Small Beginnings

I was just a nobody, trying to tell everybody,

about Somebody, who can save anybody.

March 2003, Anita Jepson, Mara Vision Outreach (MVO) founder and president, set foot on Kenyan soil for the first time. She soon discovered her Maasai interpreter’s interest in studying the Bible. Through that one Bible study, a mission was born. “For who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10).[1]

Evangelism flows through the core of Anita’s soul. At the end of her two-week mission experience, she gave a $500 offering to the local pastor. With the money, he purchased a public address system so his church could start teaching truth through evangelism.

As Anita left Kenya, she believed that this was her only mission trip to that foreign land, but God had other plans. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to help you and give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 paraphrase).

Not long after returning home to the United States, Maasai pastors Isaac and Peter contacted Anita by email and asked if she would be willing to support them in doing more evangelism. These requests for evangelism support continued for seven years. During that time, she studied and read her Bible on a quest for guidance, seeking to know whether she should send the support to help them or not.

Some people at home thought that perhaps she was irresponsible to send money to this unfamiliar place. Nevertheless, the Lord daily prompted her heart as she spent time with Him. Through prayer and Bible study, she received strong impressions to trust God and send the money: “I am the LORD your GOD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10).

In 2011, the same two pastors urged her to return to Kenya to meet all of the people whose hearts had been captured by the Word of God. Upon arrival that wet November, Anita found hundreds of people sitting under trees.

While she sat under a tree one day, she felt convicted it was time to build churches—places of worship, places of prayer—for these people to meet with the Lord protected from the sun, wind, and rain. In the mud of Maasai Land, God revealed to her the beginning of her high calling.

“Devotion to God and a spirit of sacrifice were the first requisites in preparing a dwelling place for the Most High” (Prophets and Kings, 61–62).

Moving forward, the platform of raising much larger contributions required a higher level of faith and commitment. In her heart, she knew that with God all things were possible, but the questions now were: what was her part? how would she do it? After all, this was God's mission, and she didn't want to fail Him. Then the thought occurred to her: how could one fail with God at the helm?

She stepped out of the boat to walk on the water. “I knew that as long as I kept my eyes focused on God, my part in growing His ministry could not fail.” Just a few months later, in 2012, Mara Vision Outreach became an official nonprofit organization.

Anita was more excited about being a missionary than running a business in Kenya. She asked God to make a way for her to work directly with the East Kenya Union and Central Rift Valley Conference of Kenya. God answered her prayer miraculously.

At her first meeting with the Central Rift Conference President Reuben Korir shared with her: “Mara Vision is an answer to our prayers.” He told her how a special committee asked God: “How are we going to reach the Maasai people?”

He informed Anita that the Maasai was only one of 42 tribes in Kenya. He also explained about the tribal challenges within Kenya and how the Maasai people only listen to another Maasai or a foreigner. Since Anita was a foreigner, these Maasai people were willing to listen to her, so the conference agreed to partner with Mara Vision to reach the Maasai people. With these details in place, God began to develop a thriving ministry.

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