Missionary profile – Esther Okello

Esther Okello: My Journey to Becoming a Missionary

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, and then the end will come,” Matthew 24:14

I am Esther, from Nyeri county Kenya; I did my bachelor’s degree in Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

On 20th June 2017, I finished my last exam, and the reality of transiting from school to the marketplace got real. I was both joyful and anxious, with humongous dreams to pursue.

I had sat in a Bible study facilitated by Missions Campaign Network (MCN) Angaza student one year before. All eight sessions were about unreached people groups and the unreached world blocs – new, strange new things I had never encountered as a church attendant since I was a toddler.

I heard of Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, un-religious groups, traditionalists and their need to hear the Gospel. The figures of individuals in the whole world who have never heard the Gospel and are probably not in a position to were overwhelming. But what could a third-year student do?

Three semesters down the line, the urgency and seriousness of these truths had faded. The joys of finishing campus, final lectures, projects, and assignments too over. Who doesn’t look forward to the finishing day, crowned by the graduation?

I then thought it would be better for me to take the Kairos course before finishing campus, or I may never get an opportunity to afterward. I had heard about this course from the Angaza students. Two months before my final exams, I took the Kairos course. 

During the course, I was convicted of attending a seven-week discipleship program offered by MCN in September of that year. After that, the idea of going for a one-month mission exposure came. I didn’t want to be derailed by internships and job-seeking.

In July, I set off for Marsabit together with my host, Grace. I had a good time seeing, knowing, experiencing the unreached, how to reach out to them, and the barriers, especially the language barrier.

By then, it had not occurred to me that one day I might spend years among the unreached. This was the beginning.

I’ve now married a Ugandan called Okello, and we are living and serving as missionaries.

For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:13-15

Adapted from https://web.facebook.com/MimiNiShahidi