Ethiopia & Sudan Part II

On my second day in the villages where I worked, word had gotten out that a white man was moving through the area telling people about Jesus. That afternoon as we walked along a road that was more like a rain gulley, two young boys appeared beside us, John and Thanksgiving. It wasn't unusual to have kids tagging along. Many were curious about me and what we were up to. Some wanted money, so I didn't pay much attention to these two kids. After walking with us for about 10 minutes my translator told me they wanted us to come to their home and pray for their sick father.

We agreed and found their home just off the main market square. We walked through their gate and into a small, mud-walled room where these kids' dad lay on a bed. All I knew was that he was sick, and as I bent down to shake his hand and do the sort of half hug traditional greeting I had no idea if I was about to pick up whatever he had.
This is how we found him. Note the wrapping around his waist.

Turns out his back was injured. He was a contractor who'd hurt his lower back. When we walked in, he could barely sit up and was in enormous pain when he tried to change positions on his bed.
They pulled up a chair in front of his bed for me to sit on. Hymenot, the disciple maker I was working with, sat near his head on a mud bench built into the wall. He told me the man and his entire family were believers, and he wanted us to read some scripture and pray for him. Hymenot read a passage from Job and I picked one from Psalms. We read and prayed.

Then Hymenot stood up and placed his hands on the man's lower back. Since I was sitting right there, I placed my hands on the man as well. Hymenot began an impassioned prayer in their language for this man. The Spirit of God enveloped the room in a palpable sense. He turned to me and asked me to pray.

Afterwards we sat back down and the injured man's wife began a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony: essentially three cups of espresso. You can see in this photo how she began with green coffee beans that she roasted over hot coals. Then she ground them up and made hot us hot coffee that she served with rolls.
Roasting the beans, preparing the coffee.

As I drank my coffee, several other men entered the room. I asked them each to share their testimonies. As I listened, I noticed the injured man had sat up on the bed. A moment after this, he got up and walked out of the house and back in. We continued to talk and he remained sitting up on his bed. Finally I asked my translator to ask how he felt. My translator looked at me and said, "He feels fine."

I couldn't believe my eyes. Right before me sat a man totally healed.
Note the wrap is gone, he is sitting up with no pain.

The next morning the first place we went is back to this house. Since his entire family were strong believers (his wife had come out of witchcraft to come to Christ), the house became a place we could send new believers to start being discipled in a safe environment.

When we entered the home, everyone was on the floor praying. A woman heard about what the Lord did and came to be prayed over as well. She was a relatively new believer. When she professed faith in Christ, her neighbors shaved her head. Inexplicably, she started having pain in her head after it was shaved.

We laid hands on her and prayed over her as well. I'm not sure because we left fairly quickly after praying, but I believe she may have been relieved of her pain as well.

It was if I was walking through the book of Acts. More of why I say that tomorrow when I tell the story of coming face-to-face with an evil spirit.