He Will Finish the Good Work

As we have less than a week until we head to Niarobi, the Lord keeps putting these words in my head, "I will finish a good work that I started in you." I have complete trust and confidence that He is doing just that, especially concerning things that the Lord has been teaching me and even my teammates since we left home back in September. So please be praying that we continue to give into the Lord and what He has for us until we are home on May 9th.
I have included a blog of one of my teammates, Hannah, and it is about a day of evangelism two Mondays ago. It will forever be one of my favorite memories of evandelism so I wanted to share it with you all.

So as you all have read, my team and i do house to house evangelism every Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday.

Some days it goes really well, and sometimes not so well, but of all the good days we've had so far, Monday was by far my favorite!

The day Begin with a word from the Lord via our aw some translator and fellow missionary Benger. He heard that we were supposed to go a specific direction, so we headed off. We stopped at a specific compound of rental houses (made with mud and sticks), and Benger said "OK lets start here."

The first woman we met was named Sylvia, she invited us in and we learned that she was 18 years old and was a newly wed, and we knew from the beginning that she was a Christian, the joy of the Lord was all over her face. We prayed with her over her new marriage, and then she decided to take us around to see all her neighbors.

First she took us to see Alice, who was full of life and laughter, and so excited to see us. We talked awhile and then asked if she went to any church around. She said no, she had went to our church, IGC, a few times but then stopped. At first she said it was because it was too far to walk, but as we continued to talk, she told us that the real reason was that someone had told her that it was only a church for the rich, and that the people were rich because the church was involved in demonic practices. I was shocked, but i knew that it was just the devil working against the church and trying to keep Alice afraid. We talked to her about our experiences at IGC, and mostly about the blessings that the church had received (like a bus, and a car for pastor, a school, etc.) we explained that these were not a result of devil worship, but of much prayer. And that the church functions like a family, giving for the benefit of all. Then we told her that it really wasn't important if she went to IGC or not, if she was still afraid, there are so many other churches she could go to. The important thing is to stay encouraged in God and in fellowship with other believer, especially since her husband was not a Christian. Then after some more chatting we prayed for her, and her first request was for her personal relationship with Jesus to be stronger. As we were praying, she got down on her knees and Begin crying out to God, the Spirit of the Lord was there and after praying she Begin to sing worship songs of thanksgiving. It was so beautiful, spontaneously worshiping the Lord in a mixture of Swahili and English, in her little mud house.

Then both Sylvia and Alice brought us to their next neighbors house, Helen. Helen said she was a catholic, but was not saved. She then went on to tell us that many nights she would tell herself that the next morning she would get up, go to the church, and except Jesus into her heart, but then the next morning she would wake up and her heart would feel hard again and she would change her mind. She is a bar maid, which also means she is most likely a prostitute, and has 4 children, but her parents took the kids, because they think she is unfit to raise them. I felt Jesus' love stirring in my heart, and i got to tell her that we weren't there to convince her of anything, but that no matter what she does Jesus loves her, He stands at the door and knocks and just waits for her to be ready. Regardless of what she chooses He has, and will always love her. He has died for all her sins and His grace is sufficient for her. Then my teammates joined in with words of wisdom and love. And then the most beautiful thing happened; she opened the door to the knocking of Jesus, she Begin to cry and was finally ready for Him. We prayed over her that the Holy Spirit would enter into her heart and transform her life, and then when the timing was right Benger led her in prayer. Though this wasn't the first time we had led someone in the prayer to accept Jesus, this was the first time i was 100% sure that it was sincere, most the time i have at least a little bit of doubt. But this time i could feel the transformation of her heart, i could see it on her face. Afterward she told us that at night she wakes up from bad dreams and feels something holding her down to the bed. Demonic dreams seem to rampant here, so we got the chance to tell her that now she has authority over that presence in the name of Jesus, then we worshiped in her house, because we believe that nothing brings the power and presence of God like worship.

Then Sylvia, Alice, and Helen, took us to their 4th neighbors house, Mercy. Mercy is a believer, but she hasn't been to church or in any kind of community in a long time, because every time she is about to go there seems to be something that comes up, either her son gets sick, or her husband and her Begin to quarrel, or other things of that nature. Spiritual attack once again… Then Mercy told us something that was so exciting to my spirit, she told us that at night she dreams things, very specifically, and then in the next days that exact dream will come true, and even the other woman could confirm that that was true! The reason she told us was that she wanted to know if that gift was from God or if it was demonic. My spirit jumped, because i love talking to people about this, i got to tell her that all gifts and power is from the Lord, because He created her and everything about her, what determines if it is good or bad is the way she chooses to use the gift God has given her. We all got to encourage her to listen to the Spirit, and to spend time listening for the Lord to tell her what He wants to teach her and how He wants her to use this gift of prophecy. We got to tell her about the mighty warrior that God has called her to be for His kingdom, and that because of that she has to be aware of spiritual attack, because Satan wants nothing more than to distract her and stop her from using the gift that God has given her.

Then we talked to all 4 of these wonderful women about the call that God has placed on their lives. I haven't felt anything so strongly in a long time, as i did about the warriors that He has called them to be. He has such awsome plans for them, no wonder they were all being attacked so much! It was an honor to talk to them and be able to encourage them in their individual gifts, and to encourage them as a unit. We all so felt so strongly that God was calling them to form a community with one another, so that through prayer and accountability they can be more equipped to face whatever Satan throws at them, and to encourage one another in their faith in Jesus Christ.

We ended our day of evangelism all worshiping together in Mercy's house, what a beautiful day of dwelling in the presence of the Lord! Thank you Jesus!