"During our time in Kenya, we spent a couple days doing village ministry with our contacts. One of those days I was going through the village with three young adults: two girls and one guy. We were walking from house to house, sharing words of encouragement, sharing the Good News, and praying for the locals. One of the houses we came up to was closed off with a fence, and when we called through the gate a man came around the corner of his house to see us. He yelled at us saying that he didn’t want to talk to us because he thought he had done too many bad things for God and that God would never forgive him. The young adults I was with told me that this man was just released from prison and that he might attack us with a machete. They were ready to leave but I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to go pursue this conversation with the man. After some convincing I managed to get everyone to go back with me to try to talk to this man, despite them being afraid. The man let us in this time, and I sat down across from him with the others and I standing beside me.
After about a minute of conversation the man grabbed a large stick beside him and began to stand up, which caused everyone with me to bolt for the gate. They ran away and I just sat there and looked at him, I didn’t move and I felt the Holy Spirit on me protecting me. After realizing that I wasn’t going to move, he got pretty awkward and just poked at something with the stick and then sat back down. After that the interpreters with me came back and we were able to have a very good conversation with the man about God and forgiveness and grace and His love. This led to the man saying that he wanted to start coming to church now and seeing what God had for him.
This story really encourages me because it is a reminder that when we trust the Lord and the Holy Spirit’s leading, we will be able to make an impact on people that we otherwise would have missed. We can know that He will protect us because He is leading us, and we can walk in that power and strength and accomplish great things through Him."
-Sebastian, Class 4 Cadet Defender
