Wild Hope - Going FAR
Going FAR – Zanzibar
Recently, Tammy and I planned a five day get-away on the pristine white beaches of Zanzibar. During the first evening, we took a walk along the beach and enjoyed seeing all the local Zanzibarians mingling with the tourists and enjoying themselves. Soccer and volleyball games, muscle beach exercises, swimming…it was the epitome of a holiday at the sea!
But the beach experience had a darker side as well. We were keenly aware of broken and desperate people. In Tanzania as well as Kenya, Maasai men come to the tourist beaches to sell trinkets and play the noble warrior for lonely tourists. It saddens us.
One night, I had a disturbing dream. In the dream I saw Maasai going to perform a sacrifice filled with occult meaning. When I woke up and shared the dream with Tammy, we prayed together and the heaviness lifted somewhat. But later in the day it came back and I had a stirring in my heart to have church on the beach.
When Sunday came, Tammy and I walked down the beach. When a young Maasai man greeted us, I answered him in Maasai. He was shocked. As we began to talk, I told him “I have a message on my heart to give to you Maasai here. Can you gather your friends together?” He immediately and enthusiastically said, “Yes!” and led us up to a small alleyway lined with stalls covered in blue tarps where they were selling their wares.
I began to share from Zechariah 4:6 with the 30 or so who gathered: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” As I shared, a strange peaceful heaviness settled down on us all…it felt like a holy moment. When I asked if any wanted prayer, a long line formed and Tammy and I quietly prayed for each one, some men with tears in their eyes. Three men gave their lives to the Lord.
As we prepared to leave, the Maasai escorted us down the beach and asked us to come back again. We said, “We will come back here tomorrow at this time, but now we are going back to our hotel. Would you please let us rest while we are there?” And they very graciously agreed.
So the next morning, we again made our way down the beach. As we walked Tammy said, “We really need to pray for a leader to continue ministry with these men. We don’t want to stir things up and leave.” So we prayed a simple prayer that God would raise up one of these Maasai as a leader, and then we continued walking to their stalls.
This time, over 70 people gathered. Again, the presence of the Lord was thick and everyone was listening closely. The Maasai language has several dialects and these Maasai were almost all Ilparakuyu from Southwest Tanzania. Their dialect is virtually identical to the dialect Tammy and I first studied 28 years ago and the comprehension level seemed very high.
As I spoke, I asked them, “So why did you all go and perform a sacrifice?”
They were shocked and laughed. “Who told you?! We did it because none of our businesses here are doing well and we are desperate.”
I explained about my dream and said, “You went to perform a sacrifice in darkness but the God of light gave me a dream and told me to come and tell you that there is no need to continue sacrificing in the dark when God has sent His only Son, the Light of the World, to be a sacrifice once and for all for the whole world. He loves you deeply and if you give Him your life He will guide you in love.” I then shared with them Hebrews 10:4: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
They fell under conviction and when I asked, over 30 came up to give their lives to the Lord. It wasn’t my ability to speak their language…it was much deeper than that. Tammy and I both felt this was a sovereign work of God.
After praying with those who came forward, I asked if anyone was already a believer and had a Bible. One young man named Petros came up carrying a Maasai Bible. I had noticed him before because he was the only man in the group who didn’t have the skin of the sacrificial animal on his wrist.
When I gave him a chance to share, he said, “Didn’t I tell you guys not to do that sacrifice! Now, look at what God has done. He has sent this white man to testify about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins through believing in Him alone!”
Tammy and I laid hands on Petros and prayed for him to be filled with God’s grace as he led them in studying the Word of God. We got his phone number and passed it on to our teammates Solomon and Sarah who work with the Ilparakuyu in Morogoro and who will be following up with him.
As we said our good-byes and headed back to our hotel, Tammy and I were in a state of shock. “What just happened?!” we asked each other. We had never experienced God moving quite like this before.
For me, this experience was a powerful reminder of our partnership with the Father. He prepared the way and then brought people to Himself. All we did was follow along, caught up in the flow of His river of grace.
To God be the glory!
Pray for these new believers. Pray for Petros. Pray for Solomon and Sarah’s connection with them.
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