The Importance of Prayer

Wednesday June 20th. We had had two wonderful days of going to the Losimongori Primary School sharing the love of God through soccer, crafts and the Bible Stories. While the team was back at the Losi house waiting for their next big adventure of going to a Boma to share some more we were hanging out on the back porch watching the herds, kids and Maasai as they came and went. I, Pam, wanted to get a better picture of some recent initiates and walked toward the far end of the porch. The next thing I know one of the guys is trying to help me up. All I can remember thinking was, "Careful of my other leg."I had stepped on the cover of one of the cistern tanks and one leg had gone in and I landed on the lip with the other leg which I was sure was broken because of the way I was sitting on it. He picked me up and set me in a chair. We had 2 nurses in the group and they immediately went into action. Spraying my legs down with disinfectant and applying antibiotic ointment and bandaging the worst of my scrapes. I was then helped into the house to sit in a camp chair that has a foot rest.

We were all rejoicing that I was not seriously hurt. I was sure that the leg I had sat on had been broken due to the odd angle that I had landed on it and it was not. Miracle number one. The cut that ran up the back of my leg wasn't deep nor required stitches. Miracle number two.

You may wonder what the big deal is. Well.....


Tuesday June 19 Prayer Partners around the globe were praying the following using the Maasai of Tanzania Prayer Calendar: "Pray that the OFBC team will have good health while here."


When our interpreters, Mikaeli and Moses, came later that afternoon they were shocked and became very animated. They proceeded to tell me that the night before, June 19th, well actually very early the morning of June 20th,  both had dreams of a really bad accident among our group. They both woke up at 4 in the morning and began to pray that God would not allow a bad accident to happen. They knew that Satan wanted to cause a bad accident to stop the good work that God was doing through the volunteers.

We all believe that had it not been for our prayer partners praying on the 19th and Mikaeli and Moses praying in the wee hours of the morning on the 20th my "accident" would have been much worse. I truly don't remember stepping on the lid or even falling. I do know that God had His angels watching over me. There were pipes running all over the place in that hole and I missed all of them. I didn't fall into the hole which could have been fatal. I did not have any broken bones nor did I need stitches both of which would have necessitated a trip to Nairobi, Kenya.

The power of prayer, WOW! If the Holy Spirit impresses you to pray for someone don't hesitate. Stop whatever you are doing and intercede for them. Only God knows if your prayers will save someone's life.

Where No One (white person) has Gone Before

 Recently, we had two volunteers come to the Longido area to work with the Maasai leaders in sharing Bible stories from the Maasai Chronological Bible Storying cloth and to help with a new church start.  The 2 volunteers are brothers, one having just received his master's degree and one just finishing his sophomore year of college.  These brothers were very tall – 6’7” and 6’5” – so the Maasai were very impressed with these “tall white boys”. 

We went to Loisoret with 3 Maasai leaders.  We were well received with roasted goat in the bush and then given a tour of their water source – a natural spring with 2 overflow areas that eventually feed into a river bed.

Camp was set up and everyday, morning/noon/evening, we had curious on-lookers checking out the strange white people and their bomas (tents). 

The cooking experience was fun.  Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, canned meat, and other “exotic fare”.  The Maasai watched in amazement as we cooked over a gas stove – “instant fire” – as some described it.  One verified fact is that Maasai do not like eggs – at least in that area.  After cooking the eggs, we offered some to our curious guests, who reluctantly sampled some of our strange food.  Two Maasai even started gagging when the eggs were passed to them – it was too much for their stomachs to handle!

We usually had some snacks during the day and cooked pasta at night.  During our second night there, I fixed spaghetti and served canned fruit for dessert.  When the spaghetti noodles were finished, I drained them and proceeded to put the sauce on them.  One of the Maasai "spectators" asked what kind of food we had that night.  I told him that we had "cooked worms".  He proceeded to shake his head and walk away, commenting that these "good white people eat some strange food"!  We were able to show him later what the spaghetti really is and that it does taste good when the sauce is added.  The Maasai jury is still out on this taste test.

The Maasai came to hear the stories from the Bible Story Cloth for two days.  The Old Testament was covered the first day, then a short review and the New Testament were covered on the second day.  The singing was lively as usual and the jumping was something to behold.  My volunteers began jumping with the crowd.  They actually jumped higher than anyone there and almost hit their heads on some tree branches!  Our joke was that the Maasai agreed that “these white boys can jump!”

Many received Christ and a church was started.  The leader of the area was the first to “step out” and make a decision for Christ.  He is the designated church leader for now.  There is a Maasai seminary branch student who will finish his studies in November 2012 who will be going to this site to continue the work that was started during this time.

These 2 young men were really on the “cutting edge” of missions – the first white people and the first church started in this area.  It is something to behold when you join God in His work and are able to participate with Him.