Different Country.... Same Tribe

I love the Maasai!  I have heard a mixed bag of things said about the Maasai stateside and in Africa, but I’ve lived with these people for a little while now and they are just incredible people.  I’ve talked about their intentional community and hospitality before, and this is still one of the best thing about them.  Not living in community is not even an option for them because they know that’s how we were created to live.  They know that life is richer with honest, vulnerable, loving friendships, and its also necessary for their survival at times to live in community.  I just wonder what it would be like in America if we lived with a more intentional community.  I think it would completely revolutionize the nation and issues that divide us and the intolerance we have would seem just stupid (sidenote- Shane Claiborne’s book “Irresistible Revolution” is incredible and addresses this).  They also treat everyone as family and you always feel welcome.  I now have about 4 sets of parents and 80 brothers and sisters, and it always feels like the best family reunion you’ve ever been to.  Not the type of family reunion that you fear because that crazy aunt is going to kiss you right on the lips and your second cousin will tell embarrassing stories and your grandma will make you eat that green jello whether or not you want to.  No, it’s the type of family reunion that you look forward to all year because you know that there will be an insurmountable amount of love and laughter there with your favorite people.

 So yes the Maasai are incredibly loving and kind, but the truly astounding part about this tribe is their rock solid faith.  If I didn’t have any of the amenities I was used to in life I think I could find a hundred reasons to doubt God (I say this because I have everything I need and still find reasons to doubt God).  If I struggled for food, had major health issues, struggled to keep my family safe from other tribes and animals, etc, I would probably think that God had left me and I was on my own.  But these people don’t think that at all.  In fact they praise God for the little that they have and have faith that God can do anything and is not limited by this world at all.  I think its because of this faith too that they see more miracles happen in their tribe than I have ever seen in America.  I do think that miracles happen, but I don’t see them often and honestly I don’t really have faith that they will happen most of the time.   I pray for things, but I pray like “Hey, God that’s a million miles away, if you wouldn’t mind helping with this that would be cool”.  The Maasai pray for things like God is right in front of them and they are desperate for Him to answer their prayers.   Sometimes we pray for things and God says no, but for the Maasai that doesn’t stop them from asking because they have faith that anything is possible. 

I went into the bush last weekend and went to the most spirit-filled church I have ever been to.  These people are loving life and loving God and loving their community.  They have a faith that is alive to them.  They pray for all things, but for me the craziest thing I saw was how they pray for healing.  In America I think we pray to be healed from sickness, and of course we still go to doctors because that’s just smart, but for these people the doctor isn’t always an option and even if it is they pray for healing and go to the doctor.  They believe God will heal them with all their hearts.  I have heard too many stories to recount about healing since I got here but I want to tell you a few we were close to.  There was one woman here from Germany who has MS and wanted to come serve in Africa with the Maasai.  Her doctors told her no because of her sickness (she hasn’t had feeling in her right hand for 2 years because of MS), but she felt she was supposed to go.  So she came here, and while she was here, her group prayed for healing fervently.  They prayed often.  Then during this trip that woman was talking to everyone about how she hasn’t had feeling in her right hand and as she went to show how she couldn’t feel her fingertips she froze because she had feeling back in her hand.  It was crazy!  I wish I could see the look on her doctors face when she goes back to Germany next week.  There is also this wonderful Maasai boy Siparrino who was healed in an unexplainable way.  He had been very sick so they took him to the hospital and the doctors did a procedure to fix his sickness but in the process severed his spinal cord and he was paralyzed.  Can you imagine?  You are healthy, but now you cant walk.  So again the Maasai and their friends prayed.  One group in particular prayed for 3 hours one day and 4 hours the next.  Nothing happened.  They were discouraged but knew that maybe this was one of those times God says no for some reason.  Then the next day when they came back home after running an errand, Siparrino ran out to greet them.  The kid who had a severed spinal cord ran out to greet them and he has been fine ever since.  There is no logic to these stories, and that’s why they are amazing.  I don’t know why we don’t see this stuff in the US like they do here, but I think it might be because the fervent, inexcusable faith these people have.  My mind is still spinning to be honest because these are just 2 stories we heard/experienced of about 20 instances, but its incredible.  Its just really incredible.