Africa Oasis Project: A Cup of Living Water

Plop! Thud! Smash!
Pastor Anset sat up in his bed and looked at the hole in his grass roof. It was happening again, just like every night. The people of the village didn’t like him being there, so they threw stones and rocks onto his roof all night long so that he couldn’t get any sleep.

Pastor Anset is a Christian living in the village of Mwanambaya, Tanzania. Many people of the village are Muslim. Others practice witchcraft. They don’t believe that Jesus is God’s Son, and they often persecute Pastor Anset and other Christians. Sometimes they just throw rocks on the roof. Once they tried to set his little hut church on fire. Pastor Anset knew that in some villages, the Christian churches have been burned down, and the pastors have been killed.

The people of Pastor Anset’s church have trouble selling their vegetables in the village. The villagers tell them that their vegetables aren’t good enough. No one will buy them. The Christians need to sell the vegetables so they have money to live on. Life can be hard for the Christians.

But life is hard for everyone in the village because there is no fresh water. Everyone has to walk a long distance to get dirty water from a river. Because the water is dirty, people often get sick and die.

One day, Pastor Anset was visited by missionaries who wanted to help the people in his village. These were missionaries who worked with the Africa Oasis Project. They were going to dig a water well.

Usually a well is dug right next to a church building. This way, the villagers will know that it is the Christian church that’s providing the water. It also gives Christians an
opportunity to share the gospel when people come for water. But Pastor Anset didn’t have a proper church building—instead, the people met in a little hut. He told the missionaries to go ahead and dig the well anyway, right next to the little hut.

The people of the village became curious. They watched as the well was dug. They said to each other, “Look, he is digging a well, and he doesn’t even have a proper church building.”

Finally the well was finished. They started pumping, and up came clean, fresh water. The people of the church gave a cheer. Not only did they have clean water for themselves, but they could share the water with the people of the village and have an opportunity to share about Jesus.

Day after day, villagers came to the well to get water. Some of the church ladies often sat by the well, using it as a witnessing place. When people came to get water, the ladies
told them about Jesus, the Living Water.

One day, Adhra, a lady of the church, was sitting by the well when she saw a lady from the village walk by carrying a chicken. Adhra asked her, “Why are you carrying that
chicken?” The lady answered, “I am afraid to go to bed at night because I am cursed with demons. I fall asleep in my hut, then I wake in the middle of the night in a graveyard. I don’t know how I got there or what I am doing there. I am hoping the witchdoctor will help me.”

Adhra said, “My pastor can help you.” Adhra took the lady to Pastor Anset, who prayed that she would be delivered from the demons. Instantly the lady was set free. Never
again was she afraid to go to bed at night for fear she would end up at the graveyard. Now she knew that Jesus was God’s Son and that He loved her. Soon she gave her heart to Jesus.

Another day, another lady of the church was sitting at the well. Her name is Binti. When a lady walked by on her way to the witchdoctor, Binti asked her, “Why are you going to
the witchdoctor?”

The lady answered, “Whenever I take a bath, it gives me great pain. If the water is cool, it feels boiling hot on my skin. If the water is warm, it feels freezing cold.”

Binti brought the woman to Pastor Anset, who prayed for her. The lady was set free and never again felt pain when water touched her skin. She gave her heart to Jesus right
then.

The water well is changing people’s minds about Pastor Anset and the Christians. When the Christians share water with people who used to persecute them, they are showing
Jesus’ love. The people of the village now say, “These Christians must really love us to give us water before they even build their own church.”

Within one month, three women became Christians. Three converts may not seem like much, but this is a GREAT miracle for that village, where people resist the gospel message.

According to Steve Evans, AOP Team Leader, “The well in Mwanambaya can be seen from the church door. Every day the pastor watches with joy as the village people bring
their buckets for water. Hopefully, the church’s gift of potable water to the village will facilitate their spiritual mission of introducing Jesus, whom the Bible refers to as Living Water.”