Door to door evangelism. That is a phrase that will spark a number of different responses, but that’s exactly what we did all month in Nepal. Almost every day we would go from house to house and share the good news of Jesus Christ. This was not necessarily an easy thing for our team, some of us have never done anything like this before, especially not in a country on the other side of the world in a Hindu culture. So needless to say, although it is an incredibly rewarding experience it has its fair share of difficulties and frustrations.
So this is how things would generally go, we would go to a home and greet the people there and they would invite us in. After asking a couple of questions to get to know the family our translator would turn to us and say something to the effect of “okay, share the gospel.” Actually, many times our translators would talk to the owners of the home for a few seconds and then just tell us to start. And so we would simply share the gospel story with the people there. Sounds pretty simple…
but the number of questions running through my head in those moments coupled with the varied responses that you get from the people listening makes it more difficult than you would think. Every time I would go to a house, even after doing it numerous times, I wouldn’t know what to say or how to start other than our somewhat formulaic way of presenting the gospel. So many things would rush through my head, from confusion because of language and cultural differences to frustration because you might disagree with the way we are doing ministry and everything in between. There are many times when I would feel discouraged or feel as though I wasn’t really being led by the spirit and that I had no business being on the mission field. But for some reason it’s usually during those moments that God likes to show up and do something amazing. There are plenty of awesome stories from our door to door experiences but there are two in particular that need to be shared.
One morning we stopped at a small corner shop to talk to the people there. And don’t picture the typical corner shop in your hometown because this didn’t look anything like that. There were three of us there and I had been having a very bad morning, so my teammates Deirdre and Amanda took turns speaking while I sat and prayed fervently the whole time. The entire time I had my head down and prayed continuously for people to come and hear and that God would capture the heart of at least one of the people there. After about 20 minutes or so I looked up and there were around 15 people standing around us, which, for the area we were in, was a huge turnout. Then I noticed a woman sitting near Deirdre and Amanda who I could tell was captivated by what they were saying. When they had finished what they were saying they asked her what she thought and what she was thinking. She then explained that her daughter was a Christian and that just the night before her daughter was trying to share with her about Jesus Christ. She thought that everything her daughter told her was wonderful but that she just wasn’t sure and that she needed someone else to come and tell her about God if she was going to believe. Lo and behold, the very next day we come to her part of the village to share the good news with her. Right then and there she accepted Jesus as her Lord and savior and we were baffled and amazed.
On another day, part of our team visited a Hindu family as they were going door to door. They sat with them on the front porch and told them the gospel using the tag team method that we all had developed. When they were finished speaking to them their translator, Pastor Yam, had a discussion with the couple for a short time. After a while he said to them nonchalantly, as he usually does, “Okay, let’s go in. They are accepting Jesus.” So they went into what was that family’s worship room where they had a few idols, posters and incense and watched as they put everything into a bag and threw it out into the trash. That family experienced the freedom of the truth of the gospel immediately and their lives will never be the same. Unfortunately, I was not able to witness this myself, but I was able to go and meet with the family on two other occasions to encourage and pray with them. To see their excitement as they began their new lives in Jesus was truly inspiring.
There were many other stories of people we spoke to and prayed for who loved the message of salvation that we brought to them. However, these two stick out in my head most clearly because of how much we were caught by surprise. God is well aware of what is going on in the world. He knows who His children are and He is always working to bring them back to Himself. So even on the days when we feel down or not led by the spirit, as if we are just going through some empty routine, God is working in the lives of others and preparing their hearts to hear His truth and come to faith. So no, I don’t always know exactly how or when or where God is going to do something absolutely amazing, but I am confident that He is working, and if we keep offering ourselves to His service, He will come and work through us.
