Every Wednesday we have been meeting with a small group of believers. This has been very encouraging to hear their testimonies and to see how they are encouraging each other to remain strong in their faith.
In one of the recent meetings they told me a story that I can’t remember having heard about before (and I am sure I would have remembered it if I had). We had known that during the conflict that raged across Mozambique in the late 80s a large portion of the local population had fled to a certain area to escape the violence. What I hadn’t heard was that while so many of the Mwinika were all present in this one location a dispute had surfaced between members of their predominant religion. A meeting of many religious leaders took place to discuss the issue and they reached a conclusion that “the problem with our religion is that we don’t understand God’s word, we need it in our own language.” Apparently the leaders had asked God for His word in their language. The meeting had been high profile at the time (about 25 years ago) and much discussed even by those who did not attend.
As soon as one of the believers mentioned that meeting long ago, the rest of the people present, all immediately remembered having heard about it. The believers’ conclusion was that it is clear that the fact that they are now hearing God’s word clearly in their own language was an answer to a prayer made by their religious leaders nearly 25 years ago. Even though they had all forgotten about the meeting God had not forgotten and had answered their prayer. They decided this would be a great opportunity to appeal to their fellow Mwinika people to come and listen to the teaching, especially since this was an answer to the prayer of their own religious leaders. The believers are now trying to find out which people in the area might have actually attended the meeting and might be able to shed some more light on what took place.
For me it was encouraging to know that God has been at work in this people group for a long time, preparing the soil for the sowing of the seed. (this meeting took place about the time I was finishing elementary school.) Please pray for the Mwinika people and for these believers who are seeking openings to share their faith with others. Pray that the Lord would use a reminder of this long-forgotten meeting to encourage many people’s interest in studying God’s word.