We were out for the 4th day of evangelism here in Mzuzu, Malawi and my teammate Haley, a couple of young guys from the church, and I were walking through the local villages. We often met with a few women who were going about their day doing laundry or preparing dinner. Then we came to a place with a lot of people doing things from construction to soccer, so we split up.
I went on with my friend and translator, Dennis, who translates for the pastor on Sunday, in the local language here in Malawi, Chichewa. Of the men doing construction two of them wanted to speak and just like a vast majority of people we talk to here, they were Christians already. So I shared a message of identity and encouragement with them after we got to know each other and then we moved on.
This has often been the theme for door-to-door evangelism for me. Whether I am in America, Zambia, Philippines or Malawi I only run into people who have already heard the name of Jesus before. Now I understand that this is a good problem to have, ministries across the world for millennia from Texas to Africa have fought to share this.
The problem now is, people don’t take any of it as NEWS! If a headline of an article read something you already knew, chances are, you wouldn’t read it. Having the role of evangelist among all these cultures trying to share news, that seemingly everyone has heard, often just turns into encouraging believers or avoiding useless debates with non-believers. That is, until this day…
After I spoke to the construction workers I was walking past a school kitchen and saw an elderly man sitting on the step smoking and listening to the radio. Once he spotted Dennis and I, he got very excited and waved us over. The pastor explained later how it is rare that white people come to Mzuzu, let alone going around visiting homes. He said I must have been quite a sight for the man.
The man greeted us with a big smile, I shook his hand and said one of the few Chichewa phrases I know, “Mulibwanj?” (how are you?). He said he was, “Bwino” (good) and brought us chairs and motioning to me he said, “sit”. We started with normal introductions, his name was Easterna and he was cook/security guard for the school and church we were sitting beside.
I cut straight to the chase and asked him, “have you ever heard of Jesus?” As I expected, he said, “yes”, but what I didn’t expect was him to say was, ”… but nobody has ever told me anything about Him.”
I could not believe my ears! I asked Dennis to really confirm this was true, not just miscommunication in translation. He said, “Yeah, he has never heard any stories about this Jesus, only His name, but he wants to hear them.”
I was so excited that I started with Genesis! I cannot tell you how happy I was to share the overarching narrative of the gospel, not just John 3:16. My close family friend who was a missionary for many years had shared with me a method to give the whole gospel without the help of a tract, it the perspective came in very handy.
From the creation story, sin and the fall, the many thousands of thousands of years of the redemption story of mankind looking for a Savior and finally finding Him; were all things that revealed our DEEP NEED for Jesus. Then I shared John 3:16, who Jesus was and how He gave His disciples the Great Commission. Explaining that that is why I have come, to share this good news!
He hung on every single word that was translated and would occasionally ask a clarifying question. Dennis kept telling me that the man kept expressing how touched his heart was by all of this. At the end many thoughts came into my mind of what to do, but I simply asked if He believed this message of who Jesus was, and wanted Him as Savior from his sins. Easterna said, “Yes!”
I didn’t walk him though the Sinner’s Prayer, or anything else. He simply believed in His heart and confessed with His mouth Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Again, I ensured the translator really made sure Easterna understood what I was asking and his response was the same! I invited him to join us at church on Sunday to learn more about Jesus and to join the new family he now had.
He kept telling us over and over how happy he was to hear this news and couldn’t wait for Sunday. Haley and Brian had joined us for the last few minutes and I had explained what was going on. We then prayed together over Easterna celebrating his new life and I was brought to tears. God’s Kingdom was here, RIGHT NOW.
I had prayed that morning for an EXPERIENCE of the Kingdom in a way I had never experienced before, and oh boy did God answer! Haley shared that she was very feeling the same thing and we both sat in complete awe of what was taking place before our eyes.
Meet Easterna, your new brother in Christ:
Thank you SO SO much for all the prayers! God has put it on my heart to pray bigger prayers and I this is the kind of response He has to them! Thank you for praying big for this missionary journey!
Your brother in Christ,
Andy
