Monday was a bit of a surprise. We went into the day thinking that God was going to lead us one way, but then found Him guiding us in a different dirction. We were going to Togiboty and Boubon. Both were Christless villages.
The entire day felt different from the very beginning. We had a different interpeter and we knew that we were going to villages where there were no believers. In most cases we understood that the people we would be sharing with would be hearing the Gospel of Jesus for the first time. We also knew that our task was not only to share the Gospel, but also to prepare the way for the team from Living Hope that will come behind us in May.
My main focus was on discovering God's will for where Living Hope's launch place for reaching this area would be. The early favorite was Tagiboty. The missionaries here had a good relationship with the chief and knew the village pretty well. They did not know much about Boubon, but were interested in seeing what the Lord was doing there.
We went to Tagiboty first and our first order of business was to meet the chief. He is a funny little guy with lots of personality. He laughs and jokes a lot. We gave him gifts (a bible, a cassette player, and a cassette tape sharing the Gospel), exchanged welcomes which I'd been trained and prepared to do, and we sat down in his compound. There were lots of people around and the chief looked nervous. He smiled and told us we had access to the entire village to pray and bless the people and we were hurried out.
We got out stuff together and got started. Jason Graham went first and did a great job sharing the "creation to Christ" Gospel presentation. About 20 people listened and we gave Gospel cassette tapes to the adults. We were then called to a man's home that wanted to talk with us. Bill Starr, Toddy Crosby and I went into his two room 10 ft by 20 ft home and sat down. The man's wife and two children were there so I felt safe... and then he started talking and I realized he was a witch doctor. I am sure there is a more pc name for his work, but regardless of what you call it, this man was working with demonic power to do some bad stuff.
We shared the Gospel with Him, but he was not interested. He'd asked us to his home because he knew that we were spiritual leaders. He wanted us to take his picture and tell people to come to him for all of their witch doctor needs. We assured him that we only shared Jesus and we offered up prayers for him and left.
Our next stop was to be at a man's house where his wife was sick. He told us that the prayers of the people here did not work, but he believed our prayers to Jesus would work. As we were about to enter his compound, an older relative stepped in and would not allow us to enter. He embarassed the man that had asked us for prayers. We just left.
We met and shared with others as we walked through the village. We were surrounded by children the entire time we were walking and praying who were holding our hands and rubbing our arms. Our interpreter, who has a very serious disposition started laughing and so I asked him what had happened. He told me that the little girl wondered why I had so much hair on my arm, but none on my head. I even get bald jokes in Africa:D
After praying by the river, we headed back to the chief. He wanted to talk to us again, but with less people. We sat and listened as he shared about the history of his people. We were able to get permission for our team to return in May and we left satisfied with that, but concerned about that village. Although the chief is great and there are some sweet people there, it has a darkness about it that needs the light of Christ to dispel.
We went and had a picnic lunch. We rode camels and relaxed for a bit and then headed to Boubon.
At Boubon we had a ball. Boubon is a little more modern. They have electricity and running water. The chief was away, but we met with his second in command and he was glad to meet us. We divided into twos to walk through the village and share the Gospel. The people were kind and receptive. Jason Graham and I both spoke and received a very warm reception. No one accepted Christ, but they were all very interested in what we were teaching.
We met up with the other team and they had the same experience. The people were very warm and open to the Gospel.
At the start of the day, we thought Tagiboty would be the probable place that we would launch from to reach "The Road to Karma," but it turns out that Boubon will probably be our base of operation as we seek to start churches in these three villages: Boubon, Tagiboty, and the village farthest from Niamay, Karma. Our hope is that Living Hope will adopt "The Road to Karma" a thirty mile stretch of three villages with about 50,000 people. It would be so great to see in a decade or less churches thriving in these three villages. The vision is clear and the strategy is sound. Now the prayer and ongoing sharing and training in Christ begins.
Would you be willing to pray for these three villages and the evangelism and tranining teams that will be going into them at least three times a week?
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