God is Faithful....

About a month ago, God gave me the opportunity to start a Bible study with a few Turkonan men.  The Turkonans who live in Maralal (the town where we live) are mostly refugees.  They were forced from their homeland during the 2007 elections due to violence, severe drought or violence from cattle rustling.  The people of Maralal are not happy about the Turkonans moving into town.  They think the Turkonans are thieves, beggars and nothing but trouble.  

The first Turkonan I met was Joseph.  When we met, I told him that I’m a missionary and he asked if I could get him a Bible in KiSwahili.  A few weeks later I presented him with a Bible and that's when God opened the door for me to ask him if he’d like to get together for a Bible study.  Jospeh agreed to meet.  I was excited, but nervous, because I had not heard a lot of good things about the Turkonans.  I thought the best thing to do would be to meet at the local shop in town where Joseph works.  This way, we would be in a public place (Heidi is always stressing about "safety first").

The next afternoon, I arrived at the shop for the Bible study and I was quite surprised....... There were five men waiting for me, Joseph, Frances (the owner of the shop), Tony, Bonafess, and Hussain.  Frances apologized, and told us that we couldn't have our Bible study at the shop, but we could meet in the room in the far back.  Needless to say, I was starting to get a little nervous.  Frances then left in a hurry and said he would meet us there later, then Joseph and the three other men escorted me down, what seemed like, a maze of back allies.  I figured this was the point where the abduction would take place.  So I prayed, "God I am here to serve You, please keep me safe!".  I was way out of my comfort zone at this point, but I knew God was there with me. 

After making it through the allies, we arrived at the back room to begin our Bible study.  God is good.  We started the study by going around the room and introducing ourselves, in a normal friendly fashion.  Most of the men were Catholic, Turkonan refugees with families, but the last man to introduce himself was Hussain.  Hussain is a Turkonan refugee, he’s single, he's HIV positive and he's Muslim.  I thought , "God did you know Hussain was coming today?!?"  "I'm not equipped to deal with this, I have no idea what to say to Hussain. I’m not ready for this.".  I could almost hear God responding to me, "Don’t worry, you are where I need to be and I am ready.".  And so we began; me, Hussain, Joseph, Frances, Tony, Bonafess and Lord Jesus. 

We started by reading the Beatitudes.  I thought this was a good place to begin because of the humility and peaceful attitude portrayed in the Beatitudes.  We read them first in KiSwahili and then in English.  We had our discussion and were getting ready to leave, but Hussain picked up the Bible in KiSwahili and began reading the next section aloud about the Salt and the Light.  We all stopped and watched God's blessing unfold as this Muslim man with a fatal disease was searching for more.  Searching for God in scripture, searching to find himself in the Beatitudes.  My heart stopped and then it began to race. I was so excited!!  I was so over-joyed and humbled by the fact that God would allow me to witness such an amazing beginning in one of His children.  Thank You Lord Jesus, thank You. 

During this first meeting to study the Bible, I was nervous, scared and, at one point, not sure if I was going to make it home.  But now, I look forward to our weekly time together to read the Word.  This situation has taught me that I need to continue to go where God sends me and that He will show-up and take care of the rest. I pray that Hussain will commit his life to Christ and I am thankful that God is allowing me to witness His works within Hussain.  Please pray for the men engaging in this Bible Study.  Pray that God will use us all to make an impact for His Kingdom and pray for the good works that God is doing in Kenya.  God is faithful when we are obedient to His calling.  He was certainly faithful on that day......  Amen.