Africa wasn’t just a vacation for me or a trip to make myself feel useful. I don’t want to use what I experienced in Africa as some bragging right to make myself look like a better Christian. I went on this trip to discover more about the call that God has placed on my life. I wanted more depth and experience in my understanding of the great need to spread the gospel. It was an adventure into a world I had never imagined existed. One where spiritual battles aren’t invisible, but are actual physical encounters. 

If you read some of my blog entries you will notice that this was the most difficult trip I have ever been on. The climate is harsh, the living conditions of the people heartbreaking, and spiritually I was stretched way beyond my comfort zone. Yet despite all of this going against me I still found the presence of God… Sometimes in the most unusual places.

When you go on a short term trip you learn a lot about yourself and about the members of your team. You are a group of individuals thrust together. You have every sort of personality and many differing beliefs, but yet you come together for one purpose. Together you are thrown into a new country, culture, and you are forced to face many hardships together. It would be an understatement to say that your faith is tested… Reality is… Your faith is ATTACKED. 

On this trip I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses. It was a very good trip for me spiritually. One of the major things I learned was that I do not feel called, as of right now, to be a missionary in Africa. I am not saying that I don’t have a heart for Africa… I am just saying that I do not feel that Africa is where God wants me to be a full time missionary. I still feel called to Brazil. However, the need in Africa is great and I am witness and an advocate for them. 

A major thing that God seemed to emphasize on this trip is that he is just as powerful today as he was hundreds of years ago. On this trip God revealed himself in a different way than usual. Usually when God is near you feel a warm feeling inside. You feel your heart leap and you get a wave of happy emotions. In Africa when God is near you feel his pain. You feel his broken heart and his mighty power. My team got the chance to witness two miracles. One was a demon cast out of a man. Some of you reading this might not believe that this truly happened… but let me tell you… things are different there. The people are tormented by demons. The witch doctors kill and curse people… The people drink human fat to see spirits, kill babies to make weapons, and use disgusting curses to slowly mame and kill their enemies. Satan is a powerful puppeteer…

Casting out the demon wasn’t like a Hollywood movie. It was just a man that went up to us and asked for prayer. As the men of the village and the pastor and our boys laid hands on him and a few of us girls prayed in our seats. The man began to shake and fell to the ground. He convulsed silently for a few moments and then shakily stood to his feet and immediately he praised God with all his might. 

The second miracle was a woman who received the gift of hearing. She came to our camp and asked if we would pray for her. She had been deaf for many years. Our team leaders and two pastors laid their hands on her and began to pray for about ten minutes. When they were done they asked her if she could hear better, but nothing had changed. Not giving up they went to the Lord again. They lifted her up for about ten more minutes. When they were done she said that she could hear a little better, but not perfect. One of our leaders took a few steps back and greeted her by saying, “En sha”, but she did not hear. Then he remembered the healing of a small child in India. Our leader snapped his fingers and repeated the greeting. The woman smiled and said she heard him. Then our leader stepped even further back and clapped his hands lightly. The woman once again smiled and said she could hear him. Then he walked a long way back from her and did the same. She could still hear! Overwhelmed our leader told the woman to turn around and see what God had done for her. She turned and saw that her hearing was better than ever! 

You see God can do miracles even now, and that I think is the one thing that God taught me the most on the trip. So often we think of God as disconnected from us, but in reality he is always there. To witness that… I can’t even put words to the emotions you feel. 

I would say the reason I felt so discouraged on a lot of this trip was because it was hard to see the impact we were making. You present the gospel again and again and again… Most of the people just stare at you and don’t get involved with the questions you ask and some don’t even look up at you. It’s a hard thing… One of the first nights we were there we presented the gospel message and everyone stood up for salvation. We knew that a few were genuine, but mainly the people were following the leaders of the tribe. We had been warned about this in training. You want so bad to know how many people you got saved… But you know… this made us realize that it wasn’t about a number like most churches want you to believe. It is about a soul that you touched and that was saved because you answered the call of God. You don’t need to know a number. Just do your best and God will plant and sow seeds where needed. A few nights later we had a genuine revival at the camp fire meeting and many stood on their own faith. Men, women, and children alike. A large number stood and accepted Christ as their savior. The next day we questioned them to make sure that they understood the decision and then we took a few for baptism. I have never been at a more beautiful ceremony. The scenery was beautiful and the only thing you could hear were Lozi hymns being sung to the Lord as seven people got baptized. God is good… all the time… and all the time… God is good. Tears came to my eyes because it was at this moment I knew that all the hard work and the stretching past my limits was for good. God did use me and my team and here we were witnessing new believers publicly display their faith.

In the end the trip was worth it. It wasn’t a joyride and it wasn’t all fun and games. It was pure hard work and determination, but the end result was astonishing. We left an impact on a tribe, an orphanage, and ourselves that would last forever. It’s hard to put into words what I learned and how I changed, but believe me… I did.