When on short-term mission trips to Africa, we often prayer walk through the village streets until someone invites us to sit in the shade and visit. As we pass homes, we ask God to open the eyes of the people who live there and to draw them to faith.

On our last trip to Niger, late in the afternoon, we walked an empty dusty street. The blazing sun heated my skin and I lifted a prayer and asked God to send us a sign as to which direction to take and for someone to invite us to rest in the cool shade. Immediately, a white pigeon flew across my path and into a compound entry. (A compound is a collection of homes enclosed by a high wall.)

I crossed the threshold and my companion and interpreter (I’ll call her Bella to protect her identity) called out, “Fo Fo.” (Hello).  No one answered but we heard children.

“If there are children, there are mothers,” Bella said.  It was a large compound that included several buildings. We turned a corner and came upon the children. In the distance,  a group of women pounded millet under a cluster of trees.

We called out, “Fo Fo,” and they returned the greeting. A girl who looked to be around twelve-years-old ran to a mud-brick building, extracted a large mat, and rolled it out for us. We removed our shoes, sat on the mat in the shade, greeted everyone, and exchanged names. Then, a tall man who wore a pristine white tunic joined us. “He is a holy man,” Bella whispered.

It is very unusual for a Muslim man to join a group of women, so it was extraordinary that a Muslim holy man sat with us. He knew we were Christians and asked questions. After about half-an-hour, it was time for him to go to the mosque to pray and we prepared to leave. He asked us to stay and visit with his wives until he returned.

While we lingered, we shared From Creation to Christ (C2C) with the women and children. C2C is an oral story-telling-technique that teaches Bible stories in chronological order. It helps explain the connection between the story of Creation, Adam’s fall and separation from God, to Jesus dying on the cross to redeem mankind.

I’ve blurred the faces because I fear they might be persecuted for visiting with me.

When the holy man returned, we continued to discuss the Bible and Jesus. He exclaimed that he knew about Jesus, the prophet. We never argue with people, however, we explained that Jesus is more than a prophet, He is the Son of God. Bella and the holy man had an animated discussion for a few minutes, then she said, “It’s time to go.” We thanked the holy man for his hospitality and for his interest.

Bella, a national mission partner explained the significance of being able to share the gospel with this man and his family. When we rejoined our team, Bella’s excitement bubbled as she described the visit.

I’ll never know if the holy man or his family believed what we told them, but I know God orchestrated the meeting and I pray that God will bear fruit from our encounter. It’s been almost two years since I visited Niger and my heart longs to return, but perhaps God has a different mission for me.

Compared to walking the streets of an African village in a country that’s 99% Muslim, walking any street in my hometown should be easy, but it’s not. How many people do you think would stop and invite me to sit on their porch if I walked down this street?

My mission trip this year is to prayer-walk the streets of my hometown and the town where I work.  The mission field is everywhere, even inside the doors of our churches.

I hope you’ll join me and start your own prayer walk. I pray that God will bear fruit for each prayer we lift as we walk. I can promise you that you will be blessed because to walk and talk with God is always a blessing.