Oh, the fun and excitement of gathering together with 30-40 brand new Christian believers for the first time!
We’d like to give you a little taste of our first believers’ meeting yesterday (Jan. 25th).
Several people were immediately eager to express their newfound freedom in Christ. Our first believer, Tingon, gave a testimony of how he thought he couldn’t help Jason translate the Bible lessons because his sin was too great. Then, as he was brought in with open arms and later went through the Old Testament stories leading up to Christ and then began to see that Jesus paid for all of his sins on the cross, he couldn’t believe it at first, then as he accepted this simple truth, he was set free. He told us, “Now I am so happy all the time. I’m not afraid to tell other people about what Jesus did for me! I have eternal life!”
Our neighbor, Alis, shared that God’s Word and the story of what Jesus did in dying for his sins “really split my insides up.” “We do know that we can go to heaven. Jesus died for me, and I am now clean in God’s sight. My sins are washed away and dealt with.”
Another man, Pol, who was one of Jason’s language helpers, and who currently helps me with final checking of the Scriptures, was bursting with enthusiasm! His typical rapid-fire speech was ramped up a notch as he went on and on about what Jesus did for him. One thing he shared was this: “Who can tell me now that I’m going to hell? No one can tell me that! It’s because of what Jesus did for me, that’s why! I truly believe this!!”
And how much fun would you have in a group where you passed out Scripture portions “hot off the press” (booklets from our laser printer) and not only have them follow along with you as you’re reading that Scripture in their language for the first time, but then even have some of them read it aloud for the first time? Let us tell you, it was a blast to hear women like Daisa and Saniya read verses from Luke 24 (from the Emmaus road account). To our surprise and delight, one of those who jumped in to read a verse was a quiet and reserved man named Harmbocks, who ended up doing a fantastic job reading! (Harmbocks was one of the artists on the Tobo literacy primers and readers, and he recently began helping me in checking of the translated Bible portions.)
In a day of great joy, perhaps one of the greatest thrills came when, after the teaching and discussion time, centered around Scriptures such as the Emmaus Road account and the Great Commission, Pol stood up and exhorted everyone to “Tell other people, tell our family, our friends about what Christ has done for them, so that they too can believe and come join us!” Our sentiments exactly!
Finally, after the meeting, I had a Scripture comprehension checking session with one of my helpers, Welsen (Megilin Mama or ‘Megilin’s Father’ as he is known). I asked him what he thought about the meeting earlier. He said, “You know, I just want to say thank you. Not thank you to you 2 white men, but thank you to Jesus!!” (Knowing the Tobo mindset of high respect for Westerners, this statement actually spoke volumes!!)
Thanks to you all for being part of our team, for all your prayers, and thank you to Jesus, who is being glorified in Tobo!
Chad, Janeene, & Elijah
PS- If you read the Emmaus Road account in Luke 24, you’ll notice in verses 27 and 44-45 that the whole of God’s Word, Old and New Testaments, all point to none other than Christ Himself and the Gospel message. This is exactly what we’ve been doing in teaching 5 days a week for the past 3 months!!
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