See Something More

I bent over and ducked my head to enter the narrow doorway into a traditional home, and my shoulders brushed both sides of the door as I entered. Inside, I could stand easily, for the thatched roof was high, held together by bendable bark formed into an    impressive grid that even an architect would appreciate. The circular walls were also formed in this fashion, which some mud around the base just to hold everything together.  I turned my attention to the woman who had showed us in. This was her home. She was dressed in a brightly colored fabric that looked exceptionally beautiful against her dark skin. It is one long piece of cloth wrapped once over the shoulder and then around a few more times, strategically tucked and somehow staying together. (I bought one and tried to dress myself in it, which was terribly hopeless. Even with help, I couldn’t seem to get mine to stay intact without the assurance of some safety pins!)  Her smile beamed in the darkness of her twelve-foot

“Wanninī gudio!” The children all shouted as they threw their hands into the air, following the missionary’s lead as she taught them the well-known children’s song translated into the local language: God is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY, there’s nothing my God cannot do! For four different afternoons, the missionary compound became a VBS campus, although we would never call it that since that would create too much ruckus among the Muslim leaders. So we just call it kids’ club, but don’t worry, the name may be watered down but the teaching is most definitely not.  Since this year’s kids club fell around the Muslim holiday when Abraham sacrificed Ishmael (as is taught in Islam), the theme of “sacrifice” was chosen.  Each of the four days included games, singing, memory verses, snacks, and an interactive Bible lesson. The four lessons centered on sacrifice: the first sacrifice God made to cover the shame of Adam and Eve in the garden, the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham,

We got off the paved road after four hours and then continued on a red dusty road for eight hours until I was convinced no human beings lived this far off the beaten path. Now you understand why I haven’t posted a blog in over a month. But here, in this remote, isolated area along a dried up river bed in East Africa, live a nomadic people group that one hundred years ago was entirely converted to Islam. Now it’s time for this tribe know Jesus Christ.  Africa Inland Mission (AIM) began with the strategy to take the gospel into the interior regions of Africa and create a barrier to stop the spread of Islam from the northern parts of Africa as it swept south. AIM stays true to this mission today, still targeting unreached and Muslim people groups. Although many countries in East Africa are technically evangelized or “christianized”, Islam has recently been creeping back in.  I was very privileged to partner with AIM this month and visit a missionary team who has been laboring ove