New life in Christ

Illness has taken several of the new believers away from the last few believers’ meetings, but we are so thankful to God to see this group of men, women and youth gather each Thursday near our local doctor’s house and clinic less than 5 minutes’ walk from our house.

While many are still shy around each other, you can’t help but see the joy and peace on their faces as we read the Word together and Jason leads us into a good discussion and time of asking and answering questions about God and His character, and the significance of what Christ has done for us.

Several individuals have continued to share with the group what their new life as a believer in Jesus has meant for them, and we stand in awe of our Lord as we hear these reports, realizing that just a few short weeks previously, these people were living in darkness and fear. Now we are hearing things like the following:

One woman stood up and shared this: “Before I heard this talk about what Jesus did for me, I didn’t understand things clearly. I was always afraid, especially at night or when I would go to the jungle. Now God has told me that I don’t need to be afraid anymore, because I’m no longer under Satan’s hand, but under God’s hand because Jesus died for me!”


Our neighbor Alis had this to say: “When I first heard all of God’s talk that the white men were teaching us, I thought, ‘This is just another story.’ I didn’t really believe. But as I kept listening, at the very end of the talk, God really put my insides in court, and I realized, ‘This is so true, Jesus died for me, because of my sin.’ I have no strength or good thing to save myself, only Jesus can do that. Before He died, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and then He died. I now know this means that it is really finished and I can’t do any more work after that because He did it completely. I believe what God’s talk says in John chapter 3 and verse 16. I believe, and my insides have turned and I am happy now.”

And several people with nervous chuckles had this to say at one point in our discussion (and the laughter was because these people would normally never openly say these things aloud in a group before now): “Yes, true, we’ve always been afraid of Satan and his spirits. Afraid of animal and bird noises at night, because of the spirits, and afraid of the darkness. But our Deliverer Jesus, he crushed Satan’s head, and Jesus won when He rose from the dead. So now we don’t have to be afraid of him anymore!”

Praise God, we are seeing firsthand His power at work in changed lives! Please continue to rejoice with us, and also pray, as these new believers grow in their faith and understanding!

Thanking God for building His church,

Chad, Janeene, & Elijah