When Prayer Walking in Africa Leads to Having Church in Someone’s Front Yard

While on a prayer walk in Swaziland, God led Passporter Brie Goetz to three woman hungry for encouragement and teaching in the Body of Christ. Little did Brie know she would be bringing Church straight to their homes!

We were instructed to pray that morning, but I didn’t want to pray blindly; I wanted to pray for specifics. My team decided to go on a prayer walk and I walked with one of my team leaders, Jessica.

We eventually ended up in a village area, with wonderful little stone huts spread out across the red dirt. Wild umbrella trees were scattered along the valley of the mountains. I felt the Lord drawing me down a specific path and we continued to walk. Not much long later, I saw a woman washing clothes, her son playing in the yard. 

As we greeted each other in SiSwati, an older woman named Flora came wobbling out of the house to say hello. She seemed just as excited to meet me as I was to meet her. The woman, who was Flora’s daughter, brought out a chair for Flora and a mat for Jessica and I. I was so excited that this woman wanted to talk with us. Because Flora didn’t speak English and my SiSwati is limited to about ten words, it was difficult to communicate. But for some crazy reason, I understood quite a bit of what Flora was saying.

Flora told me that she was a Christian and wanted to go to church but couldn’t because it hurt to walk that long. She has quite a bit of knee pain and also has asthma. This troubled me, so I asked Flora if I could pray for her. She eagerly agreed. I prayed that God would take away Flora’s pain. After we prayed, I took out my Bible and read some verses to her. Flora also had a Bible and I was able to look up the same verses for her in SiSwati so Flora could read the same verses along with me me. She even saved the pages I showed her.

I left feeling like I was making a difference and doing what God called me to do. I was literally being the hands and feet of Christ and it was so good. 

*Photo by Carly Marin

The next week, when I went to visit Flora, she was delighted to see me. This time when I went with Senele, Flora’s grandson, and he translated for us. We had a grand time talking. Her toothless smile filled me up with so much joy. While we were talking, I had a wonderful idea! Flora couldn’t go to church, but I couldn’t I bring church to her?!

When I told Flora of my idea and she was very pleased. It was settled, Wednesday morning I would come with my Bible and guitar to have church.

That Wednesday we had such a great time. I brought Flora a fat cake (super yummy donut type things). We began with a devotion, talked about what it meant, and then I played my guitar. I sang maybe five songs , and most were in English, but Flora loved it. She said she hoped that in Heaven there will be songs like the ones I sang to her.

After Flora’s, we went to see Flora’s mother, Tarisa. We visited her on Monday and she was so pleased and excited that we decided to come back. I also bought her another fat cake. My goodness, her face almost made me cry. She was just so happy that we came to see her and that we made her a priority. When I sang “How He Loves” a capella, she leaned over, put her face in her hands, and let herself be moved by the foreign words coming from my lips. It seemed as if she understood and, you know what, I think she did. We prayed for her because she was in pain and was having nightmares.

I could feel God wrapping his arms around this woman of 100 years.

God touched Tarisa’s heart and the most amazing part about that is he used me to do it. I’m so glad God gave me the desire to go a little further down the path, to push a little more that day on the prayer walk. Who’d have thought it would have led to us having church in someone’s front yard?

*Header Photo by Elizabeth Frantti

Are you a college student like Brie? Is God calling you to serve him for 2-3 months in Swaziland? Click here to find out how you could go.