UnreachedThe term “unreached” gets thrown around quite a bit, so let me clarify. While Buhungu is not a village which has never seen visitors before, it has never received any missionaries or evangelists nor had the good news of Jesus Christ proclaimed in it. There are no churches in the village, and no active christian men or women living within the village. In fact, when a young local missionary first came across the village the month before my first visit, the elders of the village said that they had never personally met a white man before.
On my first visit to Buhungu in mid July, I was received warmly by the people and their leaders, and to my amazement, was welcomed back to not only bring medical help, but the good news of Jesus Christ.
The Return
When I returned in early August, I was blessed to be accompanied by Dr. Len Ramsey (our local missionary doctor and helicopter pilot), as well as two dear friends from the States, Bond and Heather Gaona, who had come to minister alongside us for a few days.
I was on the first shuttle to Buhungu, arriving at 8:15 in the morning along with my good friend and interpreter, Gabriel, and a local nurse that works with Dr. Len, Adoneth. Dr. Len then returned for the Gaonas and a visiting friend of his own. Adoneth began setting up the medial clinic in an old, falling down mud and grass hut that served as the village school until the teacher left and never returned.
While waiting for the helicopter to return with my friends, Gabriel and I greeted the people who had come out to see us, and I showed him around the village. I noticed that there were many
more people than I expected to see, and that they were dressed a bit differently and that most were coming from the river to the east. Gabriel inquired of one of them and we found out that many people were coming from the far-off settlement of Mishamo, in the neighboring Rukwa region. While this would create a bit of a logistical issue for the doctor and his crew, it meant more people for us to share the gospel with!By the time that Dr. Len returned with the rest of the group it was about 10:30 AM and everyone in the village was up and out of their houses. They were waiting, along with about 150 visitors from other villages, near the make-shift clinic and landing site, when the helicopter finally touched down. I greeted those disembarking the aircraft, and as we turned towards the village we found ourselves being warmly welcomed with smiles and cheers and even a small choir of men and women singing, “We pray for your blessing.”
As Bond and I assisted Dr. Len with unloading and securing the helicopter, the choir continued to sing different songs to Heather, jumping and clapping and singing with excitement. They both enjoyed the special greeting very much. When we finished with the helicopter we walked up to the crowd to return the greeting. A short moment later, Bond asked me if he could go ahead and do the first gospel presentation right then, as there were about two hundred people all gathered together already. I said, “Sure. Go for it.” Then, through Gabriel’s translation, the gospel was presented to the crowd and many prayed and asked Jesus to be their Lord. It was a good start to the day.Spiritual & Physical Medicine
The rest of the day was filled with one-on-one and small group evangelism as we went from one family dwelling area to the other. Heather was also blessed to assist Dr. Len with the medical
outreach going on. He gave her a very quick tutorial on taking blood pressure and then left her alone to triage the hundreds of people waiting to see the doctor. I know the pressure was tremendous, but the Lord showed His strength in her and enabled her to do a great job, freeing up one of Dr. Len’s team members for other much needed work.
By the end of the day we had evangelized everybody there, either en masse, in small groups, or individually. We bought a couple of goats, several chickens, and many kilos of rice, so that
everyone in the village, including the many visitors from other villages, could have a very nice meal together. And to top it all off, Dr. Len was able to see nearly one hundred patients and assist them with their medical issues, ranging from the simple to the chronic, to the very serious.Our makeshift medical clinic
Throughout the day, and especially just before our departure, we were repeatedly asked for two things. For those seeking further spiritual help, we were asked, no, begged for Bibles. For those seeking further medical help, we were asked for a quick return.Next Steps
I know Dr. Len is willing to return for another medical visit some time in the future. And to say that I am ready to return for further evangelism and discipleship is an enormous understatement. I am extremely eager to get back to Buhungu and disciple those who came to Christ as well as to continue the work of evangelizing the mostly muslim population, but transportation via helicopter is just not cost effective. Please pray for this work that the Lord is doing. Pray for funds for Bibles and for a quad-bike to be able to reach this isolated village with no road access. Pray for those who received Christ as Lord to be strengthened by His Spirit, and for those who have not yet yielded to Christ to do so soon. And lastly, please pray specifically for Saidi, the village leader, who is a severe alcoholic (as is most of the village) and has not yet proclaimed Christ as his Lord, as well as for Moshi, an even higher ranking leader amongst the people who is also a muslim and has not yet confessed Christ as Lord.
Below top: Women and children waiting to be triaged and see the doctor. Below bottom: Young Tanzanian girl resting under
the shade of a tree.
No comments:
Post a Comment