Aaron Harp

africa

I apologize for not giving an Africa update sooner.  God did many wonderful things in our time in Kenya, more than I can recount here (or in words for that matter).  But I will share a few things.

First of all, a little about the trip.  I went with the youth from my church, which was a blessing in itself just seeing how passionate the students were about sharing their faith.  We worked alongside a few different churches in the Nairobi area helping them plant churches in less-churched areas.  We joined them in taking the Gospel to the people in these new communities and invited them to worship with us.

The second day we were there was a Sunday so we went and worshiped with the church we would be working with that week.  They allotted us visitors a part of the service so we led them in a few songs and shared our testimonies.  My first thought was, "Maybe only a few of us should share since all of our testimonies are basically the same.  We grew up in Christian homes and learned about Jesus from the time we were in diapers."  But I didn't voice my opinion and we all went ahead and told our stories.  We all finished and sat down and the pastor came up.  To my surprise he began to tell us how encouraged and challenged he and the congregation were by our testimonies.  He pointed out that there were not many students in their church and challenged the parents to bring their children up in the Lord.  I sat humbled.

One of my prayer requests on this trip was that I would experience the power of the Gospel anew.  This certainly was answered.  The Gospel not only has the power to change the lives of the people you are telling it to.  It becomes alive and confirmed in your own life each time you tell it.  I experienced, in myself and through the eyes of the Kenyan believers, this truth.

Many people (Kenyans and Americans) heard and experienced the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God.