Building With Eternity In Mind

The king should know that we went to the construction site of the Temple of the great God in the province of Judah. It is being rebuilt with specially prepared stones, and timber is being laid in its walls. The work is going forward with great energy and success.
EZRA 5:8 (New Living Translation)

When the four young boys wandered up to the church building site, their thin bodies and hollow eyes told a story of hunger. They looked to be no older than six years of age, with the youngest appearing 3 or 4 years old at the most. Missionaries Mark Stevens and Steve Stimson and the construction work crew had stopped for a lunch break. They were eating a meal of beans and rice when the boys appeared, herding the family cows. The children were dirty, barely clothed, and had no food or water with them as they walked over the dry and dusty ground. Mark quickly shared some of their beans and rice with the children, who wolfed it down hungrily. It broke their hearts to see children so young out herding cattle and obviously not attending school.

But as the missionary builders watched the famished children devour their food with the unfinished church building in the background, they had hope springing up in their hearts. Soon this place would be filled with families who would have the opportunity to hear the Good News of God’s love for them. The children would be able to grow up learning the Word of God and hearing of His good plan for their lives. And soon, a medical clinic and school would spring from the ground as well, bringing a practical demonstration of the love of God for the Maasai people. Their hard fought efforts were not in vain. They understood that they were building with eternity in mind.

One day two women appeared at the construction site. They had walked for nearly two days from their village to reach the place. They heard that God was building a church for the Maasai people and they wanted to see it with their own eyes. One of the women was a Christian and her friend was not. Pastor Zablon spoke to them along with the missionaries and together they led the non-Christian woman to a faith in Christ. They pledged to remain there until the church building was completed so they could attend the dedication ceremony!

The missionary construction team has been busy building lives as well as a structure for the church to meet in. They have prayed for the sick and seen healings. One day an older woman came to the construction site and inquired about having someone pray for her healing. She had seen the results of prayer in her village when Pastor Zablon and missionary Mark Stevens went there to pray for a young woman who had given birth to a baby and had not come out of her hut for several months. She was in a severe state of depression and no one could do anything for her. After they prayed for her, she came out and was laughing and smiling and she had even come to the well the next day, the first time she had ventured anywhere for months. This older woman asked, “Can the God who healed that girl, heal me too?” She was assured God could indeed heal her too. She received prayer and her physical healing and went on her way rejoicing!

Even the witchdoctors who had originally been so opposed to the building of the church are beginning to soften. One of them actually stood up for Pastor Zablon and the church building project during a town meeting saying the building should be allowed to go forward. Another witchdoctor invited Pastor Zablon to his boma (homestead) and asked for Zablon to pray for all the people and told them they had his permission to attend the church services! Zablon invited him to come also and suggested he bring all his witchcraft fetishes to be burned. The witchdoctor laughed and declined the invitation. But we know that God is moving on his heart to allow his people to go and hear the Gospel preached. So pray that the day will come that this witchdoctor will renounce his witchcraft practices and receive the love and forgiveness of Christ into his own life.

Thank you for your heart for the Maasai people - God is doing wonders in Maasai Land Tanzania!