Roy has been waiting for years for this orchid from Ecuador to bloom. He didn’t even know what it was going to look like when he brought home a bit of root. The waiting paid off, don’t you think?
Here is the place that we would put in a photo if we could – picture this: 4 women sitting in front of a computer, leaning forward with rapt attention watching the story of Jesus unfold before their eyes.
So we have been waiting and praying for some of our Fulani friends to accept the Messiah as Lord and Saviour. Having completed our bible study with stories from Genesis to Acts to include the coming of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ death and resurrection, we invited the four main ladies to Gamboula, to watch the Jesus film in peaceful surroundings, with no interruptions. As we watched the film I stopped it a couple of times to explain things, and one of the ladies drifted off for a short nap for maybe 5 minutes in the middle, but mostly they really paid attention and were amazed at the miracles and then horrified at what happened to Jesus. When G turned away in horror when the nails were pounded in, (at least it’s a mild version, not like the Passion) I told her she needed to watch to really understand what Jesus did for us. When it was over and they had heard the believer’s acceptance prayer at the end, I talked to them about that prayer and the whole idea of grace, the whole idea of gift. Just last week I had explained to H, AGAIN, that we don’t have to work for our salvation – she was paying back her Ramadan debts of days of fasting she had missed due to illness and she said to me “you don’t have to pay, but we, in our religion, do”. I tried to make her understand that it’s for all of us. So, when I talked about this after the film, H herself said “we don’t have to work for salvation” to the others which was encouraging. I then walked them through the Romans road scriptures (all have sinned through to God’s gift is eternal life) after having read Isaiah’s “all our good works are as filthy rags”, then I read them the believer’s acceptance prayer from the Firm Foundation materials we have been using all along. We talked about it all for a bit, and then I asked if they would like to pray it with me, and they all agreed, and we did. Only God knows what sunk in, and I’m praying that it all did. We talked about the amazing free gift of salvation again after the prayer, and boy they were chatterboxes!! They decided to keep meeting on Wednesday mornings after Roy & I leave, listening to the recordings of lessons and New Testament readings and praying together. I encouraged them to think about what Jesus asked us to do, to share the good news with family and friends, and they also agreed to do this. It was an amazing day!!
