This summer I had the opportunity to join First Baptist Church of Russellville, Arkansas and the International Mission Board on an evangelical mission trip to Mombasa, Kenya. FBC sent two groups of around 40 people each for two week sessions to work with the churches already established in the area. Our mission was to go "door-to-door" witnessing to people and help start new churches. I joined the second group that went from June 30 through July 13, 1999.

God did a mighty work in just a few short weeks on the East African Coast. Through our willingness to go and the servant-hearts of countless others supporting us, God brought over 7,000 people into His Kingdom, and He started 32 more churches. It was ALL God and nothing of ourselves, either. He did everything, and not one of us wants to or can take any credit for His work. We're all just thrilled to have been given the opportunity to witness the work of Jesus Christ first hand. I also want to thank, once again, everyone who helped make this trip possible for me. To all my friends and family back at First Baptist Church of Carson City and around the country, I truly thank you for supporting me on this trip. Without your help, none of this could be possible. Thank You. Now that you know some of the numbers from the trip, here's kinda how it went for me.

The Marketplace

After an inhumane amount of time on a plane, we ended up in Mombasa. As we drove from the airport to our hotel we noticed that the area didn't look the greatest. All we saw were streets littered with small shacks and run down buildings. We were all in a state of nervous anticipation to see what kind of hotel we would be staying in, but once we arrived at the hotel we all were truly amazed. The place was awesome! It was the typical island resort we all were secretly hoping for. We were impressed to say the least.

Once we got settled in we were given our "work" assignments. The first 4 days my partner, Heather, and I would be working with Pendo Baptist Church. This church was only three weeks old and was meeting in a school classroom. Our assignment would be to go out into the marketplace and tell the people about Jesus Christ and to invite them to the church.	Our Hotel

The first day, Heather and I met with Pastor James and our interpreters. Then we headed out to do some witnessing. Initially, we went to a small residential section and went into some homes. This was rather awkward at first because all of us were a bit nervous. I had no clue what to say so I was totally relying on Heather to carry the load until I got the hang of things. She did a great job, too. Soon we were in the middle of the marketplace witnessing to people left and right. After about five minutes Heather was no where in sight because we both started talking to people and God lead us in totally different directions. It was absolutely amazing. Once the day was up, we met back at the church for a little devotion and some rest before our van came to pick us up.

Heather & I w/ Pendo BC Group

Worship Service at Pendo BC

The next day was Sunday, so I was given the opportunity to preach my very first sermon there at Pendo Baptist Church. Since I am in school studying to become a pastor, I was pretty excited to give it a shot. My only concern was that I would have to use my interpreter since they didn't speak English very well. I had already learned how hard it was to keep a thought flowing when you have to stop for the interpreter to translate. I learned that the day before. I would get so interested in listening to my interpreter that I would forget what I was saying. Well, I thought it would be hard...and it was. Heather was great though. She encouraged me a lot and gave me plenty of compliments even though I thought it went horribly. She's wonderful. The really good thing about the day was that the church attendance doubled just from God using us talking to people the day before. It gave us a chance to see that our faithfulness was really making a difference in their lives.

The next day, we headed back out to meet James and start ministering to more people. On this day, I had the opportunity to lead someone to Christ for the very first time. Her name was Beatrice, and she was a sweet, 15 or 16 year old girl. I presented the Gospel to her and her friends, and when I asked if they wanted to pray to receive Jesus Christ into their lives, she told me she wanted to. I prayed with her right there in front of her friends. It felt so wonderful to see a young girl stand up in front of her friends and say that she wanted Jesus in her life. That gave me the confidence and eagerness I needed to continue witnessing after no one had accepted Jesus the first day. By the end of the day, God allowed me to see 5 people accept Jesus into their lives.

Heather got really sick and couldn't join me the next day, but after another day of witnessing with Pendo BC, I saw 8 more people accept Jesus. One elderly gentleman and his son were sitting listening to the radio when we approached them and asked if we could tell them about Jesus. He politely turned off the radio and listened with an undivided attention. When I asked if they wanted to receive Jesus, his face lit up like I've never seen before and he couldn't wait to pray with me. So immediately him and his son prayed to invite Jesus into their lives. Their lives were completely changed and their faces told the story.

Witnessing in the Market

The Mechanics and Pastor James

When the day was over, Pastor James led me around the marketplace to take pictures before I left. I was just taking pictures and not really looking to do any more evangelism for the day. God had other plans though. On our way back to the van, we walked past a little auto mechanic shop where 4 guys were working on a car. As we walked by, they called to us asking what we were selling because we had been giving out tracks all week, and they heard about it. So we went over and explained that what we had was free, and I gave them all tracks and began witnessing to them. All four of them ended up praying to receive Jesus into their lives. That blew my mind because I finally realized that even when I wasn't looking to "save the lost" God was already working on people. He was already setting up our "divine appointments" with these people, and He led me right where He wanted me to go without me even knowing it. That was cool.

