God is Reaching the Maasai!

In June of 2022, our family and my brother’s family climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. The eight-day trek was difficult and very tiring, with nights spent under the Milky Way trying to stay warm in our thick sleeping bags. Three days of safari were tacked onto the end of the hike in which we were to tour three of Tanzania’s magnificent safari parks. They are amazing places, but after two days, I told my husband, “I don’t care if a cheetah tap dances on the hood of our jeep, I do not want to go on another safari!” I was done.

So, parting ways with my brother and his family, we opted instead to go to an upscale tourism shop and spend our final day shopping and relaxing at the hotel. While in the shop, we were given a personal “assistant” to help us shop. The assistant would hold the basket and point out worthwhile purchases. That is how we met Lamnyak Siria, a Maasai warrior from the Simanjiro province of Tanzania. Lamnyak was 31 years old, spoke a little English, and seemed amused by the crazy Americans trying to chat with him. We told him about our hike and asked him if he had ever climbed Kilimanjaro. He said he had and that he did it in three days. We gasped and oohed and aahed. He said that was because he and his tribe were used to walking. They had to walk 30 kilometers (16 or so miles) to get water EVERY DAY.

Stunned by this, we asked for more clarification. He told us that the Maasai are migrant. The men herd cattle and have to search long hours for grazing fields and water for the cattle to drink. The women walk all day to bring water to their villages, and the water they find is not clean. Because of this difficult situation, the children are not able to receive an education. The young boys are often herding goats by the age of three, and the young girls accompany their mothers to get water. It is a cycle that has continued for many years.

We were sobered by this thought and told him that we were Christians, that we follow Jesus. We asked him about his faith and that of his tribe. “Oh, we don’t have any faith,” he said. “We do not know where we are going when we die.”

Our hearts were so sad as we made our way back to the car. Sitting in stunned silence, my husband, John, said, “I feel like we need to get his contact information. I don’t know what we can do, but at least we will have that.” I agreed completely and made my way back into the shop to find Lamnyak.

During the ensuing three months, we emailed Lamnyak back and forth. We asked for details about his tribe—did he have videos and pictures, did he have other needs, etc. We shared more of the truth of God’s Word with him. He told us the biggest need that this remote Simanjiro province had was for water. We asked if there were any other wells in the province, and he told us no, but there had been someone from the US who put in a well in a neighboring province. Asking for the contact info to reach out to this person, we were amused to hear that they only had a name—Jon Bon Jovi, a rock singer. So, we guessed we would not be contacting him!

We immediately began to pray that if God wanted the Maasai to have water, He would provide a way and the resources needed. We began to gather funds for what was the unknown. Another Maasai man named Charles, who was well-known in the NGO (non-governmental organization) world, was located to help us dig the wells. We decided to funnel these resources through a 501c3 organization called The International Ministry of Jesus.

Lamnyak turned out to be an excellent manager of resources and extremely proactive. Within those first three months, he was able to secure a land survey for water, done by a local geologist from the city of Arusha. Water was found to be deep under the ground near one of the only churches in the area. We were thrilled and located a drilling team. Drilling began in October 2022.

On one Friday in October, the first hole was dug down to 180 meters, but it ended up being dry. Our faith was a bit shaken. All the work and planning that had gone into this effort, and now no water! That was a low, low point for us. John and I were heartbroken when we saw the pictures of women and children standing around the dry hole. We pleaded to the Lord for His mercy and felt He was leading us to dig another hole. We asked Lamnyak and Charles to go back to Arusha and get the geologist to see where another point might be for possible water.

They did so, and another hole was dug on a Saturday night, on the other side of the church 200 yards away from the first. At 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, our phones rang with a text and video. “Our God has won!” it said, and the video showed water gushing from the ground with the entire village dancing and singing around it. We wept and thanked our Lord and Savior!

That seems like a distant memory now as things have moved quickly, and God has shown His hand of deliverance to the Maasai. At the well dedication a month later, 180 Maasai accepted Christ as the Gospel was shared and the Jesus film shown. Many of the village leaders accepted Christ and were baptized as a group. They declared that they as a village would now follow God and worship Him alone. Since that time, three churches have formed in that village and the Gospel has gone out to the region through the Jesus film.

Lamnyak has experienced the most radical transformation of all. He is an evangelist to his own people, taking the Jesus film out to remote villages and tribes that are very difficult to reach except on foot. In September, he will be starting seminary, learning the method of “storying” the Bible. He has shared about Christ with his co-workers and led many of them to Christ. Every Friday, a group of pastors from Texas, where my brother lives, meet with Lamnyak by phone to study the Bible together. They are providing discipleship and follow-up for Lamnyak and the group he has led to the Lord.

We have been able to dig another well in a neighboring village called Kati-Kati. The Jesus film was shown there, and now there are churches where there were none before. Another neighboring community called Esilaei was touched by Lamnyak and our team visiting from the States. The village leaders accepted Christ and a church is meeting every week with over 150 members. Two teams from the States have come to lead in discipleship and training.

The Maasai people are so open to the Gospel and thankful to know where they will go when they die. They are most touched by the fact that God saw them in their distress and loved them enough to help them. We desire to put more wells in this area, and we are waiting on the Lord to provide the funds and resources for that.

I have never seen God move like this on a people group. It is exciting and powerful to be a part of this. God has truly won!

“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” (John 4:13–14).

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17, KJV).

Anne-Marie grew up as a missionary kid and accepted God’s call to faith and missions at a young age. She is the Director of International Ministry of Jesus, a disciple-making ministry that serves those in need and proclaims the Word of God in Ecuador and Tanzania. She and her husband, John, live in Birmingham, Alabama, where John works as a general surgeon. They have three adult children. Anne-Marie is a registered nurse, a graduate of Samford University. She is passionate about God, her family and friends, and disciple-making. Anne-Marie also loves animals and the outdoors and wants to learn how to manage a farm.