“In 1989, during the civil war, when all was dark and difficult for us and we were displaced in another village, we got together as a group and we prayed. We did not know how to pray, but we asked God to help us to know Him better. We knew that we needed Him, but we had no way to hear or understand His words. We asked Him to help us in some way so that we could get to know Him in a way that we can understand; to speak to us in eMwinika.”
We, together with our guests, listened to ImamVrydag’s words, stunned. It is the first time we heard this part of his testimony and it touched our hearts deeply.
The Mwinika people have their holy book in a major eastern language, but no-one understands this language, not even their religious leaders. Vrydag is one of these leaders and since the day we arrived conveyed a strong desire to know God’s Words in his own language. What we didn’t know was that the Mwinika prayed together as a community 16 years before we set foot in their area… We never knew that they saw us as a clear answer to prayer… But God knew! He heard their prayers and answered them!
It explained so much: the Mwinika people’s openness when the NTM guys did their first surveys back in 2004 and, without knowing the importance this has to the Mwinika, told them that we want to translate the Scriptures and teach it in their own language. God indeed heard their prayers and guided DJ, Phil and other’s words to open this – up till then – closed community. So closed in fact, that they have not accepted any other attempts of outreach until then. We were the first missionaries or foreigners that they have EVER welcomed and accepted in their community. Only the Lord…
How incredibly humbling to realize that long before we even knew that the Mwinika people existed or that we will work in this country, the Lord was already preparing their hearts with a deep longing to know Him better and understand His Word!
And then, we realize: 1989 was the year that the Lord called Francois into cross-cultural ministry… Could it be…? Yes, indeed! The Lord made us, broken and imperfect human beings, an answer to their prayers and prepared not only the Mwinika people but us too, so that His Church may be planted and grow to maturity in a land where no-one heard the Gospel before.
God hears… He eagerly awaits our prayers, so that He can do what He most readily longs to do: gather His children from the ends of the earth!