On Wednesday we had a well deserved day of rest. I never thought that walking and talking could be so exhausting. Actually, we didn't rest at all now that I think about it. We spent the whole day shopping and running all over town. It was a good break anyhow. It allowed us time to relax a bit and prepare for the next half of the trip when we would be at different locations with different partners.

On Thursday, Anne, Susie, Kim and I went to a completely different location. Instead of being in a crowded market, I was in the middle of nowhere working with Bombo Baptist Church, which was another new mission church. We all joined with an interpreter and started hiking in different directions through the countryside looking for people to witness to. Eventually, we would stumble upon a small village and start talking to everyone we saw. Then, it was off to find some more people. For a while there I thought we were gonna end up in Ethiopia or something because we would walk forever. All our hiking payed off though because many more lives were saved among the rolling hills and mango trees.

Stumbling Upon a Village

Hiking in Search of People

Friday brought more hiking. We were pretty beaten up by the end of the day, but it was well worth it since we were able to see more people come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I met one young man and his wife that told me they were already saved. We had a good conversation, and the young man led me over to a neighboring village to witness to some people he knew were not saved. The family we met invited me into their hut to pray over a lady who was very ill. I presented the gospel to this lady and she accepted Jesus. Her elderly father would not let me even talk to him about Jesus, though. Then, the young man who came with me began speaking to this gentleman, and the father ended up accepting Jesus, too.

Me Running the Offense

Later that afternoon, we had a date to play the Mombasa Baptist High School Varsity basketball team. We were looking forward to this day all week because this team was the best basketball team in the area. They had won all the championships, and now they wanted a piece of us. Actually, we set up the game. Our leaders, Danny and Rusty, told them that we wanted to play them in a game where the winner would get this brand new basketball we purchased. Of course, they accepted the challenge. We weren't a team, but we had plenty of young guys to put a team together. Anyway, we went out there and put on a little show for these young men. We won by like 15 or so, but they didn't go down without a serious fight. For one stretch, they had us on the ropes and the crowd was absolutely insane! We were playing outside, and we still couldn't hear the guy next to us because they were cheering so loud. It was nuts! We quieted them down though. All in all, the game was a lot of fun for everyone. They got a new ball, and we represented our country well.

Sunday morning, I preached my second service at Bombo Baptist Church. I thought this one went much better. It was the first service where I actually got to see a live chicken walk through the "sanctuary." That was cool. After the service, we said our good-byes and headed back to the hotel to fly home.	Me w/ Bombo BC

Monday was spent in Nairobi as a day of "tourism." We couldn't go to Africa and not go on a safari for cyin out loud! We woke up at 5 am and went out on the safari. That was amazing! I got to see everything except for elephants which weren't in this area and hippos which had migrated for the dry season. The missionary said that no one ever sees as much as we saw. God must've like our trip cuz He blessed us with His creatures that day.

Eating the Animals!

After we saw all the beautiful animals running wild, we went to a restaurant called the Carnivore and ate all those sweet animals! That was yummy!! We had giraffe, zebra, crocodile, something called a hideabeast and the usual beef, chicken, etc. The best part was that Danny and Rusty found out that it was mine and another guy's birthday in a day or two so they had the waiters sing to us. It wasn't like an American restaurant song though. It had African heart! They came out with bongos and sparklers and the works. The place went crazy! It was awesome! It topped off a perfect 21st birthday. How many other people do you know that got to go to Africa for their 21st birthday and see thousands of people become Christians? It sure beats getting drunk, which is the American way...

After all the fun and excitement of being tourists we got back on all the planes and flew half way around the world again. Of course it was just when we were all getting over jet lag! Oh well. We had a wonderful time and were able to see God bring thousands of people into His Kingdom. After all, that's why we went. We didn't go to have a great time seeing lions and monkeys. We went to have a great time sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. We went to share the hope and peace that we have as Christians to those who don't know about Him. We didn't even have to travel all over the world to meet some exotic people to tell them about Jesus because there's millions of folks right here at home that don't know. We need to get off our butts and start telling them. That's why we're here in the first place. I think that's why I was sent to Africa. To learn that people are people everywhere you go and if they don't have Jesus in their life then they're still going to die without Him. It's my responsibility to tell those who don't know because I DO know. I saw Kenyan Christians with a heart for God that had no fear in telling their friends and families about Jesus Christ. We need more of that here in America. I hope that's what I'm bringing back home; not just some stupid pictures and stories of Africa. Life's not about stuff. It's about worshipping the one true God, Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, all our luxuries don't mean a thing because they can't get you a personal relationship with the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, and it definitely can't get you into Heaven. Only Jesus can!

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