“It seemed like Salvation was waiting to come to this
house…”
I love the afternoons at Missions of Hope
International. Don’t get me wrong, I
like every part of the day while at MOHI, but there is a certain expectancy
that rises when, in the mid to late afternoon, our Team makes our trek into the
community to let the WORD become flesh and dwell, if even for an hour or two,
among the inhabitants of the Mathare Valley.
We always go with very special friends, Social Workers, who
are part of the staff of MOHI…they are the REAL heroes; the ones who continue
to flesh out the WORD on a daily basis whether we are here or not. They are Co-Laborers in the Mission. They continue to lavish appreciation on us
for coming but we make it a point to say that we are in this together and it
makes our JOY complete to serve alongside of them…say a quick prayer for
Virginia, Maggie, Panina, and the MANY others who guide Teams through the
Valley.
On this particular day it just seemed like Salvation was
waiting to come to the house of a family who wasn’t on our schedule to visit. So, God led us to the house of Joseph.
I like it when God does that…we think we know where we
should go or, at least are planning to go, then He just winks and says, “Go to
this guy’s house…Salvation needs to go there.”
Though I don’t think this happens
all of the time I believe it happens enough in my experience so God can remind
me to live with expectancy rather that expectations; expectancy over watching
for what HE will do rather than expectations based on what I think is best and
how my agenda might be fulfilled. One of
our mottos while preparing for our international mission opportunities is “plan
ahead and be flexible”, that seems to sum it up…make/have some expectations but
let expectancy win the day…sure, we need to have both but let’s not box God in
with our expectations.
Our expectation this day was to go and talk with Mary and
Isabella, two women of the community whose children are a part of the MOHI
school. We went armed with the
Evangecube in our hands, the Gospel on our lips and the love of Christ in our
hearts…we went to both BE Jesus and to SHARE Jesus with our friends in the
Valley. Our expectations were met after
sharing Christ with and praying for our scheduled visit, and then expectancy
kicked in.
 |
| Rick C telling the STORY by means of Evangecube |
As we turned to move along to our next scheduled visit there
was Joseph standing there. Turns out he
had been listening in on our conversation.
Though he smelled of locally brewed swill he seemed genuinely intrigued
by what we were saying…this “20 something” young man invited us to his house,
so we went.
Our Team of five, together with three Social Workers entered
into the dark 12 x 12 foot house at Joseph’s invitation and was imposed upon to
take the best seats therein. In the
house were the grandmother, mother (in bed not feeling well), and three others,
neighbors simply visiting their friends, all were Christ followers The youngest children were finishing up
their school day at MOHI.
As we sat we were bombarded with the fact that Joseph was a
drunk and needed to stop drinking. The
Grandmother and one of the neighbors, Paul, repeated the chastisement in
Joseph’s hearing that alcohol was in control of his life and he needed to
stop…NOW! As the Social Workers worked
through a series of questions in Swahili, Joseph sheepishly agreed with their
assessment and said he wanted to be free from it. We responded in kind telling him we had
brought someone who could make that happen. At that, the mother, who was lying
on a bed behind a curtain, showed her face to see what was happening. We told Joseph God had sent us from thousands
of kilometers away to introduce him to Christ.
Through the use of the Evangecube, we shared the story of
the human condition and God’s provision in Christ, providing a way back to
Himself through Christ’ death, burial and resurrection. As we were finishing up the story another
gentleman appeared in the doorway, John, and he listened in with interest. We asked Joseph if he understood the story
and wanted to accept the One who would make of him a new creation…he said
YES! As the clapping and cheering
subsided Joseph confessed with his mouth the Lordship of Christ over his life
and his acceptance of Christ as Savior and Lord…and we PRAYED! With the Amen we gave a fast course in
discipleship 101 explaining a bit more about our new life in Christ, how he
could flourish in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit and how important
it is to be in community with the Church.
He was encouraged by the Social Workers that they would be back and
follow up with further teaching, a Bible and an invitation to worship.
In the midst of our short course John stepped forward saying
he wanted to do the same thing; so we did, and he DID! There it is…Salvation came to this house, we
said as much to the family, there was much rejoicing!!!
 |
| Joseph on the left John in the middle |
As the presence of God was in this small house we took the
time to pray for the grandmother who was ill and gave praise for a young boy
was no longer sick. As we laid our hands
on the old woman we prayed that God will do His work and heal her. Next, we thanked God for healing the young
boy. We made known that God is always
with us and He always will be.
We realize that the presence of Americans in the Valley is
itself a draw for people who want to see what we might be bringing…or at least
to see that many of us have quite hairy armsJ. Our presence draws a crowd, and just as
well…more people to see the WORD incarnate.
It seems like Salvation may be waiting to come to their houses too!
for team Kenya -- Tom Moen
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