Angel and Helen and their mission to Tana River

Angel and Helen chose Tana River as their destination for last week’s mission. Tana River is quite a journey from here, 8 hours by bus on terrible roads. Originally, we gave each student only about $12 each to cover their transportation, food and lodging for three days. Obviously this wasn’t enough for some of the places that students chose to go. Angel was so convinced that she needed to go to Tana River that she was willing to spend all her money on a one-way bus ticket and trust God for the rest. In the end, we didn’t ask her to do this, but she was certainly willing.

Angel

Helen

Helen is one of the older students. She carries a deep conviction that the Lord has called her to minister in Northern Yemen to the Muslims there. If you look at her age and resources, this might seem unlikely. However, when I see her ministering effectively in a place like Tana River, then I start to believe in her calling. I believe that one day she will go to Yemen and minister there.

Vaughn and Alejandro praying for us as we went out

Here is Angel’s report:

We left UMS and traveled to Mombasa on Thursday evening to book a bus to Tana River. WE felt like God had prepared a way for us, because there were only two seats remaining on the bus that could be booked. After booking, we spent the night near Mombasa, and boarded the bus at 6am Friday morning for Tana River.

After traveling a few hours, the bus had a flat tire. While it was being fixed I spoke to the Muslim lady seated next to me. Our conversation attracted the attention of other Muslims seated around us. Nobody got born again, but at least they heard the gospel.

We arrived at Tana River at 2:30pm. We visited a church, and prayed for the women there. Later that afternoon, we went to the hospital. We met some very sick people there, and prayed for them. We also shared the word of God in the hospital, and 6 people gave their hearts to the Lord, including one Muslim lady. At 8:30 pm, we went to the rooms that the church had provided for us. I shared the word of God with two young men who worked there, and they also gave their lives to the Lord.

On Saturday morning, we began sharing the word of God with some Muslim neighbors. To be honest, their reception was rather cold at first. Two ladies really resisted what we had to say, but we spoke to them anyway. After that, we met a young man who used to be a Christian had married a Muslim woman and converted to Islam. As we spoke to him, he told us how strongly he desired to come back to Christ. His Muslim wife joined us later, and we spoke to both of them.

The woman in the green had serious mental problems, unable to answer simple questions without great confusion.  After prayer, he condition was improved

We left that community and went to a neighboring community called Kibuyu. In Kibuyu we were warmly received. People seemed very hungry to hear the word of God. One young Muslim girl prayed with us to receive Christ, although she seemed very afraid to do so. We prayed for many people and their children. We prayed for an insane lady and several sick people. One Muslim lady prayed with us to receive Christ. 

We prayed for many children, and dedicated them to the Lord.

In the evening, we went back to the same hospital that we had visited the day before. Many of the people we had prayed for the previous day had already been discharged. The previous day an Islamic man had tried to prevent us from praying for his daughter, but we prayed for her anyway. Today, she was healed and discharged from the hospital. Many others had also received healing. It became much easier to preach to those who remained, and to pray for them, because of the testimonies from the previous day.

We met one young man who had been deeply wounded in his heart offended by the church. Because of this, he had backslidden. When we preached to him about the love of Christ, he opened his heart to the Lord once again. We returned to our rooms and slept.

When this Islamic woman thought we were bypassing her house, she insisted that we come in and share the word of God with her.

Sunday morning, before church, we visited an Islamic area and spoke to the people there. One couple prayed with us to receive Christ, although they did it in secret because of their fear. Another lady seemed somewhat unfriendly, so we passed her by. After we had prayed for the Islamic couple, we were surpised when this lady came and said to us “Why are you bypassing my home?” She really wanted  us to visit her. She welcomed us into her home. When we shared the word of God with her, she served us a drink and listened carefully to what we had to say.. We prayed for her, and she let us know that her doors were open for us to come back and share the word of God there again. 

When we got lost, the young boy in front was given to us as a guide

As we left that community, we got lost. Some women were kind enough to send their son with us to show us the way. Before we left, we stopped to speak to some Somali men who were selling miraa. When we spoke with them, they became quite hostile when we mentioned “Jesus”. We continued to talk, and eventually things settled down and they listened to what we had to say.

We prayed with this young man.  He really wanted to get saved, but he feared.  Unfortunately, he never took the step

When we tried to pray for this Muslim woman's child, she refused.  Later on, as she witnessed the results of our prayers, she brought her baby to be prayed for.  She allowed us to remove the charms on the baby that were given by the witchdoctor.

Chemi Chemi church, started by Francis and Timothy.  We ministered there on Sunday

All in all, we thank God for all the things he did during our three day mission. We returned to UMS with a lot of joy and thanksgiving.