Thursday, March 27, 2008

In the first part of the latest newsletter from Bob (Maasai Team Leader) and Nancy Calvert, you read how God was at work during their volunteer team visit and how they had prayed for rain, but for none on the Maasai homestead “slaughtering a solid black sheep as a witchcraft sacrifice for rain … to be a testimony against these men's sacrifice and as a testimony for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now for the rest of their report and to learn if and where it rained:
I almost killed Joe and Jake (their confession) when I took them on a hike up a 6000+ foot mountain to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Maasai on top … About half way up … they were very red faced and puffing hard … They were amazed that their 30 something bodies couldn't keep up with my 50 something body … but I reminded them that I lived at 6000 feet above sea level and they probably lived at around 60 feet … While my goal was to keep moving toward the Maasai villages up the mountain, I said if we saw one person, we would turn back. They must have prayed in earnest because in less than 10 minutes, a man came walking down the road … we shared Christ with him and walked back down the road to the mission vehicle. They were excited to see God answer their prayers so quickly!
We had actually tried to drive up this road but there was a locked gate … This was an interesting situation because on this mountain there are 2 plateaus … one … leased by a present-day colonialist who hates anything Christian … this evil man has claimed the road is his and has refused anyone, even the residents on the mountain, to use the road … the local political chief (sort of like a mayor) … graciously wrote me a letter for permission to pass through the gate to give to the gatekeeper … (who) still refused to open the gate until his boss, this present-day colonialist, gave him permission … I allowed (the gatekeeper) to use my cell phone to call him. The "owner" refused to allow us to pass even though we had a letter from someone whose authority came from the Kenyan President...
We were defeated by the evil one and his minions that morning; however that afternoon was a different story. We left the mountain and proceeded to an area where a Maasai man … told us there were hundreds of Maasai who had never heard the Gospel. We came upon a primary school just a few kilometers from the Tanzanian border. The headmaster (principal) greeted us and … we found out he was a believer in Jesus Christ. He was elated … confirmed that there was no Gospel witness in the area. He pointed out a few enkang'itie (homesteads) … we found over 20 enkang'itie with over 100 people in each of them … we came upon another witchcraft ceremony sacrificing a sheep for rain. We were not invited to stay … and started back ... We found one last enkang' in the area and … the elder of the enkang' was from the age-set of Neal and me, so we asked for an audience with him … We led him to Christ while the others of the team led the rest to Christ! The evil one won the battle in the morning, but Jesus won the war in the end. I'm planning to head back into this area with future volunteer teams.
On the last day we shared the Good News at an enkang' that had 2 men from of the oldest age-set, the Nyankusi. As we completed telling the stories, we asked who would like to pray to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. One of these old men stood up and said, "If your God will bring rain, I will believe." We asked him to pray with us to receive Jesus Christ and by faith trust Him to bring rain; he agreed. We prayed for him and prayed for rain. That night, early in the evening, just before the sun set, it began to rain. We were so excited. We stood on top of the vehicle to try to see if the rain was headed for the enkang' of these two older men. Praise God, it was raining on top of them. Most amazingly, it was not raining in the area where the black sheep had been sacrificed earlier in the week. God will not share His glory with another.
As a follow-up, the long rains have begun in Kenya. Some areas of Maasai-land are indeed receiving rain! Thank you for your prayers! In light of the stories above, please join with us to: PRAY for follow up with all these new believers; PRAY for new churches to be developed; PRAY for the hard heart of this present-day colonialist to be softened and for an opportunity to share Christ with him; PRAY for the casting out of the evil one in this area and that we take the area back for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; PRAY for these new believers to go and tell the story of Jesus Christ to others until the last Maasai hears the Good News; and PRAY for rain in all of Maasai-land. BOB AND NANCY CALVERT

Posted by Bert Yates, CCC Prayer Advocate