Veronica

Veronica, like so many women we meet, is a widow. Her husband was killed in the 2007 tribal clashings over the presidential election. She lives in the tough, tough region in northwestern Kenya called Turkana. It’s dry, barren and has temperatures at night of a still hot 85 degrees. There’s little rainfall; safety and security are always an issue because of tribal warring and stealing of cattle and possessions. Typhoid and diphtheria are rampant because of contaminated and often scarce water.

Traveling by matatu for two days from that distant land, Veronica met us for a week of training. Vibrant and engaging, she excitedly greeted me, “I love God so much. Life is very hard, but God has helped me.” It’s easy to see why she does what she does – starts and makes new relationships, shows love in practical ways and shares the Good News of Jesus Christ with people who are living very hopeless lives.

These are some of the things she shared with me:

“In the evenings when the kids play around my home, I call them and bring them together. I sing and sing and sing with them. Then, I begin to tell them so many stories from the Bible. They love to hear those stories. Also, sometimes after the daily duties and people are at their homes preparing food, I go to the home of a woman and I share with her and ask her if I can pray for her. Others will come and see, so we talk about many things together and I pray for them. I ask them if we can do a DBS (Discovery Bible Study) together. I tell them how they can experience Jesus Christ in their lives and how their lives will change. Now, I have women I meet with two times each week, on Wednesdays and Fridays. When I meet with these women on Wednesday, we do DBS together. We discuss so many things from that DBS. We also share what we will do to obey what we have learned. They go out on Thursday to share something with someone and then when we meet on Friday, they report how it is. They are strong disciples and they are helping others to become disciples. We are also teaching them how to take care of their children and their homes.

“There was a lady who was so angry in our village. She was always disturbing people and fighting with them. She had a weapon called a tribal knife you wear on your fingers. She would use that weapon on anyone. One day that lady was passing by my home and she heard that audio Bible speaking. She was outside listening, so I asked her, ‘Why don’t you just take those things you have for fighting and put them aside. Just come and sit with us and listen.’ So, she did. When I stopped the Bible to ask the questions we had been taught so each one can share, that lady, said, ‘Veronica, why won’t you open that machine once more so I can hear what it is saying.’

“After listening and discussing, that lady said to me, ‘So you have something very good here that it seems it can change how someone is thinking. What do you call that thing? Is it from God or where? I told her, ‘We are hearing the Word of God and yes, it can change our lives.’ You see, all of us suffer. We are experiencing so many problems in our homes and have little. Then that lady she said, ‘Yes, it’s true. My children are just at home. They are suffering. There is no one there. There is no food and no one has cooked for them anything.’ I told her, ‘Come, just sit down, we listen, we listen and we will see what God has to say to us. She even told me, ‘I will not leave your home til morning. I will listen and listen til I am tired.’ She listened to that story about Jesus when he was chasing the demons that was in the pigs and how he chased them and made them go away into the ocean. She said, ‘Ah, it seems I have the demons.’ I told her, ‘When you believe, those demons, they will go away.’ So that lady used to come to me and say, ‘Do you have that radio?’ I would have to tell her, ‘No, that radio is somewhere. Let those people use that radio for one week, and then, I will call you and we can listen.’ You know that lady, she left my place and she went and told those other drunkard ladies, ‘Let’s go to Veronica. There is something good there that can change our lives.’ That lady had chased her husband from home and there are so many things that were bad that had happened in her life. So now that lady is being discipled. She told me that now she has changed her life and God is helping her. Now she even wants a new name. She is now waiting for baptism and her life is really changing. She wants her name to be Elizabeth. She says when she will be baptized, she wants to take that new name.”

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. Always rescuing, always restoring, always giving hope to those who need it the most. Thank God for the Veronica’s who are not ashamed of the Gospel or afraid to share it with others.