Mike Mataya's Testimony

I interviewed Mike in April 2017. Here is part one of the transcribed interview:

Michael Mataya was raised in a Muslim, bigamist family in Uganda. He was not treated well or fairly by his stepmother and father; he was made to feel worthless, ugly and unwanted. They never appreciated anything he did and their abuse hurt him very much. He could not understand why they did not love him.

In 1992 at age 16, Michael was living a hopeless life on the street. He had been doing odd jobs to raise money to pay his school fees and living in some sort of cave-shelter “doing bad things with a bad crowd.” A friend took him to a house where they began telling him about Jesus. At first he did not want to hear but God gave him a sense to wait and listen. He heard the gospel and it touched his heart. Michael had to count the cost, “Will I fit in my family?” When he confessed Jesus as Lord, he felt great relief and peace.

That night he went back to his small room on the street and spent the night reading the whole New Testament he had been given and weeping for joy. The next day, he went to church for the first time.

“What do I do now?” For a while, he lived at the church and with an elder doing anything that needed to be done. He did odd jobs for the pastor, sang in the worship team and started going on missions and giving his testimony. He traveled with and served his pastor for six years. God gave him a passion and love for the lost.

God also began to give him a love for his dad and mom. He reached out to them and both have given their lives to Christ as well as Hussein, his youngest brother.