Yesterday was awesome!In our normal morning devotional time, we (as a whole team -- all 30+ of us) felt like Jesus wanted to do something different with our time in Masi. We ended up praying and worshiping about twice as long and then as a whole group, took it to the streets (and by it I mean Jesus!). We grabbed the two guitars, left the building and started singing and worshiping as we headed to two specific houses -- one lived in by a man named Mfunkedo and another a woman named Angela. We all felt like the Lord wanted us to press in for healing (Mfunkedo has bad leg problems -- he's an amputee -- and Angela is an AIDs victim who was likely on her death bed the first day we met her -- but not right now!).
It was such an intense day. As we walked to Mfunkedo's, people from Masi heard the praises and came out of their houses to join us. We had quite a troupe by the time we got there. We then met Mfunkedo and told him what we were up to. The first thing he told us was that he wanted to know Jesus and asked us right then and then to pray with him about that (which we were excited to do!). We had met him on Sunday and had told him the Gospel then -- he wanted to think about it but was ready yesterday! He prayed and worshipped with us and we spent time praying for his legs. Nothing incredibly crazy happened there but it did bring the presence of God to that corner of Masi (it's now called the corner of Good Hope by the residents). People were constantly coming up and pulling team members aside and asking to know more about Jesus, to pray about connecting their hearts to Jesus and to pray for healing. Several people came from streets away because they heard the shouts of praise to God.
After several hours (no joke!) we headed to Angela's house and did more the same. She has improved greatly since we came and is excited to hear about and know Jesus. While the AIDs might not be gone yet, she is getting stronger by the day (really! The improvement is amazing!).
As I started with, yesterday was awesome! But it was also intense (as you can imagine). As far as prayer points for the remaining days:* We are all tired. It's a fact of life that when you run hard you get tired. Pray that the Lord will continue to be our strength as He's already been.
* Also pray against spiritual oppression in Masi (and South Africa!). It was even more noticeable today than other days to me. Every child I saw had the ancestor worship strings tied around their stomachs. They are supposed to ward off evil spirits by the power of the ancestors but in reality it just brings spiritual bondage to dark forces. Also, their is a "prophet" who claims that when people pray to his picture he heals (and not by the name of Jesus). His picture was in almost every home I went into today and one very sick boy had his picture tied around his neck. It's heartbreaking to see people turning not towards the truth (Jesus!) but to darkness. Much love from South Africa land --Brandon
* Also pray against spiritual oppression in Masi (and South Africa!). It was even more noticeable today than other days to me. Every child I saw had the ancestor worship strings tied around their stomachs. They are supposed to ward off evil spirits by the power of the ancestors but in reality it just brings spiritual bondage to dark forces. Also, their is a "prophet" who claims that when people pray to his picture he heals (and not by the name of Jesus). His picture was in almost every home I went into today and one very sick boy had his picture tied around his neck. It's heartbreaking to see people turning not towards the truth (Jesus!) but to darkness. Much love from South Africa land --Brandon