After a day of meetings, we held our first coffee house gathering. Those who seemed to be closest to coming to Christ were invited to this meeting. After two testimonies, by two new believers from this country, a Gospel message was shared and four university students made professions of faith! This was such a glorious culmination of as much as three years of sharing with these students.
Each of these new believers was asked to meet with us before we left to discuss next steps and to meet with local church leaders.
Day 2 - again,
numerous meetings were scheduled with students and the local missionaries. It
is always encouraging to hear how God is moving in the country through the eyes
of our local missionaries and their national partners.
In the
evening, we had a second coffee house gathering but this time the invitation
was sent to a larger group of students. Some of the invitees were friends of
friends who had never heard the Gospel. Due to this being a national holiday
week, this second evening was poorly attended. However, as always is the case,
we trusted that those whom The Lord desired to attend were in attendance.Again a couple of testimonies were shared by relatively new believers. These stories were very encouraging to hear as they also included the difficulties of openly living out their faith, especially with parents.
Even though the attendance was low, we trust our time together was encouragement for the students as they continue in their faith journey.
Day 3 - we
left the Capitol early this morning for a trip to the northern part of the
country. We were blessed with a shorter trip via a smaller shuttle bus that was
about four hours less than by train.
After lunch,
we began a three hour trek to the village where we would be staying for the next
three days. This is the location of our adopted, unreached/unengaged people
group. We stayed in the home of our third family member from the family of
peace which provided another opportunity to begin a spiritual conversation with
them.
Days 4 & 5
- we had beautiful weather in this location, high in the mountains. It rained a
short period on the third day but otherwise was absolutely breathtaking as we
were saturated in the beauty of God's creation.
We were
greatly encouraged to find the local house church, of a neighboring tribe, was
advanced in the building of its new church! We pray that this church will
continue to serve as a lighthouse, not only to its own tribe but will reach out
to the tribes that are considered unreached.It continues to amaze us how God orchestrates events so that His name is proclaimed. Whether it was in restaurants, or in the village Homestay, conversations were readily available that quickly moved to spiritual ones. We trust that even these seeds will develop and grow to a wonderful harvest!
Day 6 - this
day was consumed mostly by travel but still provided great connections. May God
continue to raise up spiritual leaders in this country where it will someday be
known as a Christian nation. That may seem an impossible dream but we serve a
God that is still in the miracle business!
