before, this country is just starting to become whole and as a country is starting to turn to God but there is still a tremendous amount of spiritual warfare going on. It feels like the enemy is coming after me big time. It was such a dread feeling this morning for me to think that I had to go into the field. Right before we left to go into the field I ran back to my room got on my hands and knees and asked God to give me enough strength just to make it thru the this day and not break down and cry while in the field. One of my fears is this; I'm the type of person who will go to a party but I hate the entrance part. When we get to where we are going in the town of Gatumba we have to cross over a bridge and that overwhelming feeling really starts sets in. Each day when we get to the church, I get quickly out of the Van and hurry myself into to church so I can hide for another 20 mins as we pray and get our directions for the day. Then I have no choice and my pride will not allow me to show fear, so I venture out. Then as soon as we head down the road and start speaking with people (which usually happens with-in 100ft of the church) I start to be ok. This is where God takes over. Next thing I know I've been out for hours and have only gone about 3 blocks and have spoken with 100s of people. Time just flies by and when I get done I feel wonderful. For me, the rewards for being here is people actually want to hear about God's word. I'm constantly surprised that I can actually speak about God (with knowledge) and share about God. People truly want to hear us speak and because of us, our coming to Christ. Yesterday I stopped in front of what I thought was a church that was set 100 yards off the road. There were about 20 older people sitting just off the road in a small patch of grass. We approached them and thru my MP I asked if I could share with them and they said sure. We shared with them for about 30 mins and all of them came to Christ tell me that is not God because it sure is not me. We when we finished, a older man about 60 years old told me thru my MP that he was a Muslim until we spoke to him about the free gift. He said we convinced him to accept Christ as his Lord and Savior. That was huge to me. He came to our Church for the late afternoon service and how been there for each service and each get together we had. As for what I thought was a church that we were in front of when we were sharing with this man was in fact a Mosque. Another time a lady heard us speaking and wanted us to come to her home so she could ask us some questions. I assumed she had a biblical question about salvation or she was Muslim and wanted to debate. When we got to her home we all sat down outside her door and she ask me this; I want know if God can forgive me if I had an abortion. Also ever since she had the abortion she could not get pregnant and had been married for 3 year s with no children. You have to remember this is huge thing in her country to not be able to have children. She believed God was punishing her for her abortion. So I told her of course God would forgive her and all she had to do was confess. That's when she told me she was not saved. I asked why and she said because she didn't think she could because of her past. So we worked thru that for about 30 mins and her and her husband both accepted. So now I'm thinking this is not so bad, I started to get up to go and she says before you go can you pray for me to get pregnant. She says if you pray I know I'll get pregnant. So we spend another 30 mins trying to get her to understand that even he she couldn't get pregnant there are many other ways to have children in her life including adopting one of the many orphaned children in her country. I shared some of my own personal testimony so with God's grace and his discernment, we pray and we pray and we pray boldly that God will (if it His will) that she gets pregnant. We went back to visit her today and she was very happy to see us and she shared with us that her husband had told her yesterday before we came over that she was not to have anything to with those crazy muzungus (white man) and now he saved and has been at church with his wife. God is showing me so many things on this trip. I got up today and felt pretty much like I did yesterday but again, It turned out to a great day in the field and over a hundred & fifty people have come to Christ thru my team in the last 2 days and I think as of this morning I think they told us over 4 or 5 hundred have come to Christ in the 3 days we being out and there is only 7 of us here from the states. Please give yourself a pat on the back because even though this was all God doings and not mine or yours these people would not have heard the Good News without all of you partnering with me with your prayer and financial support. Please do not stop praying as we are just getting started and this is just the 1st of 3 weeks in Africa and I won't be able to get thru it without it. When we were coming back to the hotel thru town during rush hr (I've only see one traffic light in the entire country) which is a crazy thing in itself, I was sitting in the front seat and watched as the driver (going about 1 mile a hour) bump the car in front him and I didn't try to stop it because I assumed it was normal I was wrong, the driver just was not looking. Because of how crazy it is, I thought it was normal. Here's the kicker, no one stopped. We went to a restaurant to eat tonight and when were leaving the restaurant that is next to Lake Tanganyika, I was shining my flashlight toward the grass area on the side of the road and there about 30 ft away was HUGE Hippo eating pretty cool Marina was all worried that it was going to eat us even though we were in the van we laughed at her. Please pray that I start to get some real sleep. Please pray that I let God use me as He sees fit and not as I see fit. Even though it's been hard and whole lot different than last year, I'm happy to be here and feel blessed to get to be part of increasing God's kingdom . Thank you for your support. Thank you for helping me come here...the rewards outweigh any concerns or problem I may be experiencing.
Sharing [together] what God can and will do thru all of us. Amahoro (Peace)
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