An Opportunity to Witness!

We had a good day in church this past Sunday.  It was our first Sunday as interim pastor and pastor’s wife in the Madory’s church while they are in the States for six months.  Yikes!  I’ve never been a pastor’s wife before, and it is a little scary for me.  My fear is that I will forget something really important.  And I also fear that I will make some huge mistake in the culture here and offend people.   Honestly, I feel like a brand new baby starting all over trying to learn a new culture.  I thought the culture here would be very similar to New Guinea, and in some ways it is, but it is still a distinct culture of it’s own.  But it is excellent experience for both BJ and I in the ministry.  BJ is loving every minute of it.  He spends many hours in his office (part of our shed) reading, praying, and studying in preparation for his sermons.

I will be teaching a couple of ladies’ meetings in February and March, and I am looking forward to that.  I love to teach.  I am tossing around the idea in my mind of trying it in Swahili!  I much prefer communicating in Swahili in Kenya even though I am still far from fluent!

I have had such a heavy burden on my heart for my neighbor, Elpina.  I have been begging God for opportunities to talk with her about salvation, but at the same time did not want to push too fast too soon.  I have her constantly on my mind.   I am hesitant though, not knowing the culture very well yet.  I do not feel confident witnessing in this culture yet.  What is the best approach?  Will the same questions we use in America work in Kenya?  You know, as a missionary kid, I never paid much attention to the culture.  I just lived life and loved it.  But as a missionary wife, I am learning more than I ever did as a kid that people think and act differently because of their culture.  So I have been asking God (rather impatiently) for wisdom and an opportunity to talk with my neighbor in His time.  I told Him, “Please drop it in my lap, so I can know it is time.”  Well, today, He did just that!

She sat on my veranda chatting with me for a while about different things.  

Then I remembered something!  I told her, “I want to show you something.” And I ran in to get my Swahili Bible.  I was just going to show it to her because BJ had bought it for me this morning at the bookstore he visited.  It is a beautiful Bible, and I am so proud of it.  Then when I got in the house, I thought, “What a great opportunity if she is holding my Bible in her hands . . . “  I brought it outside and showed it to her.  She really liked it.  Then she opened it and started reading Psalms!   She translated the verses for me into English.  Well, God opened the door to naturally ask her if anyone had ever showed her verses from the Bible about how to go to Heaven.  She said, “No,” so I asked her if I could.  She seemed happy about that.  How I longed for my English Bible with the verses marked and the pages almost memorized, but I was holding a brand new Swahili Bible.  I took her to Warumi (Romans), and went verse by verse through the Romans Road with her.  She read the verses in Swahili, and I then quoted them in English so that my mind could follow along.  She told me that her church does not explain the Bible like this at all.  It is a merely a bunch of rituals that they go through.  It was such a blessing to be able to tell her my testimony of salvation and what God did for me.  I could tell that she understood the way of salvation.  The Seed of God’s Word was planted.  Please pray with me that it will bear fruit in her heart.