Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The latest newsletter arrived from Nancy and Bob Calvert, workers with the Maasai, arrived at my computer as I was sending yesterday’s update on using weather reports as a prayer guide. Their report of the experiences of a recent volunteer team from the US is a mixture of praise and inspiration for further prayer. It is also a great example of how weather is often a critical part of mission work. Here is the first half of their report:
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We had some interesting experiences these past two weeks. We encountered more witchcraft than usual … and opened up a new location with hundreds of lost Maasai … Tom, Jake, and Neal storied well and during our 9 days in the bush, a total of 127 responded by raising their hands to pray to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord … We showed up at one enkang' (Maasai homestead) and there were about 25 Maasai men slaughtering a solid black sheep as a witchcraft sacrifice for rain. The drought has become very bad … We politely talked with the elders and asked for permission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. They kept us waiting for about an hour. We sat on volcanic rocks, which are really toasty as they absorb the heat from the ground!
After about 45 minutes, the Maasai translators, two of our Baptist pastors, (said) they knew this sort of Maasai and believed that they would never give us permission to tell the stories of Jesus Christ. I (offered) to come back on another day to tell them the Good News. Instead the folks finally acquiesced and came filing over to the only few acacia trees that had some semblance of shade. All the men were wearing a sliver of black sheep's skin on the middle finger of their right hand, signifying that they believed in the sacrifice. Traditional Maasai actually believe this short piece of skin is their god and they trust it to bring rain. We were so encouraged to finally be able to share with this crowd; however, it was a short-lived victory. Five of the men refused to greet us, which is very rude even for Maasai, and just walked off. The other 20 came over and called about 20 women to come with them. As we began to share Bible stories, three of the men, about five feet away from us, began to heckle, make rude gestures, and basically verbally abuse us. I could not hear all of what was being said but I "got the drift" because our Maasai pastors, Isak and Moses, were becoming very agitated. Tension was mounting as the spiritual battle was being fought.
Somebody must have been praying for us because at that moment, I recalled Psalm 22:3. This verse states, "Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel" (NASB). I quoted the verse to Isak and Moses and asked them to start a Maasai praise chorus. They replied incredulously, "These people are not believers. Why sing praises?" I implored them to start because based on the verse, we could trust God to show Himself strong. Amazingly, once they began to sing, everything started to change. The people began to clap and sing the chorus, even though they were not believers! Their facial demeanors actually changed. The three hecklers just got up and walked away! Most Maasai Christian songs are antiphonal, meaning the leader sings the chorus and the people repeat it; he then sings the verses of the song and the people repeat the chorus. The first song Isak sang was, "The God of Daniel is the true God". This is always a favorite with Maasai since they themselves have faced lions. The second song was what really got things moving, "There is no God like You, Yahweh!" After a bit, we continued to share the stories and using the storying cloth, this time with a fairly attentive crowd. Once the hecklers were gone, about 40 people got to hear the Gospel; five people boldly received Jesus Christ that afternoon! What a difference was made when we began praising God! This is a lesson I will never forget having seen it with my own eyes!
As another answer to prayer, it rained the last night we were in this area. As it started raining, we prayed that it would rain in the area all around that particular enkang', but not rain on it. We wanted lack of rain there to be a testimony against these men's sacrifice and as a testimony for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ … (the conclusion tomorrow)
Posted by Bert Yates, CCC Prayer Advocate