He continues...

Ok, Finally!  My third "good stuff".  This is really good.

If you've been with us for a while now, you'll remember Konpech.  If not, you can read my initial post here on this near-by but very isolated and deeply dark area, or scroll down a bit and click on "Konpech" in the word bank and read the whole story.

Junior and several other students have had a continual burden for this little community, about 80 people who are all descendants of the same one or two witch-doctors.   Deeply entrenched in the old ways, Junior has carefully and prayerfully been working to spread the Gospel here, but after a few set backs at the end of the school year, had not returned for many months.

Until last Sunday.

"It's time," he told us a few days before.  "I've been waiting and waiting for His timing, and I feel that it is time.  I'm going Sunday morning, because I know they will all be there, and won't yet be busy making the big meal of the day or doing laundry.  Six of the guys are going with me.  Please pray...I don't know what to expect!"

one of the trees of Konpech that the people believe to be inhabited by demons

All throughout church I was thinking and praying for them and the precious people of Konpech, anxious to get home and hear, uncertain of what the morning would be bringing Junior.

We waited anxiously after arriving home at 11:30, but the guys didn't return until just after 1 pm.

Junior beelined for the house grinning, and sighed "That was GOOD" as he sank onto the couch, weary from the hike and five consecutive hours of ministry.

"Everyone was so excited to see us," Junior relayed.  "They immediately found a bench and brought it out for the 7 of us to sit on, while dozens of the community sat or stood around us on buckets or rocks or on the ground.  They knew I was there to talk about God, but instead of asking me to leave or indicating they didn't want to hear, they brought a bench...they wanted to hear what I had to share.  This excited me!

"So, after we all talked for a few minutes about how everyone was, we began again.  I acted as if no one knew anything about the Bible from what I had shared last year, and just began telling them the story of Scripture.  We talked about how God made the world, how sin came into it, different people's stories in the Bible, what God decided to do about the separation and death sin brought in, Jesus' birth and life, His ministry, His death and resurrection.

"I just laid out the whole Gospel, and the guys helped me, and everyone listened.  It took about four hours, and everyone listened.

Junior on the road to Konpech

"You know me, Stace.  I don't ever like to force people to accept what I'm saying, or even try to persuade them to accept it.  So I didn't even mention converting or accepting or believing or changing or anything like that.  We just laid the Gospel out there, and after we had, we said, 'Ok, well, it was good to share that with you!'

"Wait!" a woman called Zouta told Junior as they rose to go.  "All of us!  We must all be saved!  We all want to be saved from all our sins!"

"Whoa, whoa," the crowd quickly shushed her, not forgetting they were standing on demon land next to demon trees and were demon committed people.  "Speak for yourself.  That's a big thing.  We're not ready for that."

"Fine!" Zouta quickly brushed them off.  "Then me.  I must be saved.  I want to be saved from all my sins."

"Me too," another woman, Youseline, said, stepping out from the crowd.

"What do you mean?" Junior asked, ever the one to make sure conversions are sincere and that people know what they are talking about before making any decisions.

The two woman and the 7 guys discussed what being saved fully means, all while the crowd listened intently.

"This is what you want?  To make Him Lord of your life and die to your sins?" Junior asked.

"Yes" Zouta, "Yes" Youseline, and then a surprising third woman stepped out, "YES"...Edline.

the isolated community of Konpech

"OK!" Junior said, and after sharing a bit more about how to ask for and receive salvation, Junior asked them each to ask God for it, again, in front of all their peers.  The three women prayed, and when Edline finished, a young man, Rolin, asked Junior if he could pray for the same thing in his life.

Four conversions, in a place like Konpech, with NO invitation for conversion and no pressure from the guys and no pressure by the presence of missionaries (everyone knows what we want them to do just by being missionaries), no gifts or food or Bibles for motivation...four conversions like this are a big deal.

(Don't get me wrong, of course...any conversion is a big deal.  There are just a lot of indications here that these conversions were very sincere in a very poor country where many people have converted two dozen times in hopes of pleasing you, in hopes of getting you to leave, in hopes of what you might bring them or in hopes receiving some kind of aid.)

Junior and the guys returned again this past Sunday and started back at the beginning of the Bible, using chronological Bible story telling to teach far more about God than the brief summary of the week before.  In the midst of torrential rains, they found far less people Sunday, but are encouraged and dedicated to heading back each Sunday morning to study the Word with the new believers, and many non-believers, in Konpech.

Junior's past in Voodoo (until he became saved as a young teen and banished by his witch-doctor father) continues to make him a great vessel of God in heavily voodoo areas (he knows the beliefs), and it's such a joy for Matt and I to see God use him, the other students, and everything that they are learning for His kingdom.  Five of the seven are currently taking "Spiritual Warfare" with Tom Black...all the better!

Please keep Konpech, Zouta, Youseline, Rolin and Edline, and Junior and the other students in your prayers.

He continues to pursue His people.  He continues to have a plan.  He continues to provide for it.  And He continues to let us each be a part!

Praise the Lord...He continues!