“His question brought us to tears” – a missionary moment

I serve the Lord as a missionary among the nomadic Turkana people in Northern Kenya, as well as a host of refugees from over 20 nationalities in the nearby Kakuma refugee camp. It has been awesome seeing the Lord transform people through the preaching and sharing of the gospel.

Sometime back I got an opportunity to take the gospel and also distribute food to a village by the name of Nawountos. My friend Lee had who had some money and had a burden to feed poor people, carried food while I carried my Bible. He joked, “Eugene will carry the bread of life and I will carry physical food to feed the hungry.” And so we rode 80 km on a rough insecure road in a Toyota Hilux to the border village.

On the way, we were scared of encountering the raiders who openly raid their community. The Turkana from the Kenya side across the border raid the Ugandan communities and in turn the Ugandan communities would cross over to Kenya and raid. Raiding is a dangerous activity because it involves displacement of villagers, killings, and stealing.

We arrived in this village and gathered people and we began to distribute food to about 200 seated around a tree. Later, I came to share the gospel. I opened my Bible and shared the Word of God for about 30 minutes and then somebody raised his hand and asked a question. In pastoral or nomadic communities, it is culturally fine to interrupt a conversation or a story or someone speaking and ask questions. A man seated at the back raised his hand and asked a question. You see, I had told them that the gospel of Jesus Christ had come years ago to the big city of Nairobi and other cities. So this man asked, “If this gospel, this good message you are bringing to us today, came to Nairobi many years ago and came to the city of Eldoret and other cities in this country, who delayed this message from arriving to us so that we may believe?”

I looked at Lee and he looked at me and we were unable to answer; we just responded with tears. We left that village after the final prayer and this question was ringing in our minds. Lee was headed to the airport, to go back to America, and he cried, saying “Why am I going to America when there are villages on the Kenya and Uganda border who have no church and people living in the mountains who have never heard the gospel?” Finally he left and I was left behind and this question has always been at the back of my mind: “Who delayed this message of Jesus from arriving to us?” It is a challenge to us; it is a challenge to everyone who is a Christian, who has received the light. Could we be delaying the message for someone? Could there be somebody next door who needs to hear while we delay, assuming they have known, and keeping it to ourselves?

But I have some good news. I continue to pray for the village and after some 9 years I returned to that village last year and found that a church has been planted, and the gospel has reached the people of Nawountos village.

from Eugene Mbatha, a Kenyan missionary

posted on AfriGO social media on 20 May, 2024