I promised you lots of stories this month, and here’s another. About a week ago we went out to do ministry and met these two girls that were house workers. At first, they told us they had no time, but ended up staying to listen anyway. It happened to be that one of the girls had a strong desire to go to church, but her employers would not allow them to go. This is very common in Rwanda. Most don’t necessarily keep their servants from church, but it is pretty standard that when you work for someone, you essentially belong to them and they can do with you what they like.
Travis, Juliet and Christina were talking with both of them, when the song Tell Me the Story of Jesus starting playing over and over in my head. You’d think that we do that all the time, share the story of Jesus, and we typically bring the Gospel into it at some point, but honestly, God doesn’t usually tell me to start with that. Most people need to know that they are loved before you break out the complete story of Jesus. This was just not one of those times. Christina happened to ask them at that moment what they knew or thought of Jesus. The one that wished to go to church said that He was a good man, and a worker of miracles. Here was the opening. I asked if I could share the story with them. She piped up and said, of course we could; that she always wanted to hear stories about Him. So I told the story, from Adam and Eve all the way to the resurrection.
One of the girls clearly was uncomfortable, seeming to want to get away, fidgeting, and leaving right when I got to Jesus’ sacrifice, saying that she had to put lunch on. But the other couldn’t be torn away. It reminded me so much of Mary and Martha. There probably was much to be done, and we would never want to get them in trouble by distracting them, but one’s heart was clearly desperate for the message, and she didn’t care what it cost. She was crying by the end, and accepted Jesus in a heartbeat, saying that she received everything we said, and
believed in her heart before I was even finished. I was crying by this point too, as I have never seen anyone so visibly broken and transformed in a matter of minutes. How could I not be moved watching someone’s eyes and heart opened to God so fully? It was so beautiful to behold.
Amazingly, soon after she went inside, her fellow worker came back out and said she wanted to accept as well. I had thought her heart very hardened, but maybe she saw the change in the other, or God had been working on her the fifteen minutes or so that she had been alone. I do not know, and she wasn’t as visibly changed for certain, but I don’t know her heart, and I pray that she truly believes.
That was not even the end of it. Near the end of our talking, an old man came up, and began to ask us about our church, and how you know you are saved, and if freedom is really possibly. He is a Catholic, but wanted to know if there was more. He listened to Travis share with him, and asked if we would meet him tomorrow, because he thought he was ready to accept Christ, but wanted the night to search his heart and think on the things he had heard. I was unable to go back the next day, but Travis did, and
said that he accepted Christ. I had no doubt of it, he was clearly ready, just needed to truly make the choice on his own, and not let himself be moved just by a moment of excitement.
We were blessed to see him in church the next two days, and a couple of days later, to see the two women on our way to another house. Juliet had bought one Bible for them, and they were so excited that they had made sure to wait outside the gate just in case they saw us pass by. They were practically bouncing with joy and hugged us many times, telling us that treasured it and were excited to read it every chance they got.
What a blessing to be a worker in the kingdom of God.
(pics – top right – kids we met evangelizing. middle – the sewing class that we do a women's Bible study with on Wednesdays. bottom right – the two house workers who came to Christ on the day they received their Bible)
