Encountering Love

Shea and her hus­band Saj are full of love for the six dif­fer­ent vil­lages they serve whole­heart­ed­ly, despite strong oppo­si­tion and rejec­tion from with­in both their com­mu­ni­ty and fam­i­ly. Their con­fi­dence in the mes­sage of hope they car­ry and heavy bur­den to reach the lost, far out­weighs the dif­fi­cul­ties they face. 

“No mat­ter how much slan­der we face, we know the mes­sage of hope and peace will bring trans­for­ma­tion to our com­mu­ni­ty. The seed sown amidst oppo­si­tion will yield its fruit in time. Though we are fool­ish to our com­mu­ni­ty, the final vic­to­ry is ours.”

Dur­ing the day while the men are out work­ing, Shea vis­its women in the vil­lage, build­ing friend­ships with them, lis­ten­ing to their trou­bles and offer­ing to pray for them. She has a beau­ti­ful gift of hos­pi­tal­i­ty and a big heart for the needy. 

In a place where peo­ple face dai­ly strug­gles just to sur­vive, hearts are slow­ly open­ing to the good news Shea and Saj car­ry. Grad­u­al­ly the bar­ri­ers are being bro­ken through the pow­er of rela­tion­ship and the couple’s gen­uine, deep love for their neigh­bours. A grow­ing num­ber of peo­ple now gath­er togeth­er every week in their home for fel­low­ship and encouragement.

One young woman whose life has been changed for­ev­er through their min­istry is Keje, who has now become part of their fam­i­ly. When they met her, she had been sick for many years, bedrid­den and weak as a result of witch­craft. Through the pow­er of prayer, she was set free and com­plete­ly healed. She is now able to con­tin­ue on with her school­ing and is full of joy in her brand new life.